Seems my Allison does not like being cold. I had moved it last night to burn leaves. When I started it this morning it will not shift to gear either forward or reverse. When it has been cooler it ussually takes 30 secoends or so to go in gear 42 degrees this AM. Any thoughts or suggestions.
I'd imagine it will go in gear when I try it tonight when it warms to 60. I am leaving on a trip tonight but the temps are going to be colder than this going forward.

I see you have listed that you have a MD3060 trans, not sure what the Allison 2000 is in reference to.

If your idle is set to high, the computer for the MD3060 will not allow it to go into gear. forward or reverse is locked out.

If you are holding the idle a bit high or the idle is adjusted to close to the lockout point, that may be the root cause. Maybe with cold weather the mechanical stop moves up the idle.

On mine I have the idle set about 800 and it is VERY close to the 3060 lockout RPM, if I so much as nudge the throttle in neutral, it will not go into gear.

HTGH

Ed,
You are absolutly correct I do have the Allison 3060 6 speed. Where in my mind I came up with the 2000 this AM. I had seen info on the idle speed. I know it has been balky when I tried it when eve the temp dips and maybe she idles a little higher. Just holding it longer would make her go to gear. This morning no amount of holding would make it shift. Thanks for the response.

OK, I performed a test on mine and I am reasonably certain my trans is correct and would be representative of most MD3060 built in the very early 90's.

Also consider that most tachs are notoriously inaccurate.

My normal idle speed is 800 RPM, I reset the idle speed after I had a number of engine stalls because the idle adjustment had worn enough so that the throttle stop was very close to fuel shutoff on the P pump. When I re-adjusted the idle stop, it was very hard to get exactly at 750 RPM, so I settled on the higher side.

Testing today, if I moved the engine RPM up to 900 RPM, and punch either the D or R button, the number 6 or R would blink and the warning whistle would sound, even letting off the throttle to normal idle, I had to shift back to neutral and then re-select either D or R to get it into gear at normal idle speed.

You did not mention a blinking indicator when yours did not go into gear so maybe the baulky shifting is not an idle speed problem.

If you turn on the key and hold down both the up arrow and down arrow together (simultaneously) briefly, the computer will enter the diagnostic mode and will report any store fault codes present.

The display should first show a D 1, then if no codes are stored is will indicate - -. If it indicate a series of numbers such as 3 5 followed by a 0 0, that would indicate a power interruption.

If you see the - - then briefly touch the mode button and advance the program to D 2, the sane sequence should happen, again if you see - - keep touching the mode button until you get through D 5. If you see nothing D 1 through D 5 except - - then you have no stored error codes and your trans should operate normally.

If you have codes stored, record them and if you do not have the code book, I have them and could tell you what they mean. They are also on my website but forgot the link, traveling now so don't have my main computer.

OK after all that you can get out of the diagnostic mode by again pushing the up and down arrow buttons simultaneously or pressing the neutral button.

If you have code values stored and have recorded them for your reference, and you are still in the diagnostic mode, you may clear all the stored codes by hold down the mode button for 10 seconds. You will hear a tone about 8 seconds and then a second tone about 10 seconds. Wait until you hear the second tone before releasing the mode button. Then press the neutral button to exit the diagnostic mode.

It is always good to drive the coach immediately after clearing the code and then recheck to insure the codes do not come back, if they do, you have a maintenance issue.

Hope all this helps.

Thanks Ed,
When I got home went to gear with no problem. When it does not shift no buzzer, beep or anything. I have been boondocking with no internet.

I very much appreciate the the time and info. I will check the diagnostic codes and see if it has anything recorded in the next couple days.

From the limited experience it honestly seems to be sensing cooler temp. May be as simple as letting it warm up more before trying to shift and take off.

Thanks

Dana, have you noticed your air pressure when it will not shift. On my coach, if it has set long enough to loose air pressure below about 80PSI, the transmission will not shift until the air pressure has built up.

Nick

Full Air before I try and shift.. thats the way we did it out on the farm

quote:

Originally posted by Nick Cagle:
Dana, have you noticed your air pressure when it will not shift. On my coach, if it has set long enough to loose air pressure below about 80PSI, the transmission will not shift until the air pressure has built up.

Nick

Good point Nick! I have never tried to shift mine without air pressure, will try that this morning.

I have never had any trouble, getting mine into gear even when in Canada and temperatures were in the low 20's.

I am not sure about any lock out for low temperature, BUT there is a shift pattern change that will be obvious until the trans warms up. It will delay up-shifts in the lower gears during acceleration.

The only thing the operators manual states about low temperature operation is shifting from forward to reverse.

Below-7C (19F) When shifting from forward to reverse, first select neutral then select reverse, When shifting from reverse to forward, first select neutral then D or other forward gears.

It further states if this procedure is not followed The "check trans" light will light and the trans will be restricted to neutral.

Nothing is stated about cold weather restricting selection of gears either forward or reverse from neutral on start up.

Dana,
Mine seems to do the same thing as yours, so I am following this post with anticipation of a possible cause. I have found that I just need to let the coach sit for a few minutes longer when it is cold outside to warm up a bit more and I do not have that problem.
I always do the shift pattern that Ed refers to. I have learned that the trans seems to operate better when shifted to neutral before going to an opposite moving direction. It also assures that the coach is stopped in one motion before engaging it into another.
One day I am going to get brave enough to check the trans computer for diagnostic fault codes. I am just afraid that if I do something wrong I will leave the coach inoperable. I need to do this when someone is around that knows how to navigate thru the system. Not that I have a problem other than shifting into gear when it is cold, but it would be good to know that things are what they are supposed to be and that the trans is set properly.

quote:

Originally posted by Dana:
Seems my Allison does not like being cold. I had moved it last night to burn leaves. When I started it this morning it will not shift to gear either forward or reverse. When it has been cooler it ussually takes 30 secoends or so to go in gear 42 degrees this AM. Any thoughts or suggestions.
I'd imagine it will go in gear when I try it tonight when it warms to 60. I am leaving on a trip tonight but the temps are going to be colder than this going forward.

Dana, I noticed that you have a Banks PowerPack on a 5.9L Cummins. What was the base HP of the engine before you installed the PowerPack? I am mulling over whether I should or can install a PowerPack on my 6BTA5.9 with an Allison AT646.

quote:

Dana, I noticed that you have a Banks PowerPack on a 5.9L Cummins. What was the base HP of the engine before you installed the PowerPack? I am mulling over whether I should or can install a PowerPack on my 6BTA5.9 with an Allison AT646.

Steve Base 5.9 was 230 the Power Pack is set up about 280 hp. I believe Gary Carter has his so it will crank out 400. He has cranked it down so it doesn't tear things up. I believe you have the 4 speed transmission and I don't know if it will be able to handle extra horse power. There would be many others out there with more expertise on the 4 speed.


Okay now here are the tests I did on the tranny this evening. 45 degrees

Started DBarth 1st thing you can not put the parking brake off until you reach near full pressure on tank one at least.

Even with the pressure low I was able to shift into reverse with the parking brake on. It would not go into forward. So the answer is it will shift with low air.

I let it build to full pressure in both tanks and it still would not go to forward. It would still go to reverse. I shifted to reverse and held in place for a few minutes. Then if I held the forward button for 45 seconds it would shift to gear.

Bruce
One day I am going to get brave enough to check the trans computer for diagnostic fault codes. I am just afraid that if I do something wrong I will leave the coach inoperable. I need to do this when someone is around that knows how to navigate thru the system. Not that I have a problem other than shifting into gear when it is cold, but it would be good to know that things are what they are supposed to be and that the trans is set properly.

Bruce don't be afraid to run the modes and codes. I ran the modes and codes when I had trouble on the way back from Yuma. I did it this time the same way just like Ed suggested and there are no codes recorded so no faults for computer.

So if I read everything right I have no problem but DBarth's Allison 3060 6 speed just don't like being cold or even cool. If it doesn't shift let it warm up until it does and hold the button down as long as it takes to get it to shift???

It's a long winter in Minnesnowta. On temperate days I may wade thru the snow and maybe check and clean all the electronic connections computer connections to see if that makes things better! Anybody have any other ideas or suggestions??