04-15-2026, 11:35 AM
Had a little scare on our way to Richmond, VA. Taking I81 which is hilly as heck. Just outside Roanoke, the Allison keypad starts dinging and then goes blank, except for two vertical division signs. None of the buttons work. Automatically assumed in my panic that it was stuck in 6th. I was afraid it would bog down exiting 81. So, I did what any other 1999 Newell owner would do….call Richard of course. He corrected my description and told me those were called Cateyes and I was screwed. Ok not exactly. He agreed with my decision to not stop until I found a safe spot. Our planned campground was out in Buchanon (back in site). I decided to press on to Richmond. I knew worst case there’s a decent Allison service place. Not stopping brought about an interesting issue to a 60 plus guy that loves coffee and needed a bathroom. I sacrificed a couple bicycle water bottles as my wife relayed them to the bathroom. I decided to do a trial run coming to a stop in a rest stop. Luckily it downshifted and went back up again leaving the parking lot. Arrived at the Allison dealer after closing. Parked, shut it off and began diagnosing based on Richard’s suggestion. Spot on as usual. I plugged and reseated the plug on the back of the pad and on the TCM. started the coach and the pad came back to life. I looked up how to check codes with the pad (Richard) and it threw a 2312: shift selector or cable fault to TCM, Cateyes may display. Since we had a long way to go on this trip, I decided to have their tech do a diagnostic the next morning. They basically found exactly what Richard said in between telling me none of these parts (keypad, TCM) were in stock. Too old. We cleared the code and I thanked them by scratching out a $450 check, that hurt. So I left still afraid it will happen again and looking up where I can send the computer and keypad for rebuild just in case. I’ve attached their diagnostic sheet if that helps. 50 miles so far and it’s working fine! Fingers crossed.
Mark & Linda Power
Coach 526
1999 Newell

