04 Fleetwood Discovery/ Freightliner Cat Problem

[RV Trax]

I have a 04 Fleetwood Discovery MH on a Freightliner Cat diesel chassis. I have a starter interlock problem or a aux. starter/relay problem. I do not have a signal to the starter from the ignition switch in the start position. I can manually jump the starter from the B+ terminal on the starter to the start wire on the starter solenoid, and it will start. I am told that there is a Ford style solenoid on the right frame rail just forward of the rear tire, but it cannot be located. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Jim2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV Trax I have a 04 Fleetwood Discovery MH on a Freightliner Cat diesel chassis. I have a starter interlock problem or a aux. starter/relay problem. I do not have a signal to the starter from the ignition switch in the start position. I can manually jump the starter from the B+ terminal on the starter to the start wire on the starter solenoid, and it will start. I am told that there is a Ford style solenoid on the right frame rail just forward of the rear tire, but it cannot be located. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I believe your 04 is similar to my 05. The relay your looking for is mounted in the Inverter compartment, on the inside/rear wall behind the inverter. This is a multi-function relay that is used to disconnect, isolate and parallel the engine and house batteries. The other components controlling this relay & its circuits are: the Main & Aux Batt Disconnect Switches (mounted above the passenger in the front cab), the Aux Start Switch (mounted on the left panel of the drivers area left arm rest), and the RV Custom Products BCC (Battery Control Center circuit board) located in the same Inverter compartment, mounted on the left side wall inside an enclosure.
First make sure the Batt disconnect switches are not turned off, which disconnects the associated Batts (Starting or House). Then make saure the Aux Start switch is operating the Relay. If you stay back at the Inverter compartment and have someone operate the drivers Aux Start rocker switch, you can hear that relay engage. This parallels the Main starting Batts with the House Batts, to allow engine starting from the House Batts. This is a momentary switch that must be held down while operating the start key.
If the relay isnt operating with the switches in the correct positions, the most likely culprit from others past problems, is the RV Products BCC circuit board. Yes, the relay itself can go bad, but 9 times out of 10, the problems in these circuits are from defective BCC boards. This board has gone through about 20 "upgrades" to correct various design & component issues. There is a copy of the manufacturers BCC troubleshooting guide in the Tips section of the DOAI (Discovery Owners Association Inc) web site.
This is an area where Fleetwood adds to and modifies the original Freightliner circuit. So you need both the Freightliner starting scehmatic and the Fleetwood chassis electrical schematic, to get the whole picture.

[RV Trax]

Thank you for the information. I actually found a defective Freightliner Starter Magnetic relay in the forward section of the rear engine compartment, under the bed. The Freightliner wiring diagram is accurate, but the location for the relay was inaccurate from Freightliner.