Fuse Blows- "40A IGN A" fuse - HELP!!

[jntrox]

2003 Holiday Rambler-Vacationer, Model 36DBD
Workhorse W22 Custom Chassis
52300 Miles +/-

The 40 Amp fuse(40A IGN A) blows ever so often! When it blows, it leaves the dash dead and the motor can't and won't start. The first time it blew was on 5/30/10 when I went to leave from a campground. Disconnected the car and went buy more fuses, 2 fuses blew when I went to install each of them, after waiting a while I was able to install a new fuse without it blowing and the motor started up OK. Got home ok. Never turned the motor off!!.

On my way camping again on 7/2/10 my brakes lock up and I had to pull off to the side of the road. I waited till the brakes cooled down and when I went to start the motor I noticed the fuse had blowned again. Don't know if it blew when I stopped the motor or when I went to start it. Blew 2 more fuses trying to put them in, so I had to get towed to "Paw Paw's Camper" who is the "Aurthorized Workhorse Service" dealer in that area. I told them to check the blown fuse first, so they can move the motorhome for the brake repairs. They said they installed the 40Amp fuse with no problems. They said they started the motor a few times and all seemed OK now. I guess you can't fix something that isn't broke!!!. Picked up the M/H on 7/23/10 and went camping. Returned home on 7/26/10, everything fine.

Well on 8/6/10 I was getting ready to go camping again and when I went to pull out of my yard, the fuse had blown again. Installed another fuse OK. Pulled out on the road in front of my house and with the motor idleing, the engine quit, fuse was blown again. Installed another fuse, started motor, backed into my driveway and engine quit again, fuse blown again!!!.

Any Ideas as to what is blowing the 40 Amp fues????
Does anyone have a circuit wiring diagram for the "40A IGN A" fuse for this unit.

Thanks in advance.
James

[aldevinaspre]

James, I've had that problem on my 2002 32H Bounder W22 also. I blew several 40 amp fuses in the black box that is mounted on the firewall in front of the driver. What I found that caused it was that the wiring in the steering column shorted when using the tilt mechanism. The wires were short and rubbing against the inside of the column eventually chaffing the wire,shorted and blew the 40 amp fuse. I think that Workhorse had a fix for this, but what I did was get the same guage of wire and added about 2 inches to extend the wire in the harness. That took care of the problem. These wires are just below the turn indicator handle and was a fairly easy job.

Al DeVinaspre
Torrance Ca.

[jntrox]

Just want to say THANKS Al for the heads-up for my problem.
It was a shorted-out wire in the stearing column, at the 90' turn!
I had to replaced one bad wire from plug to plug, works fine!
Again THANKS !!

James

[aldevinaspre]

Your welcome!! You can imagine how many fuses I went though to find it. As I recall, I may have seen smoke when it wouldn't start after many tries, trying to find the source! (grin)
Al DeV

["007"]

I would suggest you place a spaghetti wrap around wires going over that bent or you may see white smoke come up through your steering column.
Had a white wire in ignition harness burn bare before blowing 40 amp fuse.
Metal bend may have a burr on it also.

[DriVer]

Originally Posted by jntrox

Just want to say THANKS Al for the heads-up for my problem.

James, This is what iRV2.com is all about, members helping members.

Please come back and visit us and please stay in touch! Tell all your freinds to come and see us we'll be here.

[goitalone]

I had a shorted wire running to some temerature gauge added by the steering column that I presume was installed due to the dash temperature gauge not working?

I also noticed my IGN 20 AMP had blown and I also have a choke light that stays on...not sure what that means though.

At least I think thats why it's there and what it is suppose to be for.

This black wire that burnt out was very thin and was also connected to a spotlight on/off switch...maybe it wasn't a large enough wire to handle all of that with such small wires?

Anyway, I couldn't crank my RV and also saw a big thing of electrical smoke which scared me. Still wondering if I need to have it fixed or if its not really needed.

I broke off the burnt wire and the engine cranked up again, but I didn't let it run long (it stopped running right before this happened) so I am still not sure if everything is ok or not.

Sorry for posting on such an old thread, but just thought maybe it might help someone somewhere down the road and also if anyone has any ideas anout my porb, I would appreciate it...thanks!

-goitalone

["007"]

Welcome to irv2.
I would do as post #5 suggests put some spaghetti wire wrap around the wires going over bend at top of steering column.
Everytime you adjust your steering wheel your chafing the ignition cable wires.