The Slideout On My RV Will Not Open, What Is The Problem?

by Anonymous

My slider will not open. We have pushed and pulled and it will just not open I press the open button and it just makes noise.

Thank you

ANSWER: Greetings thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

Since you do not tell me what type of RV you have; I cannot tell what type of slideout system you have. There are basically two types of slideout systems that RV's have; Hydraulic or Mechanical. Which system you have depends on the size of the slideouts you have on your RV and also who manufactured your RV. So I am going to have to speak in generalities as to what the problem is with your particular slideout.

If You Have A Hydraulic Slideout System The Problems Could Be:

1. A hydraulic leak in one of the hydraulic lines or pump itself could be causing the hydraulic pump to run, but it does not have enough hydraulic fluid pressure to operate the slideout.

2. A bad hydraulic valve could again cause the hydraulic pump to run, but not enough fluid is getting to where it is suppose to, to move your slideout out.

3. A bad hydraulic pump. The noise you are hearing could be the pump trying to start up. Since you are hearing a noise when you press the slideout switch, I am not going to suggest that you check for a blown fuse.

If You Have A Mechanical Slideout System The Problems Could Be:

1. The shear pin on the main gear that moves the slideout has broken. The motor will run but the gear on the slideout motor will not operate so the slideout will not move. This is such a common problem with mechanical slideout systems that a lot of RVers carry spare shear pins with them.

2. The gear box on the system has gone bad; so again the motor runs but nothing moves.

So now that you know what the possible problems are what should you do? My suggestion is to take it to a qualified RV Technician and have them take a look at it and do the needed repairs. If I knew exactly what type of system you have I could give you some more specific steps to take, but I don't so you need to have some expert eyes take a look and help you out. The one thing I can say is that you are very lucky that the problem occurred with the slide in the in position; so you can drive it to have someone look at it.

Hopefully the above information has been helpful to you.

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Happy RVing

RVing Al