No Gauges 1988 FLeetwood

[BUB1988]

It appears that all of the gauges on our Southwind have stopped working which I guess means our alternator is not charging either. I am hoping someone can tell me that the 1988 Fleetwood Southwind, Chevy driveline, has an IVR? This just happened yesterday on our trip back from a camping trip with the grandkids. We did make it home but the battery was dead when I tried to start it after we got back. My wife was really excited she did so well on fuel.. The Alt gauge is dead zero, fuel just below full, oil pressure mid range and temp at half mark.

Thanks
jim

[raccoonman]

check the belt first; it might have popped. our '84 has an alternator belt and a power steering belt, and the alt belt popped off on ours. these coaches are pretty forgiving beasts; i replaced the belt and it worked good as new charging. second, check all the connections to the batteries and the isolator. you might have popped a breaker or a fuse, or simply have a loose connection. check the wires that go to the back of the alternator; they might have shook loose or broken off.
these are really pretty simple rigs, once you can separate "truck" from "house" when you're doing repairs to systems.

[leadman]

Some vehicles also use "fusible links" to power the chassis gauges and such. These look like wire but usually have a lump of rubber insulation at the end connecting to the wires leading to the cab. Could be off the starter, a solenoid, or the alternator.
The insulation on these links is a dull finish, not glossy like alot of the other wires. also usually only 3 or 4" long then they are attached to the regular wire where the lump of rubber is.

[BUB1988]

Well I found part of the problem with the gauges. The gauge fuse was blown. Now for the next part of the story. I had another post for the RV house batteries not charging while driving. With info from that post I had to replace the battery isolator relay. Now it seems that now that the alternator is charging the house batteries while the engine is running when the relay kicks in the charge the house batteries while driving it blows the gauge fuse. If I disconnect the relay to charge the house batteries the fuse doesn't blow. So now I am at a loss as to why the relay to charge the house bateries blows the gauge fuse.