Community Forums

joesgt281 · 09-28-2015, 09:08 AM

Greetings...long time lurker, almost my first time posting

My starter relay is bad and I'm wondering where people source these kind of parts?
Camping World isn't any help for chassis related components.
I do have a Freightliner parts place in Houston but it's a 2 hour round trip on a good day. I'm not in a big hurry, so is there a way to buy these parts online?

And specifically for the starter relay, can this be replaced with your typical Ford starter relay? I'd want to be sure that it would handle the load though.
Anybody done this before?

twinboat · 09-28-2015, 09:18 AM

I have found NAPA Auto parts helpfull with this kind if stuff.

Of course that depends on a counterman that know parts.

FIRE UP · 09-28-2015, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joesgt281

Greetings...long time lurker, almost my first time posting

My starter relay is bad and I'm wondering where people source these kind of parts?
Camping World isn't any help for chassis related components.
I do have a Freightliner parts place in Houston but it's a 2 hour round trip on a good day. I'm not in a big hurry, so is there a way to buy these parts online?

And specifically for the starter relay, can this be replaced with your typical Ford starter relay? I'd want to be sure that it would handle the load though.
Anybody done this before?

Well Sir,
When I had my basement A/C out for some repair/maintenance, that gave me a prime opportunity to do some work on some items had no idea what they were. I knew they were there before I'd started the A/C work and had thought to myself, "how in the world am I ever going to work on all that electrical stuff, in that tight space"? Well, I found out.

So, when I started trying to loosen some of the severely rusted/corroded nuts off some of the posts, guess what, yep, they broke. CRAP! Now what am I going to do??? So, in a call to Freightliner Customer Assistance, I found out all about that area and, what all the components are.

And, each one of the items broke during disassembly so, I renewed all of them. I looked all over the place and, at the time, Freightliner was the only place I was assured to get those particular load rated starter relay components. Yep, our Freightliner Service Center is also about an hour each way. So, I ordered all of them up, they were there the next day and, I cruised on down and picked them up.

But, I looked on the net, called Napa and even took them down to Napa for a close comparison and, they had nothing like them. So, Freightliner won the bid. Take a look.
Scott

joesgt281 · 09-28-2015, 09:16 PM

Thanks guys.
Your new components look great Fire Up.
The main problem with my local Freightliner is, you can't get them to order stuff for you over the phone, you have to go down there, pre-pay, and then come back for them. It becomes a 2 trip deal.
Well I guess it's the only way to know for sure I'm getting the stuff that's going to work. This one lasted 15 years so I guess I can't complain.

cbilodeau · 09-29-2015, 07:13 AM

I changed mine this summer. I have ordered "Standard Motor Products SS598T Starter Solenoid" on amazon and received it two days later and paid 20.15$Can.

On ebay here is my search string to find a solenoid compatible:

(starter, solenoid, starter) (SS362, F3957, 19106716, 19106717, F926, W1951C, f5tu-11450-ba, M1090A, F492G, E9TZ11450B, F5TU11450BA, SS598, 1M1090, SS598T, 84010, SS94, F914, F1492, 4D5, F492, F3914, SW-1507B, 60-02-5515, SS361, SS598, SW-1951C, SS4)

But I did not buy on eBay since the cheapest was 26$Can. In my search string you can see the compatible model list. Today on eBay the cheapest (new) is 17$Can.

When searching on amazon, you should get better prices if you use a computer instead of a phone.

joesgt281 · 09-30-2015, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbilodeau

I changed mine this summer. I have ordered "Standard Motor Products SS598T Starter Solenoid" on amazon and received it two days later and paid 20.15$Can.

On ebay here is my search string to find a solenoid compatible:

(starter, solenoid, starter) (SS362, F3957, 19106716, 19106717, F926, W1951C, f5tu-11450-ba, M1090A, F492G, E9TZ11450B, F5TU11450BA, SS598, 1M1090, SS598T, 84010, SS94, F914, F1492, 4D5, F492, F3914, SW-1507B, 60-02-5515, SS361, SS598, SW-1951C, SS4)

But I did not buy on eBay since the cheapest was 26$Can. In my search string you can see the compatible model list. Today on eBay the cheapest (new) is 17$Can.

When searching on amazon, you should get better prices if you use a computer instead of a phone.

Thanks Carl

joesgt281 · 10-09-2015, 08:40 AM

Changed it....no bueno.
Since I've already changed the ignition switch, guess I'm going for the starter solenoid itself.
What's the best way to kill the hot wire from the batt to the starter? Is it like a car where I can just undo one negative side and be good?
Or is it like my diesel truck where I have to un-hook both negatives to completely kill the charge?

cbilodeau · 10-09-2015, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joesgt281

Changed it....no bueno.
Since I've already changed the ignition switch, guess I'm going for the starter solenoid itself.
What's the best way to kill the hot wire from the batt to the starter? Is it like a car where I can just undo one negative side and be good?
Or is it like my diesel truck where I have to un-hook both negatives to completely kill the charge?

In my opinion, just removing the negative on the Chassis battery should be enough... but... if your motorhome is like mine, there is a Aux Battery Start solenoid that is activated to connect the Coach Batteries to the Chassis battery when either one is low. If you unplug the negative from the Chassis Battery, maybe the system will try to charge your chassis battery and then you will have power anyway. But since the Battery Control Center receives its electricity mainly from the Chassis, maybe it won't do this charge action.

So on my motorhome when I work on electricity I unplug the negative from both Chassis and Coach. Another solution is to unplug the negative from the chassis and unplug the Aux Start Solenoid.

I also unplug the Shore power so that the Converter won't try to charge the Chassis battery. The generator should not be running either otherwise it will send power to the Converter that will charge the Chassis battery. On my motorhome I also have big solar panels and I remove the ground going to the batteries as well.

When I changes my starter solenoid, I ordered two of them. There was an identical solenoid on my hydraulic jackl system and it has the same age and will crack as soon as you touch it. You could check if you have one there too.

joesgt281 · 10-09-2015, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbilodeau

In my opinion, just removing the negative on the Chassis battery should be enough... but... if your motorhome is like mine, there is a Aux Battery Start solenoid that is activated to connect the Coach Batteries to the Chassis battery when either one is low. If you unplug the negative from the Chassis Battery, maybe the system will try to charge your chassis battery and then you will have power anyway. But since the Battery Control Center receives its electricity mainly from the Chassis, maybe it won't do this charge action.

So on my motorhome when I work on electricity I unplug the negative from both Chassis and Coach. Another solution is to unplug the negative from the chassis and unplug the Aux Start Solenoid.

I also unplug the Shore power so that the Converter won't try to charge the Chassis battery. The generator should not be running either otherwise it will send power to the Converter that will charge the Chassis battery. On my motorhome I also have big solar panels and I remove the ground going to the batteries as well.

When I changes my starter solenoid, I ordered two of them. There was an identical solenoid on my hydraulic jackl system and it has the same age and will crack as soon as you touch it. You could check if you have one there too.

Thanks Carl, I will unhook both the chassis and coach batteries just to be on the safe side. I've actually changed the solenoid (relay) on the frame that sends juice to the solenoid actually on the starter. So now I'm faced with actually yanking the starter off to (hopefully) address the problem there.

cbilodeau · 10-09-2015, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joesgt281

Thanks Carl, I will unhook both the chassis and coach batteries just to be on the safe side. I've actually changed the solenoid (relay) on the frame that sends juice to the solenoid actually on the starter. So now I'm faced with actually yanking the starter off to (hopefully) address the problem there.

It does'nt start?

joesgt281 · 10-09-2015, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbilodeau

It does'nt start?

Usually not on the first attempt. If you do a second or third attempt in quick succession, then it usually does.
You can hear some clicking going on in the back (diesel pusher) so it's like things are moving in the right direction, but it takes some coaxing to get it to turn the engine over.

cbilodeau · 10-09-2015, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joesgt281

Usually not on the first attempt. If you do a second or third attempt in quick succession, then it usually does.
You can hear some clicking going on in the back (diesel pusher) so it's like things are moving in the right direction, but it takes some coaxing to get it to turn the engine over.

Do you have an Aux Start Button on this pusher? Does it help when you press it?

joesgt281 · 10-09-2015, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbilodeau

Do you have an Aux Start Button on this pusher? Does it help when you press it?

Yes but never used it.
Is it supposed to use the coach batteries when you hold it down?

cbilodeau · 10-09-2015, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joesgt281

Yes but never used it.
Is it supposed to use the coach batteries when you hold it down?

Yes. It connects the Chassis Battery with the Coach Batteries. On older models, you have to keep it press while you start. On newest model, once you press it, the chassis and coach batteries are connected together for 15 seconds. Normally you hear the noise of the solenoid when you press it.
Your "Battery control center" also activate this solenoid when either side is full and the other side needs a charge. So if you don't hear a noise, it could be that the system is actually charging one bank from the other bank.

If you have a bad ground somewhere, even if the chassis battery is good it could be difficult to start the engine. But with both banks together, it could be able to bypass the weak ground (or electrical leak) from another route and start the engine with success each time you try.

Mine is gasoline and I had lot of problem starting it if the chassis battery was not entirely full. So if I would use the Hydraulic jacks then the engine would not start. After so many searching I found it was a ground somewhere.

But if with the Aux Start it stil does not start easily then the starter is more suspect.

1 - You could put a voltmeter on the positive solenoid terminal (at starter) and have someone turn it to start. It will tell you if the starter get electricity.

2 - You could use booster cables to connect the starter to a +12V.

If both tests are succesful then you know you have a leak or a bad battery.