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Old 10-06-2017, 08:41 PM   #1
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Exausted Newb 79 P30 454 start or get towed

Greetings all, I have been searching and lurking these and other forums to no avail regarding a no start condition on a money trap I just purchased. It is a 1979 Coachman A class 30 ft. P30 454. I purchased this with the intention of refurbishing it to make it road worthy and give it a little bit more life while I acclimate myself to a minimalist RV lifestyle and move on to a newer one later. I sold all I had and moved into it 3 weeks ago. I drove it from Illinois to Mesquite Texas at my daughters house to visit with them and stay warm while I make repairs to the leaking roof AC, exhaust manifold gasket egr delete, and a host of other things that will keep me busy while learning about motor homes. I decided to register to this site after reading some threads from those with dinosaurs like this regarding a no start condition after I got her parked here from the long drive.. No juice to anything chassis related..To make things even more urgent, I must figure out what the heck is going on with it before the 19th of Oct as code enforcement just served my son in law and daughter with a violation warning. I got to get this thing running and park it on the pavement instead of the grass. So, I am hoping that some of you knowledgeable folks can help me out with this urgent issue before they come and tow my home away. I have already changed the starter, tightened up a lose fan belt that probably led to the chassis battery being low, I replaced 2 isolators? Tin can things. One was in the dog house and clicked like a bad starter solenoid, the other is under the hood and seems to act as the separator between the coach battery and chassis battery?..I also replaced the main ground wire hub that was very rusted out and installed a new bolt for a clean connection. Before all that, the generator would also not start. So after all of that work I got her and the genny to start and ran them to recharge things for about 20 minutes or so. I then shut it off and engine has not started since that time. The genny starts perfectly tho. Again I noticed that the new "tin can" thing on top of the engine would only click, so me in my brilliance and frustration, thinking that this item was not original, decided to disconnect it and run wires together to bypass it just to get it to run..of course it did not. So now I am in desperate need of putting the wires back to where they originally belong in order to properly trouble shoot the no start problem and trace wires etc before the city comes and tows my motorhome away. I got distracted and lack of sleep and forgot to take pics for future reference..like now. I can try attaching pictures of the engine bay with the one tin can isolator? under hood and the one in the dog house in hopes one of you can spot something that needs to be rectified. What wire am I not hooking up right I basically am needing to put everything back the way it was originally, pics would be great as I have been through many pages with no luck.and even if it still does not start I can eliminate that as a reason, and can start tracing wires or replacing ignition switch, fusable links etc. All the wires I'm dealing with are red, cant make out any lines. Any help and guidance is very much appreciated, I am no electronics wiz but am determined to get this old heap running again and following through with my plans and dream. Thanks.
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Old 10-07-2017, 05:06 AM   #2
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Can you post any photos? That would be immensely useful for those trying to help.

One note on your plans, if you delete the EGR you will have detonation issues. Not sure why you want to do that, but I would recommend leaving it functional.
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Old 10-07-2017, 05:30 AM   #3
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I am assuming the tin can your referring to is the solenoid for the starter correct? If so your power should come in on the left side and your starter cable should be on the right side then there should be two little stud's at the bottom of the solenoid and the wire's should connect too the right stud.well that is how mine is configured hope this help's.
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Old 10-07-2017, 06:55 AM   #4
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The P30s are notorious for ignition switch failures. Mine died at a rest stop in South Carolina after a long drive. The switch overheated and melted one of the connectors. I had to hot-wire it until I could get parts to fix it. If you search this site for P30 ignition switch you will find all the information you need.
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Old 10-07-2017, 08:23 AM   #5
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The P30 ignition switch is mounted at the base of the steering column and is actuated by rods from the ignition key. It is fairly easy to change out, just carefully follow the directions as moving the key while changing the switch can ruin your day.
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Old 10-07-2017, 10:34 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vettenuts View Post
Can you post any photos? That would be immensely useful for those trying to help.

One note on your plans, if you delete the EGR you will have detonation issues. Not sure why you want to do that, but I would recommend leaving it functional.
Thank you, I most certainly will be posting pics as soon as I get my camera charged up, and the EGR has already been deleted and one of those plates installed. problem is that it is rusted out and was leaking exhaust very badly, so as a temp fix I mudded it up with muffler putty for the ride down here the AIR tube assembly has also been deleted by PO as well..I plan on repairing the plate it as soon as I can get her fired up and running again. Will post the pics soon.
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Old 10-07-2017, 10:42 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by steppinstone View Post
I am assuming the tin can your referring to is the solenoid for the starter correct? If so your power should come in on the left side and your starter cable should be on the right side then there should be two little stud's at the bottom of the solenoid and the wire's should connect too the right stud.well that is how mine is configured hope this help's.
Thank you yes, Apparently from what I have been reading and learning some of these tin cans are called solenoids and others isolators, some continuous duty others not..confusing for me. I just replaced it and it still only clicked (after it initially fired and ran awesome for 20 minutes with genny running too) so I did a stupid thing and tried to bypass it without taking pics in case of failure. Dont know which one is Power wire..I can probably trace starter wire and connect that one. Also on the smaller terminals of tin can/solenoid one is still connected and left as was to a ground. It's the other 3 that has me mixed up. Pics coming soon. Thanks.
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Old 10-07-2017, 10:47 AM   #8
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The P30s are notorious for ignition switch failures. Mine died at a rest stop in South Carolina after a long drive. The switch overheated and melted one of the connectors. I had to hot-wire it until I could get parts to fix it. If you search this site for P30 ignition switch you will find all the information you need.
Thanks, Indeed I thought of trying to hot wire mine as well, but don't recall how. The ignition is so easy to get to, I simply have to lift off the padded dash cover and it's right there..something smells burned from under the dash too. I thought it best to just re-connect the wires that I messed with as they all were and go from there first as she started and ran great. I should have left it alone and did my trouble shooting without trying to improvise and shoot myself in the foot smh.
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Old 10-07-2017, 10:51 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by Isaac-1 View Post
The P30 ignition switch is mounted at the base of the steering column and is actuated by rods from the ignition key. It is fairly easy to change out, just carefully follow the directions as moving the key while changing the switch can ruin your day.
On this older model the ignition switch is in the dash and easily accessible by simply lifting the dash cover up and it's right there, very convenient to get to radio and toggle switches too. Toggle switch for batteries are unmarked btw so I have to figure that out after I deal with my wiring mess.Thank you.
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Old 10-07-2017, 11:35 AM   #10
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I'm assuming the engine does not turn over . Could be the neutral safety switch . Try turning the key to the start position and the move the gear selector from drive to park . Sometimes that helps. You could also try jumpering out the switch as a test. Be sure to remove the jumper as soon as your done testing .The switch is located near the bottom of the steering column .
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Old 10-07-2017, 12:02 PM   #11
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Take a 12 volt test light underneath by the starter.....ground the test light wire....have someone turn the key to start, while you use probe end of tester on inner most small terminal of starter.....if light lights, while cycling key, then everything from ign switch down is ok......if not, trace the pink wire back to neutral safety switch and check again.....process of working backward.......if you have 12 volts at battery cable on starter, you can jump from that starter post to the inner small post on starter.....will spark a little, but should start or turn over......make sure it's in park....and with the jumper method, the key just needs to be on....could also be a bad connection in the wire loom firewall plug where the two looms are connected together......the pink starter wire might have whats called a fuseable link in it that could be bad....it's replaceable and parts stores carry them.....cut the old one out and crimp new one in
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Old 10-07-2017, 04:09 PM   #12
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Thank you all for the helpful advice, I'm taking every bit of info and considering it all, I managed to snap a few pics with some descriptions hopefully this will help facilitate the wire connections to the tin can.

From first to last , An overview view of the 454. These are the wires that I need to attach to tin can Sputnik. Either its a isolator, or a solenoid. I replaced it as an Isolator. I think I know the difference but they look the same.the 3rd pic is the alternator wire on the left...Last 2 pictures are of the black wires that I didn't fool with, appear to be a ground. I do recall that 3 of the red wires were attached together and went to 1 side of tin can..Thanks for your input and advice on things to check, as soon as I get this re-wired I will take the advice of using test light to investigate any no power conditions at the starter etc Thank you Bob Caldwell.
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Old 10-08-2017, 11:03 AM   #13
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If I replaced the starter solenoid that sits atop the engine and looks like an isolator with well, an isolator like the one in the picture, will it still start the engine or no? I am leaning towards buying the proper solenoid part after learning that is what it is and is supposed to be there.
I have to catch a train in a few hours to Missouri to pick up my car and drive it down here to Texas, but I can order the right part from Amazon and have it here when I get back
Should that be the first order of business before hooking wires up to a part that is not a solenoid? Any advice guys?

This is what I installed.
https://www.amazon.com/Tekonsha-7001...tery+isolators

I was told this is what I SHOULD have installed instead.
https://www.amazon.com/Cole-Hersee-2...507476639&sr=1
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Old 10-08-2017, 11:24 AM   #14
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The one you bought will work fine......when I worked for Chev, we had a factory diagram that included a solinold like you show, to help with starting problems......of course that was many moons ago, so no longer have it....
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