Lynn1130
Well-known member
For those of you (us) who have the Banks Exhaust Brake on your TV here is a little tip that may save some trouble shooting, I am not talking about the plug and play Banks system but rather the mechanical/electric system.
My first indication that something was wrong was when at the first startup with the truck, I did not hear the exhaust butterfly cycle. I spent an hour or more on the phone with Banks troubleshooting the system and we found that when the key is first turned, the brake system is looking for a very specific voltage and I do mean very specific. If the voltage is a tenth of a volt off the system does not work. Mine was off by about two tenths of a volt. There is a safety reason for this but I won't go into the long story. Bottom line to all of this is that if your batteries in the truck are tired the brake system does not see the correct voltage it will refuse to operate. My batteries, at the time were about 18 months old and at the usual "fail" time for batteries in the desert (please no lecture on batteries here). I changed out the batteries and the problem went away. Until about a week ago. My brake would not work. 22 months from installing the last batteries. I took the batteries back to Costco and sure enough, tired and ready to go. New batteries and the brake system is back to normal.
So, if you turn the key one morning and do not hear the usual air pump come on, start looking at your batteries.
My first indication that something was wrong was when at the first startup with the truck, I did not hear the exhaust butterfly cycle. I spent an hour or more on the phone with Banks troubleshooting the system and we found that when the key is first turned, the brake system is looking for a very specific voltage and I do mean very specific. If the voltage is a tenth of a volt off the system does not work. Mine was off by about two tenths of a volt. There is a safety reason for this but I won't go into the long story. Bottom line to all of this is that if your batteries in the truck are tired the brake system does not see the correct voltage it will refuse to operate. My batteries, at the time were about 18 months old and at the usual "fail" time for batteries in the desert (please no lecture on batteries here). I changed out the batteries and the problem went away. Until about a week ago. My brake would not work. 22 months from installing the last batteries. I took the batteries back to Costco and sure enough, tired and ready to go. New batteries and the brake system is back to normal.
So, if you turn the key one morning and do not hear the usual air pump come on, start looking at your batteries.