[Larry & Diane]

Herb, I am not trying to sell our seminar, but situations you mention are covered and your broken glass cost more than the seminar.

The answers are as follows. The air lock can be defeated by dumping air in the coach. You can turn the coach off in the engine compartment by using the three position switch on the RH side of the big electric box. It has a front, rear and off position. Put it in the off position and the bus shuts down.

You can bleed air from the coach if you have a fitting for an air hose by bleeding it from there, or use the Schrader valve in the steer compartment which might take a little more time but does the same thing.

You need to bleed only accessory air so if you cannot access the steer compartment because the keys to those doors are locked in the coach, loosen the air lines that feed the belt tensioners in the engine compartment, radiator shutters, or any air other than the brake system.

As a practice I never ever use the air lock except when inside the coach. I also never leave the coach without its keys in my pocket even though I have the push button door locks or the remote door lock. As long as the keys are in my pocket I have options.

[Archived]

If the air lock button is engaged and you lose air in time and start the coach and go outside it will lock as soon as aux air is supply gets high enough so u will be locked out the only way in is to shut down coach from rear like Jon said and drain the aux air in the steering compartment the keys will not get u in bus door but will get you in steering bay

[Darrell]

Hi Peter on my 1994 XL when you shut off the battery disconnect the door unlocks. That is if the engine is shut off. I wouldn’t try to disconnect my batteries with the engine running. Thanks again for the help.

[TERRY]

Yes I know that but don’t engage the lock if the air leaks out because you may forget and start bus and air will build up and lock you out , then you will either have to turn power off or drain aux air was just trying to help you sorry if I was not understanding

[Archived]

This very thing happened to me in Jackson Hole one year.

Had the aux air off at night, got up to go get breakfast and punched the door lock to unlock the door but it was already unlocked, so I acttually locked it then turned on the aux air to help level the coach and left.

Got back and couldn’t get in coach, no way no how. Went to a local glass company/paint store to see about removing a window and thank goodness they couldn’t get there till after lunch so went back to coach to see what I could do.

Found a paint bucket holder for a ladder at a paint store that was bent just right to stick between the sliding passenger door windows and pull up on the little lever that unlocks the window and I could slide it open then reach in and hit the door lock button.

99 Country Coach had a pannel of switches by the passanger seat that has the door lock button on it.

So now I carry a spare door key and a spare bay door key in one of those magnetic key holders I have under the bumper in the back where I can reach under the coach and get to it.

Now if it happens again, I can unlock the bay door that houses my aux compressor swithch and electric bleed valve to empty the compressor and presto, I am back in the coach.

[Dorel]

Hey Peter and Buddy, this is great getting all the input and I love hearing the stories .

I left out a small detail in my original post,the sliding window in our slide out must broken years ago and replaced with lexan or plexiglass and it was cut to small it had a 1/4″ gap when closed.We work until November and this far north it can be as cold as 0 to 10 degrees F so I new I had to deal with it sooner or later. Barb and I work 14 to 16 hrs a day without days off ( 7 days a week) except maybe heavy rain days so sooner was a better time to fix it, so you can guess witch window was picked. For $500 Canadian ($50 US)and a half hour of my time I had it fixed and have enough lexan for another window with no wind leaks.

Now getting back to the air lock, since this happened we only use it for OTR to cut down wind noise but our grandchildren all four of them aging 1 through 6 come and stay with us now and again and they love buttons and switches! And I can guess maybe Barb or i could somehow actavate it an not know.I have sworn to check to be sure it is in the open position before I start the bus but I know I could forget. I will make a prestart list one of these days!

[Archived]

Jon, ok, what and where is this mystery air lock switch.I just reviewed my notes from Al and I do not have anything referring to it. And yes, I never leave the coach without keys (yes, more than one) scattered about, pocket, car, hidden key..

[Larry]

BA, help the boy’s out, I thought they did a video of the check out process and it should be on their Iphones.

[Archived]

Tand B… on our coaches the door air lock is automatically disengaged when we shut down or open the door.

The door lock being discussed is on XL coaches and in addition to providing security when you are in the coach, it is often used to minimize air noise from driving at highway speeds.

That lock can be activated manually using a switch inside the coach. On our coaches we do not have a means of manually controlling the air lock.

[Ted]

Thanks Jon, I thought I was missing out on the fun stuff of this mystery switch but I guess not!

T & B