Community Forums

royboy · 06-25-2012, 05:25 PM

04 coach, park, turn off engine, key to accessory, turn on hwh panel, press any button on hwh control panel and everything goes off, the refer, etc. The turn signal arrows and the high beam lights in the dash panel start blinking, the neutral light in the trans shift pad lights up and there is a high pitched whistle sound somewhere in the dash! I turned off both 12V kill switches and the whistle still goes on. The coach won't start, the slides won't go out and the jacks won't go down. Any Ideas?

Old Scout · 06-25-2012, 05:37 PM

OK--after a re-read, you may be having some sort of problem with the VANSCO comm/power distro system on your coach. I dont have a background/experience with the Vansco but have read that you can sometimes recycle/reset the modules by turning off the chassis bat switch [as you have done] wait a bit and turn the switch back on. I am sure someone with Vansco experience will be on shortly to help. According, the info below may not be useful....

Some of the symptoms you describe suggest very low house battery voltage but the dash issues suggest the chassis bats are low---too??????. Wild guess--your house bats are very low, or 2, your HWH pump/relays are bad and shorting out the house system but in this case, a direct short should have blown the HWH fuses. Almost nothing works with the two bat kill switches off [except for the buzzer????]. Need more info--what voltage are your house bats at? [12.8 full, 12.2 half, 11.4 or below--drained].

royboy · 06-25-2012, 05:59 PM

Thanks for the response. House and engine batts are both at 13.8. I went to the hwh web site thinking there is something bad in the hwh control panel and it shows the panel and there is also a control box for the hwh that has fuses and a reset button, etc. I can not find it. Does anyone know where it is??

takepride · 06-26-2012, 12:02 AM

If you have a FDTS, it is mid-line (between rails) in the first bin behind the front wheels, behind a carpeted box. The same box where the fresh water tank drain passes.

royboy · 06-26-2012, 07:45 AM

Thanks for the photos and help. I will dig in there today!

EngineerMike · 06-26-2012, 09:03 AM

Is the parking brake set?

royboy · 06-26-2012, 07:18 PM

Hi Mike, I am the one that had the steering bracket that broke and we talked about it and I sent you photos of mine. It is still working. About the problem with the jacks, it is getting worse. Is there any way we could talk. I am in an elks club in Eureka, Ca and if I can't get it fixed, I will have to have it towed and don't know where. Roy Burell, 602-615-2211. I think the reason the hwh didn't work is that the 12v in the front of the coach was weak. Not it is gone. I can explain it better on the phone as I type very slow. Thanks, Roy

royboy · 06-27-2012, 04:52 PM

You were right! Bad ground. I finally found the problem. I had already cleaned both cable ends on the chassis disconnect and mounted them both on one side to bypass it, no help. I traced cables from one end to the other. FINALLY, I was looking at grounds on the engine, found a loose ground on the starter. I could turn the nut with my fingers. Tightened it and checked all the others in the area, there are quite a few. Crawled out and went up front, all the lights on the Vansco were lit and the room slides and jacks work fine. Good lesson for me, check all the grounds first!! Thanks again for all your help.

EngineerMike · 06-27-2012, 05:06 PM

IIRC there are a large number of ground & hot connections that take a 3/4" box wrench or socket. When I do a safety check for a coach owner, I tool up for this chore, take the battery ground cables off the batteries (usually just one joined connection on the outside start batt for Alpines), and with no power to anything I check all the cable end connections at one time. Starter is hard to get to, so maybe deep socket, maybe short extension; chassis disconnect likes a socket, lots of the engine grounds are good w/the box wrench.

Did this on an 05 on Monday, all cables were nicely tight; that's unusual. Generally I get some amount of tightening. I start by grabbing the cable & seeing if the eyelet end will move in the connection when I torque on the cable by hand.
To tighten bolts on disconnect studs for the 06 & earlier (disconnect for chassis in batt compartment, house in entry stair well), I take a small rubber strap wrench to hold the ~2.5" round switch body.

If you do this about every 2 years, you will eliminate half of 12V electrical issues on a motorhome in my experience.

Renipladlo · 06-28-2012, 07:34 PM

Lose or bad grounds will cause any number of issues which makes you think it's something else. When I'm doing my coach oil change, I am already under there, so I check any and all wires to make sure they are tight. Grounds won't get "YOU", but the hot wires will, so kill coach power at master switches, and disconnect the Negative cables on the battery as EM suggested. There is one High Amp stud pass-through in the front firewall and it's held in with three small nuts/bolts. You will I think need a friend to hold the inside of the nuts/bolts so you can tighten the ones on the outside of this stud. Once it's tight, you then can make sure the big heavy hot wires using this connection are tight as well. You will need to remove the panel in front of the PS seat to access this area of the coach. While in there, you can tuck and make neet all the lose and crappy wiring WRV did and label the ones you know. You will also find the entry door step controller in there, and maybe the wireless key antenna, putting it up in a higher position and tie wrapping it firmly in place will make that device work better. You can spend all day in that one compartment cleaning up the spiders nest of wires WRV laid down anyplace they felt like it. You will find the CB antenna wire, the satellite antenna wire, the blue brake controller wire as well if you hunt around. Most likely other things as well.

For those owners with Hydro Hot systems, if you figure out a better way to mount, or plumb those hot air delivery lines please send me PM, I have not and mine has very little air flow. I know why, just have not come up with any other type of air delivery line material that would work in that confined space. I wanted to get a conduit heat blanket like electricians use, and heat up some thin wall PVC and use that, but the blanket costs $$$ and cannot justify that money for one job.