# Slide Out Troubleshooting by Mechanism Schwintek in wall, Lippert through frame hydraulic, rack and pinion, cable and BAL Accu Slide all fail differently. Identify the mechanism first, then read the symptom. ## Identify the Mechanism First Every slide out symptom means something different depending on the mechanism moving the room, so identification comes first. Look at the room's side walls from inside with the room partially out: vertical toothed tracks on both side jambs mean a Schwintek in wall system. Look under the room from outside: a hydraulic cylinder and hoses running to a pump mean a through frame hydraulic room, a horizontal geared rail means rack and pinion, and cables at the corners with a synchronizing bar mean a cable driven room. Note the brand and the model plate too. Lippert, Power Gear, HWH, Schwintek and BAL Accu Slide all appear across the same model years, sometimes on the same coach for different rooms. Photograph the plate and the controller before you call. Then check the obvious before diagnosis: house battery state of charge under load rather than resting voltage, and whether the coach is level. A room that stalls at 12.0 volts under load and cycles fine on shore power is a power problem, not a mechanism problem. ## Schwintek In Wall Schwintek moves the room with two independent motors driving vertical worm gear tracks in the side walls. Its characteristic failure is loss of synchronization: one side leads, the room racks in the opening, and the controller either stalls or throws a fault. Common causes are a low battery, a dirty or dry track, a failed motor, a broken track tooth, or a room that has sagged so the tracks are no longer parallel. The controller sees current and position, and it cannot distinguish a jam from a sag. The correct sequence is mechanical before electrical. Clean and inspect both tracks over their full travel, verify the room's vertical alignment in the opening with a level and a tape from a fixed reference, check both motor connectors for corrosion, and only then look at the controller. Replacing a Schwintek motor before checking track alignment usually just destroys the new motor. Motor and track assemblies typically run one to three weeks on order. Labor is mechanical and electrical at $260 per hour, plus diagnostic time at $285 if the controller needs scan work. ## Hydraulic Through Frame Hydraulic through frame rooms use a cylinder anchored to the chassis pushing a carriage on rollers, fed by a pump with a manifold of solenoid valves. Symptoms sort by pattern. All rooms and levelers dead points at pump power, the pump motor solenoid or reservoir level. One room dead while others work points at that room's valve coil or its wiring. A room that drifts in overnight points at a leaking cylinder seal or a valve not holding, and slow uneven travel points at air in the circuit or low fluid. Hydraulic work is dirty and specific. Fluid level gets checked with the rooms in, not out, because rooms out means fluid is sitting in the cylinders. Seal kits and cylinders for Lippert and HWH systems typically arrive within one to two weeks. Bleeding the circuit after a cylinder replacement takes real time and multiple full cycles. Because a hydraulic manifold usually also feeds the leveling jacks, any pump or reservoir repair means retesting all of it, which is why systems work spans 3 business days to 2 weeks. ## Rack, Cable and Accu Slide Rack and pinion rooms use a motor driving a gear across a toothed rail, with a second rail keeping the room square. They fail at the gearbox, at a stripped rail section, or from debris packed into the teeth. Cable driven rooms pull the room in and out through cables at all four corners, and their signature symptom is a room that will not seal at the top or the bottom because cable tension has drifted. Cable tension adjustment is a measured procedure with a sequence, not a matter of tightening what looks loose. BAL Accu Slide runs a cable and drum system under the floor, and it fails when a cable frays at the drum or the drum spool loses its wrap. That repair means getting under the coach on a lift with the room supported, which is one reason we do not attempt slide mechanism work at a customer location. Across all mechanisms, inspect the room's seals and wipers while it is apart. A bulb seal that has taken a permanent set is a water intrusion path, and it is cheap to replace while the room is out. ## Controller Learn Modes Most electronic slide controllers hold a learned travel profile: how many motor revolutions or how much time each side needs to reach full extension and full retraction. After a motor swap, a track replacement, a controller replacement or a dead battery event, that profile is wrong, and the room will stall, chatter or fault even though every part is good. Running the documented learn or reset procedure re establishes it. On Schwintek and several Lippert controllers this is a specific button and hold sequence, done on stable shore power. A learn cycle is not a repair. If the room is racked because the coach frame flexes on unlevel ground, if a track tooth is broken, or if a cable is frayed, the controller will relearn a bad profile and the room will fail again at a worse moment. Diagnostics, scan and programming bills at $285 per hour with a one hour minimum, and we would rather spend that hour proving the mechanism is right first. The RV systems estimate is $150 and is credited against authorized work. --- Source: https://ocrv.club/guides/slide-out-troubleshooting-by-mechanism-type OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887 Phone (949) 799-3387. Email info@ocrvcenter.com. Serving Hacienda Heights and the surrounding area. 18.4 miles, 24 to 38 minutes via SR-60 west to Fullerton Rd, then south to La Palma Ave. In shop work only. All estimates are priced and credited against an authorized repair.