Community Forums

Landarts · 07-20-2016, 11:58 AM

I am new to the RV world and have been enjoying a few trips over the summer. I have 1993 Fleetwood Bounder 28T on a P30 chassis that is in really good condition. On a recent trip when I turned the key on to start the RV I got nothing. Not even a click.

Here are the things that I checked:
- Checked the starting battery voltage was at 12.6 volts
- Checked all battery cables, all seemed tight and clean
- Checked to make sure that I turned on the battery switch by the door for both Aux. and starting battery
- Checked to make sure that the transmission was in "Park"

Then I remembered that there is the button far left of driver side on dash to aid in starting if battery is dead. Pushed it and turned the key and it started right up. When I got home from trip which was a few hours away I removed the battery put it on the charger over night, then took to have tested. All checked a good under load. Went back to RV and installed battery. Made sure that all cables and connections were clean and tight. Still no go with it even turning on radio, light, dash lights...anything. Push the button on left again and turn the key fires right up.

Where do I start looking? Is it possible the switch at the door that disconnects power could be bad? Solenoid? Electrical is not my strongest subject. Any help would be appreciated!

Jim

BFlinn181 · 07-20-2016, 01:29 PM

Where did you measure chassis battery voltage? It really sounds like a bad ground connection. I'd take voltage measurements in other locations with ignition on. If it's lower than it should be, remove and clean ground connections.

hawkeye1995 · 07-20-2016, 01:39 PM

Sounds like the start relay. There should be two relays, one for normal start and the other for emergency start. Check voltage on the relays with someone turning the key to normal start. I had this problem on my 2005 daybreak. Lucky it was a loose connection at the battery. But you could have loose connection at the relay. Good luck

PS. Not sure if you have the same setup. These relays look like the Ford type starter relays you may have seen in the past. I will see if I have some pics. Also, you can do a search on this forum and find all kinds of information. Just type in "Emergency Start Solenoid" or something similar.

**TonyDi** · 07-20-2016, 01:43 PM

Glad to have you here in the forum with us.

As BFlinn stated it sounds like you don't have good connections.

Happy Trails!!!

Landarts · 07-20-2016, 03:31 PM

Measured while it was removed from the RV. Also had it tested with load and all was good. I will go back and double check the ground is clean and has a good tight connection.

Landarts · 07-20-2016, 05:07 PM

Well just came back from the RV storage lot. Checked the ground cable all is tight and clean. Opened up fuse box under front hood and pulled all fuses and checked, all is good. At this point I am not sure what to check next.

Landarts · 07-21-2016, 07:52 AM

Do you think replacing the disconnect solenoid would be a good place to start? Or is there something else I might try? Here are a few images of the fuse panel and the solenoid relay.

Landarts · 07-21-2016, 09:31 AM

Can anyone tell me if this diagram would be correct for my 1993 Fleetwood Bounder 28T on P30 chassis.

BFlinn181 · 07-21-2016, 09:43 AM

Rather than replace the disconnect solenoid, test the ignition relay. The fact that it starts with the emergency start button on the dash points to low voltage (dirty connection) but using the ESB bypasses the bad connection and allows voltage to engage starter.

Mudfrog · 07-21-2016, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Landarts

Do you think replacing the disconnect solenoid would be a good place to start? Or is there something else I might try? Here are a few images of the fuse panel and the solenoid relay.

Are you talking about the disconnect for the coach batteries? Or do you have another disconnect for the chassis?

If you do have one for the chassis battery itself, then yes, start there.

Landarts · 07-21-2016, 07:25 PM

OK this afternoon I removed the ground cable, sanded the frame to bare metal, used a air die grinder to make all connections look like new again, covered everything with die electric grease.........and again same results. At this point I am lost for what to do next.

It seems logical that if I can start it by using the aux. battery switch that it would point to the starter battery ground being the issue. Must be something else causing the disconnect.

Landarts · 07-22-2016, 02:27 PM

Throwing in the towel.......going to take it to the rv repair shop and let them pour magic dust on the gremlins......thanks for all of the responses. I will be back to report the findings so in the future if it can help anyone with the same situation.

dpinvidic · 07-22-2016, 02:52 PM

No... wait....
Up until now you have been guessing, now start testing.

Find the Aux start relay. This is where both batteries are combined.
So you know the circuit from this point to the starter is good.

One big terminal should have your chassis battery and starter cable on the same stud.
My bet is you will see about 11 volts on this terminal when using aux start, but low voltage with just chassis bat.

If this is the case, there are only a few things that can be wrong.

If you take it in, you will hate to hear that they found something simple$$$$.

Dan

TLGPE · 07-24-2016, 05:16 PM

I'm also just guessing, but it would be logical to look at the battery connection to the joint where the aux battery connects, just as Dan mentioned. If the battery is showing good volts and the ground is good, it has to be that the start battery is not properly connected to the starter relay.

HTH

Tom