Hello All,

Pulled all the batteries out,(coach and engine) last week to clean/prep/paint the battery trays. Also found some corroded cables and one broken cable end. Went back with new hardware, and charged the batteries before putting them back in as they had been sitting for a week. Hooked everything up correctly,(had marked all cables). Coach would not start. Engine would not turn over with the ignition key. No display at all on the transmission pad, and a "do not shift" light on in the panel. Generator would not start by the remote start or by the start button in the coach. Engine would not start,(turn over) at the remote starting panel. Battery voltage was good all the way to the engine starter solenoid. The only way I could get the engine to run was to jump the terminals on the solenoid. Once running the ignition key would kill the engine when turned. With the engine running I still did not get any indication on the transmission select panel. Appreciate any insight/suggestions/opinions. I purchased Tom Taylor's Breakaway. 6CTA with an Allison 5 spd.

I hope your problem is not like mine was. When my Allison panel would not light up as well as no "do not shift" light my engine would not start. After much testing I determined that the ECU required repair. My ECU is a WEC II and that model is no longer in production. There are many available but all are rebuilds and cost a huge amount of money. I found a place that rebuilds them for around five hundred dollars. I sent my ECU to them and it has worked great since. If you need the information I can send you their information. There is a posting about it. Good Luck....

Thanks for the info Lance. Can't understand how just removing the batteries and reinstalling them would cause a problem with the ECU. I know the ECU has been replaced at least once already by a previous owner,(found the old one in a compartment), and found the receipt as well. If it is the ECU that will be a hard one to swallow as we have only owned this Breakaway since May of this year, and have not taken any trips in it yet. I'm hopeful that maybe I'm overlooking something obvious that is related to the batteries.

This might not be the same on the Cummins as a Cat but here is one experience:The start position of the ignition switch does two things. It puts 12v to the fuel shutoff solenoid and it energizes the starter solenoid. If you removed the positive cable from the starter you could have broken the 14ga wire that goes to the solenoid. We had this happen om a trip and a 20 cent lug ring was the answer to a road service charge. If you can jump the solenoid and then it cranks you definitily have a problem from the ignition switch to that solenoid. Of course you could also have the Bad Ground problem or a bad ignition switch. Just a thought.

Tom, that is a good point. On my Regency there is a separate cable from the chassis batteries to the ECU and I had to re-terminate it once because it was ready to break. Also since the power has been removed the ECU will no through the initial memory phase again so don't be too concerned if it doesn't shift exactly as before, it soon will. It adapts to your driving habits.

I don't know what your transmission and ECU are but I am attaching a MD3060 trouble shooting manual that may of be of help to you.

Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Lance Walton:
I don't know what your transmission and ECU are but I am attaching a MD3060 trouble shooting manual that may of be of help to you.

I have been contacted from Allison and was told that under no circumstances am I allowed to have this manual listed on our site.

This came from a Mr. Christian Litscher - Manager Global Service Technology at Allison Transmission Inc.

Responsible for development and improvement of:
Electronic and Hard tools
Sales Engineering
Technical Publications
Global Learning Management Training System

He was firm (but very polite) that these publications are off limits to posting them on any site.

Of course, that doesn't mean I can police anyone here who decides to share their knowledge about how to diagnose them from their perspective - so it's not like they can rein in our ability to help you, we just can't supply the Allison diagnostic manual to you.

I'm sorry, my hands are tied. If you post anything Allison related to mechanical diagnostics/schematics, I'll be forced to delete it. However, the owners manuals and basic flash code info from that type of a basic consumer pamphlet, still seems to be ok to pass around.

Lance, it wasn't the ECU after all. Talked with John at Transmission Instruments and was able to determine that the ECU wasn't getting power. So I went back to checking everything back to the batteries and found a bad ground connection. Transmission pad is now showing a nice bright "N". I am very impressed with John. He took the time,(during two phone calls), to walk me through the process of troubleshooting my ECU. Also found out it had been replaced in 2010, so I should be good to go for several years.

That's great news, glad to hear it.

New kink in this saga. My wife and I are traveling to Texas and at the first stop my shifting panel would not light up and the "do not shift" light was illuminated. I pushed a few of the buttons and it came alive and we progressed on. This has been the same thing at every stop along the way. I contacted the shop where I had the ECU/shifter repaired and he explained that my particular problem is not unusual. He said the dirty contacts is most often the problem. He did caution that I remove the power cables from the chassis batteries before disconnecting and reconnecting the two connectors to the ECU. I have noticed that when I turn the ignition on that the shifter does not light up. I then reach down below the unit and wiggle the wire bundle and it will eventually come alive. This is a hassle and definitely not optimal but I am hoping it keeps working until I get to a place where I can remove the unit and extensively examine the components. I will keep you all advised.