tail light problem

[Jim Wyn]

I have a 2003 American Tradition on a Spartan chassis. I have no running lights. I have brake lights, turn signals, 4 way flashers, but no running lights. I checked the fuse which was good. When I turn the light switch on, my instrument lights come on and I had power to the fuse, but no running lights front or rear.It seems to me that there should be another fuse somewhere that I haven't found. I even checked the bulbs but there is no power to the bulb socket.

The fuse and relay are located in the front entrance step.

I contacted Fleetwood for a wiring diagram and they said I had to deal with Spartan.

Help!!

[Oh-one]

This sounds like you have lost the ground on the circuit. Check your lights with a separate ground wire.

[No 1 Rat]

Jim Wyn
We had a similar but worse problem with our 1994 Spartan chassis Newmar DSDP. I was talking with Mike O’Neil while we were at the Spartan factory about our problem. He commented that Spartan always supplies a terminal block at the right rear of their chassis with a plug and pigtail for the coach manufacturer to use for rear lighting. Our problem was lights, turn signals and cruise control. Problem was solved when we pulled this connector apart and cleaned the contacts. Most Spartan connectors are held together with a screw through the center of the plug. Our batteries are at the same corner of the chassis and my thoughts are that after 14 years the contacts had become corroded from the fumes off the batteries plus all the rest of the contamination flying around inside the rear of the coach. Good luck in finding yours.

[It my turn]

Had what sounds like a very similar problem with my coach a year ago. Spent a lot of time wire checking with the help of Spartan. Ultimately found the running light relay was bad. I could feel it energize but ho running lights. Replaced the relay and all was well. Worked for me.

[SteveR]

Our problem is with the hitch power plug. We have no power for the running lights at this plug. Everything else works fine...both turn signals and brake lights but no running lights to the toad.

All fuses are fine. Is there a relay that controls this that might be bad?

[GaryKD]

Hi SteveR,
The easiest and cheapest thing to check first is the internal guts of the receptical that is attached to the coach. The inside of these recepticals are notorious for becoming loose.

[SteveR]

Plug was fine except no running light power to the plug. It looks like there may be a wiring problem with the coach.

[Jim_L]

I found that there are actually two sets of fuses for the tail, stop and running lights. One is for the coach and then there are separate fuses for with the trailer plug. Both are independent. The fuses for the coach are as previously mentioned and the fuses for the trailer plug are located in a panel behind the right rear wheel. I would suggest that you keep hunting for that separate set of fuses.

Good luck

[Gary RVRoamer]

There is an excellent American Coach owners group on Yahoo and lot of very experienced people there. You might want to join and post your question there as well.

[AnotherGeorge]

Once you find your problem if it's in an area prone to corosion you might want to spray it with some dielectric grease like the CRC brand from O'reilly auto parts to prevent reoccurance.
I use the stuff on my electrical conectors like the toad plug etc.