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Transient warning lights
Completed our first big (7 week) trip yesterday. Coach performed flawlessly, though the toad had a show stopping malfunction in Denver, the coolant overflow tank burst open and lost all coolant. AAA tow back to the Bus in Fort Collins and a visit to O’Reillys for a new overflow tank the next day got it back on the road to complete the trip.
THE QUESTIONS
I said flawlessly, yes it was for the entire trip until yesterday the last day on the way home and today got two different warning lights.
1) ABS – pulled into a fuel stop yesterday, pulled on parking brake. Got fuel, got back in coach and had a light on dash “ABS”, and message on DDEC display “check brakes at next stop”. All was working well , so drove home. Upon shut down and restart, light was gone and no message on DDEC display. Advice? I plan to replace brake all chambers and hoses later this year before next trip and will inspect all brakes and anything else I can during that project.
2) CHECK ENGINE – Filled bus up with fuel today, and took to car wash to rinse off engine compartment dust from 6 miles on a dirt (dust road actully) road in Oregon. Tried to avoid directly spraying high pressure water on any electronics or hot exhaust/turbo area components. Started up and ran fine after the rinse off, but about 1/2 way home from car wash a light came on that looked like a one cylinder Kohler engine, which was accompanied by a DDEC display “check engine at next stop”. Was running fine, so continued home. Upon one or two cycles of shut down and restart, light is gone and no more message on DDEC. Running fine. Advice?
Thanks to all for help on prior questions during our trip. Zip Dee Auto Awn was used several times later in the trip and performed without problem.
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4 Replies
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An ABS light can be caused by a number of issues, some are easily corrected such as a sensor at the wheel that has backed out and just needs to be tapped back into position. Some are related to moisture or humidity and seem to come and go, and others are a malfunction. All easily checked by someone with a reader if they persist. The light is an indication that the ABS is not functioning because of the issue. Your brakes will continue to work as designed but you will lose the ABS function. I had a previous coach show the ABS light intermittently and it was almost always following a day of driving in rain or on a day with high humidity. It would go out if I recycled the key so I never did anything. On my current coach I had the light and when connected to a reader it showed the error was one of the sensors and a small tap on the end of the sensor to reseat it cured the problem.
A check engine light is just that, but it does not mean it can or should be ignored. You might be able to view the code in your message center and from that determine your course of action. Until you know the code(s) you will not know what the best response to this will be.
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David and Susie wrote: “but about 1/2 way home from car wash a light came on that looked like a one cylinder Kohler engine,”
on my bus this light comes on when the OTR ac compressor cycles off, this could happen for many reasons.
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A month ago we were going from Moab to Durango. Halfway there I got the check engine light but bus was running fine. Called Prevost Pass from road, and read them the two inactive codes it was showing. They said no problem just sensor issues. Next time you’re in for service have them look at it.
Got to Durango and shut engine down. 3 days later when we went to leave wouldn’t start. Called Prevost again and they found someone in Cortez who would look at it. That tech didn’t know Detroits but he had a friend that thought it was the SRS sensor. Had one flown in (Durango is really far from anything). It started, so continued to Denver and had a Detroit shop make sure all was well. They put a computer on it and they showed an SRS code was set the exact time we had the check engine light.
I learned that either I don’t know how to pull all the codes from the dash or there are some codes only a reader hooked to the OBD will show.
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A reader is necessary to maximize the information, but if there is a Pro-Driver or message center you should get good basic information.
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