Community Forums

rsalhus · 12-14-2009, 09:12 PM

Our brake lights and turn signals are not working in the back of our 2001 Rexhall Vision DP. The front and side turn signal lights and flashers work but not in the back tail lights. One brake light that is mounted in the middle of the back wall does work but not in the tail lights. Parking lights and headlights do light the tail lights.

I took it to an RV repair shop and two technicians spent over two and 1/2 hours looking for the fuses for these lights and couldn't find them. Neither Rexhall nor Spartan can tell me where the fuse panel for these lights is. I am being told I may have a ground problem with the tail lights, which sounds logical, but how do I find the fuse panel for these lights without tracing the wires from back to front (if that's even possible)?

RV Wizard · 12-15-2009, 03:10 AM

Did the technicians look in the back part of the coach real good? How about under the bed. If you suspect a ground problem, you can always add another; you can't have too many grounds.

rsalhus · 12-15-2009, 07:14 AM

Yes, the technicians looked everywhere. They even checked all the relays they could find because one Rexhall employee I talked to said it didn't have any fuses for those lights, only relays. Rexhall also said the fuse panel could only be in one of four places; with the other fuses by the steering column, under the front hood by the firewall, in the passenger side rear compartment, or under the bed. Those places were searched intently and nothing found.

Adding an extra ground wire sounds easy, but I couldn't find anything on the tail lights to add a ground wire to. Everything is plastic.

Norm4015 · 12-15-2009, 07:30 AM

I have owned two Spartan chassis and on both the fuses were in a rear cargo bay on the passenger side. They were under a box with a black cover and there was no indication fuses were under the cover.

rsalhus · 12-15-2009, 07:52 AM

That's a possibility. I think my basement compartments were relined with that felt stuff before I bought it (I'm the second owner). So it could be covered up. Was this on the back wall of the compartment? Towards the top or where?

rsalhus · 12-15-2009, 10:42 PM

Today I resumed the hunt for the tail lights fuse panel. About the only place I hadn't checked yet was way under the dash. So I removed some screws from around the dash and lifted the dash up (it's hinged) and propped it up with some boards. It didn't take long before I found a fuse panel that had what I was looking for. There were 5 or 6 mini fuses in this fuse panel and a bunch of relays. I tested all the fuses and found one 15 amp fuse that was burned out. It was marked 'Turn' which had to be for the turn signals. I put in a new fuse and my problems were over.

Don't ask me how a bad turn signal fuse can prevent the brake lights from working, but it did. So now I'm good to go.

Some of these lighting problems we run into with our RVs can be pretty misleading, but with a good wiring schematic, this problem could have been resolved in a matter of minutes instead of days.

RV Wizard · 12-16-2009, 02:55 AM

If you do not have amber turn signals, your brake lights and turn signals are one in the same. Glad you found the fuse panel. There are some mfgs that can provide a wiring diagram and schematic to authorized warranty repair shops and then if you buy a Country Coach, Prevost and other high end coaches; they come with this information in the owners manuals.