LevelUP forgetting what level is

[jfaberna]

I've had several occasions this year when the Level UP Hydraulic system has forgotten what level is and I've had to enter manual mode to make the RV level using a bubble level.

My conversations with LCI have not yielded a fix, but yesterday, with the coach level I reset level using the 10 up/down clicks and it entered calibration mode and reestablished level. I then retracted the rear jacks and lowered the front jack, before testing auto level and this time it worked.

I got some information from LCI that they thought my rear level sensor had possibly broken off and was dangling causing this problem.

I though there was only 1 level sensor and it was up front in the battery compartment alone with the hydraulic pump. A Mobile RV tech I talked to says there is no rear sensor he knows about, just the front one.

Anyone know for sure?

[cotter key]

Believe me there is a rear sensor!!! Mine had come loose and was laying partly on the bracket and partly on the coroplast showing one side was way to high.

I could use manual mode until it started showing so far out of level and say to much angle. LCI tech said its either loose or a faulty sensor, and new one is $200 plus.

[jfaberna]

Originally Posted by cotter key

Believe me there is a rear sensor!!! Mine had come loose and was laying partly on the bracket and partly on the coroplast showing one side was way to high.

I could use manual mode until it started showing so far out of level and say to much angle. LCI tech said its either loose or a faulty sensor, and new one is $200 plus.

Okay, did you replace it yourself or use a RV Tech?

I've never dropped the underbelly and I don't want to screw something up doing that. But I also don't want to pay a Tech $150/hr to do it.

Any advice?

[cotter key]

I drilled a 1/2 inch hole and used a borescope to narrow the search, started at the last crossmember before the fresh water tank and moved forward till i found what I thought was it.

It was between the spare tire hanger and the rear axle, cut a roughly 12 by 12 flap like and could see and reach it to reattach. Cleaned flap with alcohol and taped up with Gorilla Tape, so far its all good.

I would have had to drop a lot of coroplast, braces for the water tank, and spare tire hanger to even get it otherwise.

[jfaberna]

Originally Posted by cotter key

I drilled a 1/2 inch hole and used a borescope to narrow the search, started at the last crossmember before the fresh water tank and moved forward till i found what I thought was it.

It was between the spare tire hanger and the rear axle, cut a roughly 12 by 12 flap like and could see and reach it to reattach. Cleaned flap with alcohol and taped up with Gorilla Tape, so far its all good.

I would have had to drop a lot of coroplast, braces for the water tank, and spare tire hanger to even get it otherwise.

Thanks for the information. I just ordered a borescope that attaches to my Android phone. I'll look around for the sensor just like you did. I've had success using gorilla tape on the coroplast after cleaning it good with alcohol.

[Carl n Susan]

From the LCI Level UP Installation manual (in the Files Section) there is this reference to the rear sensor.

Rear Sensor
The rear sensor must be installed on the crossmember
to the rear of the back axle, centered from curbside
to roadside on the trailer with the arrows on the top of
the sensor pointing the correct direction. Orientation is
imperative for the correct operation of the leveling system

And here is a wiring diagram showing it's relationship to the entire system.

[jfaberna]

Originally Posted by Carl n Susan

From the LCI Level UP Installation manual (in the Files Section) there is this reference to the rear sensor.

Rear Sensor
The rear sensor must be installed on the crossmember
to the rear of the back axle, centered from curbside
to roadside on the trailer with the arrows on the top of
the sensor pointing the correct direction. Orientation is
imperative for the correct operation of the leveling system

And here is a wiring diagram showing it's relationship to the entire system.

Attachment 9322

Thanks for the information. I'll get the installation manual to make sure I reattach the sensor correctly.

Thanks to all for their help.

[richfaa]

We have a rear sensor and I saw them with my own eyes and on the assembly line at the Montana plant.

[jfaberna]

So I got the borescope and it was a piece of junk. The underbelly is too dark to see anything. However, I did find the beam with the rear sensor attached to it and it was solid. I unplugged the cable from the sensor and it seemed well connected. I reattached and retracted the rears and then raise the front. Autolevel worked fine and brought it back level.

Maybe the sensor is intermittent. I did find out that with the rear sensor unplugged you get an error on the control panel.

At this point I'm going to tape up the holes I made and live with it the next few trips out.

I hate to spend $219 on a new sensor not knowing if that is the problem.

[cotter key]

Not much help but at least now you know it is secure, I know when I talked to the tech he pretty much said "either loose or bad sensor", and at that time i didn't know.

Now that you know its secure I don't know if there is some test they can have you do or not but thats something to keep in mind. Hopefully just a bad connection. I'll be curious to see how yours plays out so keep us informed.

Good Luck

[ChuckS]

Typical remote rear sensor mounting for Lippert six point hydraulic leveler system.

If you disconnect the rear sensor and do an auto level you will get “external sensor error”

Reseating the connection may have corrected the issue. There is NO filed test per say to verify the sensor is good or bad. It either works or it doesn’t ..according to Lippert Tech support..

Image is from my fifth wheel

[bcrvman]

Originally Posted by jfaberna

So I got the borescope and it was a piece of junk. The underbelly is too dark to see anything. However, I did find the beam with the rear sensor attached to it and it was solid. I unplugged the cable from the sensor and it seemed well connected. I reattached and retracted the rears and then raise the front. Autolevel worked fine and brought it back level.

Maybe the sensor is intermittent. I did find out that with the rear sensor unplugged you get an error on the control panel.

At this point I'm going to tape up the holes I made and live with it the next few trips out.

I hate to spend $219 on a new sensor not knowing if that is the problem.

Remember for autolevel to work, the nose has to be able to go BELOW level to orient the level up system. My autolevel would not work where I am because I am parked on a very sloped lot. I had to dig holes in the gravel to get it to go low enough and also raised the rear as much as I was comfortable with.

[hrl43]

My system went haywire on me for no obvious reason and I had success with
resetting the system by completely disconnecting the power to it (including battery) for a few minutes and has worked fine since then. Much like restarting a computer.

[tom woodward]

I don't know if you have the electric levels like we do but I had the same problem. I read somewhere that the jacks have to extend a minimum of 6" for it not to get all kattywompous. I was putting 6" blocks (I made) under the jacks and they weren't extending but about 3-4". Since then I made sure they extend at least 6" and I've had no problem.

[Wisconsin Retiree]

I learned this past weekend that before using Auto level make sure the trailer front is elevated at the very least a couple inches or more above mid point before u begin. Especially, if you are in a situation where the ground slope under trailer front is up higher than the rear. Otherwise, if skeptical use manual level process. My issue was front dipped down on Auto level until the pads were sucked all the way in and would not finish leveling up. Instead, pad screen read grounding fault and continued to attempt to relevel but kept failing and then pad would time out and stop process.. I was worried about the motor getting so warm & burning out. I left it alone to cool down for a bit and upon return when u push manual to attempt to raise everything back the relays would just click when pushed but motor would not raise legs up. Everything had power, relays, both sides of the motor would receive up & down power but just clicks. I waited for my jack of ALL trades brother to arrive. He figured it out in minutes. He stated the check ball in the hydraulic system had too much pressure put on it from pushing down on the legs and was not able to move the fluid to raise up. Extremely carefully, he ever so gently gave some short tiny taps on motor & each tap the system purged up a 1/4 to half inch until it finally started to slowly raise on its own and then began to push fluid as normal. All is well and working normal so I just did a manual level at that site and Auto level at the next location. I guess we could have attempted to release pressure by cracking a line but that would have been very messy?? I could not find anything on the web or Lippert info on front jacks grounding error. Thank God for my Bro!

[jfaberna]

When I bought my 2014 in Dec of 2013 the tech at the PDI told me what LCI said to do and then he told me what worked. I've been using a mixed of that advice for 7 years. Only recently have I had problems.

What has always worked in the past on slightly un-level sites is to raise the front to get it unhitched, move the truck, then press auto level. That way the LCI system remembers what height you unhitched at. So when it's time to hitch up, you press the right and left arrows at the same time to return to the height where you unhitched. That's a feature on the Hydraulic LevelUP.

However, I've found that it's best the let the pin ride up the front part of the Reese plate to guarantee a perfect hitch up, at least on my hitch type. So the return to unhitch position is not that useful.

What the tech said years ago was to raise the pin to unhitch, move the truck so then the trailer dips during the leveling process it wouldn't hit the bed. Then auto level. For hitch up he said to always retract the rear first, then adjust the front for hitching up.

I won't know if mine is fixed until I test it on a few different sites the next time we camp.

However, if I hit auto level and the front dives way down, I hit the power button on the LCI panel before it reaches the stops. Then I level using manual mode.

If you get an error about you are too unlevel, but you know it's your sensors, you can tell the system you are level and then that should give you some degrees to bring it to level using manual mode and a bubble level. After it's really level, reset the level again.