Front start/rear start

[Ken Ullman]

CAT C12 engine. Will start right up on rear start, but when I toggle the switch in rear compartment to front start, the engine turns over but will not start. If I then go back and toggle back to rear start it starts right up again. I wonder what I am doing wrong. I can drive the coach with it started from the rear, but that bothers me, as to why it will not start in front start position.

Background info, I started the coach normally earlier this morning and drove it 10 miles, then turned it off and later wanted to start the engine from the rear and it started right up. I turned it off from the rear by switching the toggle switch to center position, and then over to front start position. But when I tried to start the engine from the drivers seat, it turned over many times but would not start.

[Ken Ullman]

I seemed to have resolved the problem. The order of switching the toggle from on and starting the engine, to the midpoint "kill engine" and switching the toggle to the front start position seems to have solved the problem. Following this order, it started right up. Thanks, Ken

[Mike Groves]

Ken,

If you would please, can you give me a step by step, if I wanted to start from the point, where I had last started the C12 from the front, and now I want to start it from the back. 

I only ask because every time I have fiddled around switching the back switch to BACK, and it didn't work, I couldn't start it from the front either (as in turn the key in front and nothing happens). 

When this happened to me, after my initial panic, I made sure the switch in the back was properly pointed to the front starting position, then turned off my chassis battery main switch, then turned it on again, and I was then able to start from the front again. 

So, I am asking basically because I don't have any user guide for using that panel, so if you've figured out a step by step, I'd appreciate having it.  I just want to know whether mine works or not.

Thanks,
Mike

[Ken Ullman]

Mike,
Obviously we have found the same quirk.
I did not see anything in the chassis manual about rear start. I have discovered that after driving the Coach with front start for quite some time, I wanted to start from the rear so I switched the rear toggle switch to rear start position and pushed the start button, and the C12 started right up. I am not sure how I shut the engine off, but it must have been wrong, because the next time I went to start the engine, I made sure the toggle was in the front start and could not start the engine from the drivers seat! The engine turned over but no ignition. It turns out the sequence is critical.. after starting the engine from the rear, you must put the toggle in the middle "kill engine" position and after the engine dies, then switch to front start. then the engine can be started from the front...
I hope that helps,,,, Ken

[Mike Groves]

Thanks Ken.  I'll try that next time I feel I am in a safe to fail situation.  Hmm...is there such a situation?  Anyway, last time, simply turning the batteries off then back on again got me back to starting from the front.  I never did get the rear start to work.  I'll see what happens.

Thanks!
Mike

[Gerald Farris]

Ken,
You may have a rear toggle switch going bad. Those switches are famous for failing. If the ignition switch is in the on position, you should be able to start the coach from the rear position if the toggle is in the rear start position, and from the front if the toggle is bin the front start position. If your coach does not consistently operate like that you probably have an intermittent problem in the toggle switch, and you will either need to quit using it or replace it if rear start is important. It is not fun to have to wire around that switch when you are in the in a hurry to get on the road.

Gerald