[Glenn and Laureen]

To bring this thread up to date and closer to a conclusion, Laureen and I ended up replacing all 12 MAC valves in the front and rear six packs on our 1984 Classic Newell. The air bags now stay inflated at all corners for weeks at a time. All the down valves were leaking and the travel valves' housing cases had some issues as well (our MAC travel valves had little plastic adjustable wheels in the top of the housing, some of which blew out after we replaced the down valves).

However, the remaining problem is that my house air system leaks out completely within an hour or so of turning off the engine (and therefore our only compressor). The air bags stay inflated so we stay up at all corners. The brake system loses air slowly over the course of a week or so, slowly going from 120 down to a little above 60 psi. Both the brake system and the house system fill to 120 psi quickly after starting the engine.

It takes about 8 minutes for the house system to go from 120 down to 95 and then back up to 120 when the engine is running. The compressor seems to take only about 30 seconds to get from 95 back up to 120 when the governor lets it kick in to top off the system. So the house system spends about 7 1/2 minutes losing air from 120 psi down to 95 and then about 30 seconds to air up again to 120.

The ride height valves work properly when starting the engine and the up and down valves work properly to level the system with our dash console mounted toggle switches. The air bags stay inflated. So, my big remaining issue right now is why the house air system loses all air within an hour or so of the engine being turned off. I will explore the house air system "upstream" between the height control valves and the engine mounted air compressor to see if I find any leaks and may replace the governor also, although it seems to be working properly by keeping the psi in the 95-120 psi range when the engine is running.

Also, the Skinner valves (as I called them) seem to be a redundant system to the MAC down/exhaust valves. Laureen and I kept the Skinners plumbed in when we replaced all the MACs. (I wore a belt AND suspenders when I was a wee skinny fellow in elementary school.)

In other news, we have replaced 3 of our 4 electric heaters in the past few days and will complete the 4th trade out tomorrow. We are putting in the King PAW (pick a watt) 120 v heaters with the adjustable 250-1500 wattage as has been mentioned elsewhere on this site. We should also complete the installation of LED lights and strips throughout most of the coach in the next couple of days.

Finally, regarding the ignition switch problem, Laureen replaced the ignition switch and figured out the wiring (with help from Guy and others). She also managed to get the headlight bright/dimmer switch rod on the steering column back in place and functioning correctly. I don't plan on driving at night much but it is good to have that working (and a better understanding of how it works). Again, thanks to several Gurus for advice on the dimmer switch rod and how to fix it.