02 Freightliner / Coachmen Electrical Failure @ Speed

[majormaddy]

I just purchased an 02 Coachmen Cross Country on a Freightliner chassis with Cummins power & Allison Trans. 20,000 miles. I drove the coach 200 miles home with out incident. On oservation was a blown dash lights fuse which I replaced. I droe 30 miles the next day when the check engine light came on at which time I puffed some white smoke and had rough engine systoms. I pulled over and turned the coach of and imediately restarted without incident. I drove 40 miles additional after a stop at Walmart and turned the headslights on at which the coach stalled and lost power at 40 mph. I quickly killed the generator and threw the coach in neutral. I was able to get the coach to restart at speed almost instantly. I continued another 40 miles without incident to the campground where I am currently typing from.

Thank you for taking the time to read and I appreiate any experience or suggestions that you may have.

Dennis

[MaverickBBD]

It is tough to offer suggestions given the information you provided. Could be any number of things which may or may not be related. Sounds like you definitely have an electrical thing going. I would be hesitant to start chasing things without full diagnostics. Hopefully you are not too far from a service center. Possibly with phone calls "roadside" service can be arranged. Hold on to you wallet. Hope you bought a ERS plan. I feel your pain.

[MrTransistor]

Hi Dennis,

My best guess would be a ground problem. This may be affecting the charging of the batteries, the engine computer, or the fuel injection system. This could explain the intermittent nature of the problem. Do you have a good voltmeter and what does the battery voltage read with and without the engine running. Also measure directly at the battery terminals and also from the engine block to the large post on the alternator that connects it to the battery. Problem is, you may not see anything if the intermittent problem happens to be gone when you take the measurements.

Other than that, I’m with Tom. You’ll need a chassis/engine mechanic with electrical skills and knowledge.

[majormaddy]

Thanks for the input thus far guys. Intial grab check of most of the grounds seems good. No volt meter with me but will check at home. I will be going back to front checking the leads the whole way. Is it safe to assume that I should concentrate on the coch chassis side before the camping electrical?

[RV Roamer [Gary]]

Yes, the problem would seem to be chassis, not house. I would focus on the grounds first.

[chasfm11]

This is a shot in the dark but if the coach is an '02 and it still has the original chassis batteries, they could be the source of your problems. I agree with the others that it could be a ground. If it were mine, I'd start by looking at the chassis battery connectors, taking them off and carefully cleaning and examining them. If they have a bunch of crud around them, it is possibly a sign that the batteries are bad. I'd also check the water levels in every cell (remember to use distilled water to fill any that are low) and put everything back together tightly. I went through a rash of troubles without much of an explanation for any of them but after I put the new chassis batteries in, the problems went away.

[dengraham]

A check engine light could be water in fuel? Or, rough engine could be need to change fuel filters? These are not electrical but would effect engine performance. Let us know what you find out.

[MaverickBBD]

Definitely concentrate on chassis side first. I figure there is nothing on the house side I can't do without for the short term or at least until I change locations. If coach doesn't move it is hard to go anywhere. If it is a ground problem and I hope for you that is all it is. It is most likely that the chassis side ground(s) would "shake loose" first (but not always). When I troubleshoot I like to go for the simplest and cheapest first then work my way up it complexity. Sometimes I end up "chasing my trail" when like you I have many variables to contend with. Go with the least complex and rule them out one by one. That would include fuel filters like dengraham suggested. Let us know what you come up with.