pinnacle

[Roger7777]

will not turn over.new batteries.have to start with jumping starter solenoid but will shut down immediately

[Harley1994]

Welcome to the site I hope someone can help, but a little more info which MH is this? they made them from a van style to a bus if its what I'm thinking, gas or diesel?

[JaycoEagle10]

You have a job ahead of you. First make sure when when turning Ignition Key to the "ON" position, you hear the Starter Relay click. If not--you found problem. Some Starters have the relay on them, while others have a Field Relay somewhere on the wheel well that have "red"(hot)battery cable running to/from down to Starter.

You hear a click. That means relay is getting juice from Ignition Switch to relay. Now if there's juice going to, but nothing to starter, then Relay Solenoid is bad. Replace.

If you don't hear a click. Could be Ignition Switch, broken ignition wire in steering column, blown fuse(s), battery not giving starter enough volts/amps to start and stay running, even bad Alternator. Yes, I know you said "NEW" batteries, but I've even seen new batteries be bad. If you have more than 1 battery to help with starting, one battery could be bad and will draw down the other battery. Battery should be around 12.45 to 13.50 in volts at rest. Have vehicle's battery(s) tested for "load" conditions. May have a bad cell in one or more batteries.

Find ALL the fuse boxes and manually pull and visually inspect ALL the ignition/run/start/engine/relay/etc fuses that you would think that might cause a problem just to be sure before tearing into the steering column as a last resort.

If you have a vintage Distributor Cap/Spark Wire system with either manual points/condenser it could be bad and you need the proper tuneup parts for your year/size engine. It could even be a bad Coil itself and it's weak.

When it comes to electrical problems, it's nothing but a hunt and eliminate procedure before you find the problem, and it takes time, sweat and a lot of profanity many times.

How are your batteries hooked up? Series--positive to negative OR Parallel--positive to positive? Your motor's starter requires a certain way of hookup for proper voltage from batteries. It will either be a straight 12V(parallel) or 24V(series).

This is not taking into account that you bought new batteries and you have a battery eliminator kit or charging system for tandem batteries.

[ahicks]

Is there a chance that a wire was inadvertently left off or put on the wrong terminal when the battery was replaced?

[JaycoEagle10]

Originally Posted by ahicks

Is there a chance that a wire was inadvertently left off or put on the wrong terminal when the battery was replaced?

Most definitely, but most smaller wires that go to the corresponding positive or negative post of battery have that wire either taped to corresponding larger wire or wire will be too short to reach other connector post.

There's also, which I didn't mention, the Alternator. For some vehicles, if the alternator goes out, it won't let engine run. So get alternator tested for power output.

Also check battery (+ & -) cables around battery post connectors for ANY corrosion. This will prevent proper voltage getting to any solenoid/starter or from alternator from properly recharging battery. Just get some water and baking soda and wet cable/post thouroughly and liberally sprinkle on the baking soda and let it do it's work. Do this a few times until you don't see any acidic reactions.

As I said, you have your work cut out for you and ANYTHING that deals with engine running needs to be checked out thru process of elimination.
Make a list of what you mark off as to checking/cleaning/wires connected and loose wire screws tightened/ground wires cleaned and rust at ground cleaned off for better contact. Everything.