Important virtual RECALL FOR ALL FLEETWOOD MOTORHOME FOR ALL YEARS.
Important RAPPEL POUR TOUS LES MOTORISÉS FLEETWOOD, TOUTES LES ANNÉES (virtuel)
My motorhome Fleetwood Pace Arrow Vision 1999 had electrical leaks. The leaks don't concern the Ford F53 connections (or other chassis manufacturer). They concern the one made by Fleetwood over the chassis.
Since many have a 20 years mortgage on their motorhome, you must expect them to last for at least 20 years.
But some connections and cabling made by Fleetwood won't last and could lead to problems such as electrical leaks, malfunction, battery discharge, fire and more.
Here are the known problems on my gas motorhome:
PROBLEM 1 - Harness form the Battery Control Center (BCC)
A Harness coming from the bottom of the BCC is about 2 foot long. The end of this harness is a white connector (located on my motorhome at the right of the BCC) with 12 pins for 12 wires.
This kind of connector should not be use outdoor. So Fleetwood did not use the proper connector.
On my motorhome, I have access to this connector by sitting in front of my front tire. Also I have access on the right side of the BCC.
See how it gets corroded (click on the image):
Fix: If your motorhome is quite new, you could try to protect the connector with silicone. Make a big ball in your hand and cover the connector. Let it dry and repeat for 3 or 4 days until the connector is completly seals. Prior to it, you should try to open the connector and clean it with an electronic contact cleaner and then protect the pins with dielectric grease.
If your motorhome is more than 5 years old, you should inspect and probably rewire the whole connector.
Each of the individual wire goes to the BCC so they are easy to follow with an ohmmeter.
Personnaly, I cut the wires that were corroded (in fact they had melt and 4 of them were completly cut). I repaired the 4 wires that had a problem by soldering a new wire up to the BCC. The 4 wires I fixed are probably the same you should all fix: the Big red one (stairs), the small red one (stairs switch), the small red one with a white stripe and the blue one. I used 10 gage wire for the big one and 12 for the others.
I rewired them into the BCC, see the wires I cut in the BCC:
PROBLEM 2 - Levering jacks and Drivers seat harness
There is another small harness that comes from the bottom of the BCC and goes over the driver front tire. There are two wires in this harness, a big white and a big black, both 10 gage. This harness when it turns the corner was stuck between two sheets of metal. It melted completly and the fuse never blew. The cables were corroded and cut.
Fix: Inspect all the harness and cable coming from the BCC and follow them. Put your hand around them and follow them and note if you see something unusual. I used 10 gage wire to fix the two wires.
PROBLEM 3 - Battery cables - coach and chassis
At three differents area, the big batteries cables going to the BCC had lost the protection covering.
Fix: Follow each of them. Watch for the corners where they touch metal. I use electric tape to repair. I then protect the worst with tie-wrap and rubber sheet around the cable.
PROBLEM 4 - Battery control center risk of fire or short
The big battery cables that get to the BCC are connected with a big connector on the left side of the metal box. The cable connector is connected to a big screw. You will not see it easily but the big screw has a plastic washer around it so that the metal of the box does not contact the screw. Overtime, when the contact get corroded, heat will result on this connector screw and the plastic washer will melt.
See the melted plastic over the screw on top left of this picture (click on the picture):
If this happen, you could lose power or have a big short on a big battery cable that has no fuse at all. Fire could result from this and you will loose your motorhome.
Fix STEP 1: Remove the batteries and clean all the BCC connectors. Remove all the connectors to make sure you do a good job. Use dielectric greace to protect the connectors. Inspect the plastic washers. If they are no good, change them. If you have no other washers, use your drill and make a big hole where the whole cable will go inside the BCC. Use silicone and rubber to seal.
Fix STEP 2: The connector on the battery cable that connect to the BCC is not solderer. Corrosion on this connector creates heat. Use a Plomber torch and solder it so that you reduce the risk of heat that could melt the plastic washer on the connecting BCC screw.
Fix STEP 3 : In my case, I disconnected the Aux Start Solenoid that you see on the previous picture and I relocated it out of the BCC. This reduce the amount of electricity going in the BCC. This solenoid is use everytime the alternator wants to charge you coach batteries. I bought a PAC PAC500 solenoid. I installed it in the Chassis battery box area. I picked a big solenoid since I will have 4 batteries for the coach.
This virtual RECALL FOR ALL FLEETWOOD MOTORHOMES AND FOR ALL YEARS takes at least 8 hours to proceed when done for the first time. I used a big 200 watt iron.
Carl Bilodeau
N.B.: What is a "virtual recall"? A virtual recall is a candidate recall exposed by a community member. It is subject to become an official recall from the manufacturer once it is known by them and once the community speak up.
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