Ignition Problem on Damon Intruder

[tazmaniac]

I have a 97 352 Damon Intruder and I went to start it and nothing until I hit the switch for the coach batteries then it will start,,actually when I try to start it with the ignition it actually kills everything the clock on the radio goes to 12:00 no power.I changed the ground from the engine to the chassis and cleaned the ground from the battery thru the body.???

[tazmaniac]

I have a 97 352 Damon Intruder and I went to start it and nothing until I hit the switch for the coach batteries then it will start,,actually when I try to start it with the ignition it actually kills everything the clock on the radio goes to 12:00 no power.I changed the ground from the engine to the chassis and cleaned the ground from the battery thru the body.???

[4gone]

First guess is battery is dead. Classic symptoms. I have had this happen with a couple of coaches. If it starts on the house battery, most likely chassis battery is run down. If it is 5 years old or so, probably due to be replaced. Try charging it and see if it starts. Maybe jump it so you can eliminate other problems. If it starts with a charge or jump then you can be pretty sure its a dead battery.

If it is new, then you must have a draw on it. If it has been sitting for a while something drained it. I know in my case it would be fine all year until it sat for a period of months, dead, charge it up and fine as long as I was using it.

[tazmaniac]

The batteries are all good load tested everything is fine,like I said when I go to start nothing

[4gone]

Could it be in the battery isolator? It appears that everything in the ignition system is ok if it starts with the house battery, (ignition swith, starter, solenoid). The two battery systems must "merge" somewhere after the aux start switch.

It seems as though it must be something between the truck battery and that circuit. I'm not exactly sure how this system is wired, but it must go from the truck battery and instead of the normal direct connection to the solenoid and starter, it must go through this aux start switch.

Or, does the aux start send juice to the battery on the truck and go that way? If that is the case then it really points the finger towards the truck battery. If it works on aux then the only difference is that you are adding a different battery into the equation.

I'm not trying to state the obvious just thinking out loud as it were... Maybe something will cause a lightbulb to go off for you.

[nhgeezer]

First of all please put the ground back on the engine. Remember that the engine is mounted in the chassis on rubber motor mounts. Unless there is a very good ground between the engine and the chassis the starter will not work well. One thing that I do when I get a newer unit, I drive old stuff, is to make sure that there is a ground strap equal to the battery cable between the engine the chassis, and the body. I would go back and check the battery load test again Also make sure that the alternator is working ok. I had a similar situation several years ago on a Southwind and it turned out to be a defective isolator that was not charging the chassis battery.

1990 Foretravel

[tazmaniac]

When I said I change the ground all I did was replace it with a new one, now the embarrassing part after doing all this if figured I will change the coach battery even though it checked out on the meter,,,, the positive cable on the sidemount was alittle loose. It works just fine now I am sorry for my stupidness.

[mountainkowboy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by tazmaniac:
When I said I change the ground all I did was replace it with a new one, now the embarrassing part after doing all this if figured I will change the coach battery even though it checked out on the meter,,,, the positive cable on the sidemount was alittle loose. It works just fine now I am sorry for my stupidness. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I just HATE when that hppens!