Stranded Skoolie in Kansas City

[Winkelmeyer]

Hi! New Skoolie owner here! My father-in-law bought us a Skoolie and when driving it to us, it began having trouble with transmission (Allison transmission?). They aren’t able to find anyone to work on it to get it to us! The certified Allison transmission mechanics won’t touch it because it’s been modified. So, it’s stranded in Kansas City! And we are in Arkansas. Any recommendations?!!!

[DeMac]

Originally Posted by Winkelmeyer

Hi! New Skoolie owner here! My father-in-law bought us a Skoolie and when driving it to us, it began having trouble with transmission (Allison transmission?). They aren’t able to find anyone to work on it to get it to us! The certified Allison transmission mechanics won’t touch it because it’s been modified. So, it’s stranded in Kansas City! And we are in Arkansas. Any recommendations?!!!

Welcome to skoolie.net.

What type of 'skoolie'?
Van, Dognose, Flatnose, Shuttle bus...

Tell us more about your rig.

[ewo1]

Originally Posted by DeMac

Welcome to skoolie.net.

What type of 'skoolie'?
Van, Dognose, Flatnose, Shuttle bus...

Tell us more about your rig.

Which Allison Tranny ??

What's the tranny doing...not doing???

How was it modified ???

[Winkelmeyer]

Pic of the bus

[Winkelmeyer]

Originally Posted by ewo1

Which Allison Tranny ??

What's the tranny doing...not doing???

How was it modified ???

Thank you for responding!

Here is what I know:
The bus is a Thomas Saf-T-Liner with a Cummins diesel engine 8.3 325hp 915tq with Allison MD3060 transmission. They think something is wrong with the wiring harness for the shifter? I don’t know what that means, but it won’t shift out of neutral.

They had it towed to a certified Allison mechanic but they are saying they won’t work on it due to some conversions or modifications. They won’t tow it either due to liability. I’m not sure on the modifications. He only bought it last week����*♀️ It’s a 1996 bus and the owner before worked on it himself and did the conversion.

Thanks again for the help

[Winkelmeyer]

Originally Posted by ewo1

Which Allison Tranny ??

What's the tranny doing...not doing???

How was it modified ???

Thank you for responding!

Here is what I know:
The bus is a Thomas Saf-T-Liner with a Cummins diesel engine 8.3 325hp 915tq with Allison MD3060 transmission. They think something is wrong with the wiring harness for the shifter? I don’t know what that means, but it won’t shift out of neutral.

They had it towed to a certified Allison mechanic but they are saying they won’t work on it due to some conversions or modifications. They won’t tow it either due to liability. I’m not sure on the modifications. He only bought it last week🤦🏻*♀️ It’s a 1996 bus and the owner before worked on it himself and did the conversion.

Thanks again for the help

[ewo1]

I am not an expert nor am I a professional mechanic but I'll try to help by sharing the little I have learned so far...from this forum and people here!

For starters, here is a link for the Allsion MD3060 troubleshooting manual.

start at page 170 for troubleshooting tips.

[ewo1]

So on the bottom of page 170 you will where is says, "no response to shift selector".

Those are the nutshell reasons why the trans will not go into gear.
I can only try to help you with the electrical side of things.

The fact that it lights up is good because it is telling you that power is coming from the transmission computer (TCM) and you see the "N" on the keypad.
So 1 good thing to be thankful for!

There could be several reasons why the bus stays in neutral, the two that comes to mind right up front is,
1) defect in the cable from the shift pad to TCM,
2) a safety switch not properly set which will not allow release the brakes
or
3) an open door switch.

If your bus has a wheel chair lift their will be a safety switch that requires you to FULLY depress the brake pedal in order to release the brakes and (maybe) not allow it to go into gear.



Let's go to number 3)
It you have a wheel chair lift open the side door and look for switches and see if you have any loose wires anywhere, also check the door switch too.
Check the emergency exit doors too.

I can't tell where the switches are, you will have to do your best to find them. They should be obvious to see!

Note: When you start the bus, make sure you fully depress the brake pedal, put it in gear and see what happens.


Let's go with number 1 now.
It is quite common for a wire to break in the cable from the push pad to the TCM, especially in REAR engine busses.

I personally have found two broken wires in my bus.
What to do... first you must know that the TCM has a fuse on it.
(The TCM is an aluminum box measuring about 8"x8" and has 3 connectors to it.)

The fuses are usually located right at the batteries. You should see the normal fat battery wires and then 1 or 2 smaller wires and they will have an inline fuse to them.

Pull out the fuses.

Go under the bus and you will see a "loomed" wire cable that comes out from the tranny and it should go maybe 12 inches before it goes into a connector.

Unplug the connectors and visually check for corrosion. Gently see if any of the pins feel "Loose". Both times on my bus the pins were corroded inside the connector and my easy fix was to simply cut the wires out of the connector and splice them together again.

If these simple tasks do not fix your problem then you will need to do a bit more advanced testing which will involve the use of a multimeter.

Try these things to see if anything changes. This to me would be the first thing that needs to be verified before you dive into the transmission itself.

So far we are only checking the electrical side of things, not the mechanical.
Also, triple check your trans fluid levels. This is a must do!

There is one last electrical check that can be performed and it is not hard to do but will involve a helper and some basic diagrams.

Also to keep in mind, the MD3060 requires what they call a VIM which is made up of several relays which assists in the electrical operations of the transmission. As of yet I have not seen or heard of a VIM defect so we will cross that bridge another day.

If there is something internal in the tranny, I am totally lost there!

I forgot to ask 1 other important question...You DO get an "N" on the pushpad..yes...no ???

This is important to know for troubleshooting.

[ewo1]

For informational purposes go ahead and read my thread and how I got mine fixed.
My problem was first a dead dark panel and the second time I got what is called "snake eyes".

The electrical portion of this system is really quite simple once you understand what is going on.

The thread can be found -> HERE

I forgot to post this other circuit diagram that show how when auxiliary equipment is used and forces the bus into neutral...this is for optional equipment...wheelchair maybe ???

[magnakansas]

How is this working out? Where is the bus parked? Can it sit for a day without getting towed/ticketed?

Any headway on figuring out the problem?

I am about an hour from the west side of Kansas City.

William

[ewo1]

download this md3060 operators manual and on page 23 of the PDf you will see the process on how to pull trouble codes thru the pushpad.
have a pen and paper ready because you have to count how many times the light blinks.

If you can't pull any codes then that might just serve to confirm that it might be simply cable damage. Best case scenario !

Manual is over 2mb so I cant upload...
Link-> https://www.wanderlodgeownersgroup.c...t=OM2157EN.pdf

[ewo1]

Originally Posted by magnakansas

How is this working out? Where is the bus parked? Can it sit for a day without getting towed/ticketed?

Any headway on figuring out the problem?

I am about an hour from the west side of Kansas City.

William

Makes you wanna laugh, broke down, stranded and then becomes a ghost!

LMAO...