Reverse Solenoid Problem?
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 5:47 pm
So we had made it to camp. It was a bad site, though. The sewer hookup was literally up-hill of my tank outlet. Poop won't travel up hill. So we decided a few days later to move to a site 4 over.
Everything was going great. The bus started right up (that third battery makes a world of difference) and I was doing my best to re-park in the new spot. I got a bit fancy with it and it bit me. I found myself trying to get a better angle to reverse into the site. I had the nose of the bus about 5 feet from a cottage. Suddenly I press the reverse button to shift into reverse and no joy. All I get is second. I confirmed this many times by getting closer and closer to the cottage.
I gave up when I was about 6 inches from the cottage. At that point I had traced the power from the button to through the fuse. I changed a battery (though there was never a loss of power as I stopped and started her several times). I gave up and called my mechanic who said that if I could find the reverse solenoid I could perhaps manually push the arm that would allow me to get into reverse. We texted back and forth. I couldn't get to it from underneath because it sits on top of the transmission. I opened the access panel in the bedroom to get above the transmission but was even more confused by everything I saw. My mechanic sent me a picture of what the solenoid would look like but the engine in the picture was so new it shined like the sun.
I gave up and we called a tow to pull us back into the spot. We found a great guy with a large boom and winch. As I waited for him to show I gave her one more look through the panel and decided maybe I shouldn't look for solenoids but arms. So I found this and fiddled with it: The arm was partially out, so I pulled it all the way out. Then I thought I'd better push it back in so I didn't damage anything. It moved waaaaaaay to easily for my taste. It was like pushing/pulling on nothing. I don't even know if that was the solenoid or not. All I know is that the tow guy winched me back into the site and I was crooked so I asked him if I could pull forward, straighten up, then have him winch me back again. He agreed. I straightened out the bus and just for giggles attempted to shift to reverse.......and it worked right away. So I backed up under my own power.
My mechanic is dumbfounded. I was able to shift into 1st and 2nd, no problem. There was no lack of power. What happened?
Everything was going great. The bus started right up (that third battery makes a world of difference) and I was doing my best to re-park in the new spot. I got a bit fancy with it and it bit me. I found myself trying to get a better angle to reverse into the site. I had the nose of the bus about 5 feet from a cottage. Suddenly I press the reverse button to shift into reverse and no joy. All I get is second. I confirmed this many times by getting closer and closer to the cottage.
I gave up when I was about 6 inches from the cottage. At that point I had traced the power from the button to through the fuse. I changed a battery (though there was never a loss of power as I stopped and started her several times). I gave up and called my mechanic who said that if I could find the reverse solenoid I could perhaps manually push the arm that would allow me to get into reverse. We texted back and forth. I couldn't get to it from underneath because it sits on top of the transmission. I opened the access panel in the bedroom to get above the transmission but was even more confused by everything I saw. My mechanic sent me a picture of what the solenoid would look like but the engine in the picture was so new it shined like the sun.
I gave up and we called a tow to pull us back into the spot. We found a great guy with a large boom and winch. As I waited for him to show I gave her one more look through the panel and decided maybe I shouldn't look for solenoids but arms. So I found this and fiddled with it: The arm was partially out, so I pulled it all the way out. Then I thought I'd better push it back in so I didn't damage anything. It moved waaaaaaay to easily for my taste. It was like pushing/pulling on nothing. I don't even know if that was the solenoid or not. All I know is that the tow guy winched me back into the site and I was crooked so I asked him if I could pull forward, straighten up, then have him winch me back again. He agreed. I straightened out the bus and just for giggles attempted to shift to reverse.......and it worked right away. So I backed up under my own power.
My mechanic is dumbfounded. I was able to shift into 1st and 2nd, no problem. There was no lack of power. What happened?