2000 Dutch Star weak signal light

[Brutus DSDP]

I have a 2000 Newmar Dutch Star 3865 diesel with an awful dim righthand signal light. I have now put in a LED set up by BURG. Still dim. Does anyone have any ideas where to start loooking for issues beyond the socket where the bulb turns in? Thanks for now.

[Skip426]

Welcome to iRV2 and the vintage Newmar family .

Spartan or Freightliner chassis ?

Front or rear light problem ?

Have you checked and cleaned wiring ground wires at their attachment to the frame ?

[Brutus DSDP]

Freightliner and rear

[ROUGHRIDER3]

Bad ground.....Can cause other strange things to happen.

[Skip426]

Freightliner wiring ended in the center of the engine access door on my coach , everything past there is Newmar with a 12 " adaptor in between . Photos below . On the chassis portion check for zero ohms to ground , on the Newmar wiring check for zero ohms from the bulb socket to the Freightliner connector .

Also the ground wire on the Bargman light assembly is riveted to the metal portion of the housing , I've had to redo 2 of mine.
I also covered the reflective area with foil tape .

Check for a Freightliner build decal ; low on the wall to the drivers seat left , for your chassis build date , I have wiring diagrams and schematics for F/L chassis built in 1999.

EDIT : First picture Freightliner wiring is the black connector on the left , Newmar is the grey on the right.

[Skip426]

Here's a photo showing the light ground wire connecting rivet .

[Brutus DSDP]

Good info, thank you. I will get a look at the grounding soon, once the rains stop for awhile.

[Skip426]

Well here on the coast , forecast is for 6 days , of increasing hot/dry weather ; but last nights wind storm might be an issue to your area . It's weather , all we can do is complain .

A second little Newmar wiring gem , you may want to keep in mind ; is the front cap ( headlights/signals ) harness.
Because they built on Spartan and Freightliner chassis , they were big into adaptor harnesses .
In the case of the adaptor to Freightliner it gave me fits .
F/L headlight system ; each headlight has a relay , low beam power passes through the inactive side of the relay ; high beam , relay active , power flows through the active side of the relay .
Newmar ran wires from both relays together through a multiple connector for the front cap harness , then split them on the other side .
So both relays are feeding both headlights , instead of one each .
Well one relay stuck on , now both high and low beams are on ( 4 filaments drawing power ) and over loading the self reset circuit breaker in the headlight switch .
Headlights flashing , on/off at 10 at night on the I-5 . Not fun . Ended up overnighting at a weigh scale and continued trip with no night driving .

Here's a picture of the connector I removed , arrows indicating splices where the headlight wires come together then separate within 15"

[Brutus DSDP]

Great info, thank you

[Skip426]

Originally Posted by Brutus DSDP

Great info, thank you

Not a problem ; I've had my coach since 2010 , and been over, under around and through, it's systems and collected info on any number of little gems that may help anyone new to vintage Newmar on Freightliner .
The two previous owners passed on all the paperwork , including a VHS tape from Newmar ; that one day I'll have to find a player for .

So just ask , when you need to know anything .

[TheCatsRV]

Originally Posted by Skip426

The two previous owners passed on all the paperwork , including a VHS tape from Newmar ; that one day I'll have to find a player for .

The two thrift shops in town (next to each other last time I was up there) should be able to help you.

[Brutus DSDP]

Hello All,

I found the bad ground in my signal light assembly. Lights are working much better now. Thanks for all the help.