Quick Checks for Allison Transmissions.
Last week was the Foretravel Motorcade Grandvention. It was held in Hutchinson, Kansas at the State Fair Grounds. The Motorcade club does not do a good job of advertising the Grandvention, so you may not be aware of it. They also keep the agenda a top secret until you open your registration packet during the registration hour. The Motorcade board was upset that last year the agenda got leaked before registration and they were pissed.
Two of the seminars that were put on were by Big Mike from Spartan. He had one on Maintained, and the other was on the air system. Each seminar was 2 hours. His seminars were not Spartan chassis specific. If you ever have a chance to hear him talk, it is well worth it. He had us laughing and learning at the same time. He even gave out some Spartan hats and travel bags.
I had thought I knew all there was to know about maintenance and the air system in our coaches, Was I wrong. During the maintenance seminar he talked about all of the information you can get from the transmission keypad display. Starting in coaches around 2010, maybe older or newer you are able to check the transmission fluid level, fluid life, filter life, clutch disks life, and if there are any error codes that are showing up.
I think the way you can tell if your transmission has this function is turn the key on while you are watching the transmission display. If you see a wrench show up for a second, then you should be able to. After the seminar I watched the transmission display when I turned the key. The wrench showed up and disappeared so quick if I was not looking for it I would have never notice it. If the wrench stays there is a problem with your transmission that you need to get fixed.
Here are the ways to test these items. All of them involve pushing both arrows buttons at the same time.
Oil Level, coach level, engine running and warmed up, 1 press.
Oil life, Key on, engine off, 2 presses.
Oil filter, Key on, engine off 3 presses
Disk Life, Key on, engine off, 4 presses.
History (error codes), Key on, engine off 5 presses.
Topic: Quick Checks for Allison Transmissions.