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Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

December 28, 2014, 06:15:20 pm

I had an unnerving experience yesterday while returning home after a 3 day trip. We were about an hour out from home. I had been cruising along about 60-65 for several hours without incident. we came into a town. I stopped at a stop light and when it turned green, pulled away as normal. I noticed the coach would not come up to speed and looked  down at the shift keypad selector. it showed 4. I hadn't changed it and it wouldnt let me change it to anything else. the up and down arrows had no effect.  it would not go into neutral or reverse. I shut down and checked everything I could think of and found nothing wrong. I started her up and hit the D on the keypad and up came the 6 as normal. I drove the rest of the way home without further incident.

I ran the fluid level test and diagnosis codes today using instructions I got from beamalarm.com and come up with;

the fluid level test ran as described and showed the codes oLLo4. does that mean its 4 quarts low?

the diagnostic code was d14215 which according to the codes manual is "D solinoid shorted to battary"

any suggestions?

BTW its a 98 U270 that I have had since october and have put about 3000 miles on. Some of you may know here as "Princess".

Rick

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #1 – December 28, 2014, 07:04:55 pm

Well that does show 4 qut low but not sure on the other code. Others will chime in
JohnH

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #2 – December 28, 2014, 07:13:27 pm

Check connectors and wiring harnesses. Sometimes an intermittent grounding of one of the wires in a harness will provide codes that lead down the wrong path. We traveled with someone whose transmission had been repaired with a new solenoid a couple of times in the history of the coach. The problem turned out to be the wiring harness. Because the problem was intermittent, it was very hard to diagnose.

Check the oil level via the dipstick to see if it corresponds to the indication on the panel.

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #3 – December 28, 2014, 07:17:52 pm

Rick,

I would check the level with the dip stick. If it is truly that low you need to find out where the fluid went to. I would pull the radiator cap after it has cooled off to see it that is where your fluid vanished to. (if it is here you may have a leaking cooler) If you actually have fluid then I would check the ground cables. While you are at it clean your battery cables too. A bad ground or pos. can cause the trans. computer to go hay wire.  You need to check where the main cable plugs into the side of the trans. to make sure it is clean. This just what I would start with.

Pamela & Mike

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #4 – December 28, 2014, 08:41:03 pm

If the issue is a bad transmission cooler should be easy to detect. Check the engine coolant overflow reservoir, if a bad cooler the reservoir will either be full or blown. Lots of pressure from transmission when underway, more than the engine coolant reservoir can take. When checking transmission fluid level make sure it is transmission fluid not engine coolant. Rough shifting down into first while underway is a good indication that you have very low transmission coolant. At least these were my observations this past spring when we lost the transmission cooler. I hope you don't have a failed cooler a LOT of coach bucks to fix properly.

Roland

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #5 – December 28, 2014, 10:35:45 pm

I think a gallon low could cause a lot of different problems.

OL = oil level
LO = oil level to too low
4 = 4 quarts low

Some are checking trans electronic oil level every time they pull into a campground during coach leveling.

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #6 – December 29, 2014, 08:32:00 am

Rick, Low voltage will cause an Allison to go into limp mode. Momentary loss of power to tranny ?
Gary B

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Reply #7 – December 29, 2014, 09:42:20 am

+1 What Gary said.  Had a similar problem and turned out to be low voltage to the ECM caused by a deteriorated wire in the engine compartment near the isolator.  Used schematics to trace wiring from battery to ECM.  Although our diagnostic code did indicate low voltage to the ECM.  Good luck!

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #8 – December 29, 2014, 03:33:54 pm

Thanks for all the help.  You guys are great!

I am convinced there is not a leak. I checked the cooling reservoir as suggested and it was normal, at the HOT level when hot and at the COLD level when cold and no sign of any fluid running out the overflow. I crawled underneath, No signs of any drips anywhere. PO tells me it always registered 1-2 qts low even right after a servicing, but not 4 so I'll try and locate a couple quarts of transynd and bring that up. the dipstick is registering just below the HOT RUN range. I assume that the dipstick is checked like a car is, hot with the engine idling in neutral(correct?).

So the other possibility is some kind of electrical glitch. I looked at all the transmission connectors I could reach and they seem OK. jiggled to make sure they were tight. checked the battery clamps and tightened them and every ground I could find. I have been driving it every day and it hasn't recurred and there are no diagnosis codes coming up. I have a couple days before my next trip so I'll keep digging.

Where do you get transynd? i know Walmart doesn't carry it.

Rick

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #9 – December 29, 2014, 03:57:42 pm

Yes, transmission fluid level is checked with fluid HOT, idling in neutral.

Transynd from any Allison dealer and many HD truck parts houses.

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #10 – December 29, 2014, 06:03:10 pm

 Just as a "whatever" have you rechecked the auoto oil level again since it showed low. I have always been told to believe the auto level rather than the dipstick and that is what I refer too.
Easy to do when it is warm and idling as Brett said.
JohnH

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #11 – December 29, 2014, 07:30:42 pm

Rick, I'd take a look at the troubleshooting guides for the King Control unit.  There are a lot of problems that can happen between the Allison and King Control unit.

2600 Series Diagnostics

A lot of the earlier suggestions were thrown out when my Allison wouldn't shift into Drive but the problem was electrical in nature.

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Re: Trans shifted to 4 and would not change

Reply #12 – December 29, 2014, 08:10:56 pm

Doesn't sound like fluid/mechanical problem. See if it does it again before you tear it apart.

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