Need help!

[Fred Cook]

Need help!  I am stuck at a truck stop taking up an aisle and my coach will not turn over. In fact there is no juice coming to the front at all on dash lights or anything, I can push the auxiliary for the coach batteries and get some juice to the front but it will not turn the starter. Is there any quick advice that I can get to get this thing going?

[Jerry Emert]

Was in similar situation once when alternator went bad.  I started genny to charge the batteries.  When batteries charged I started the engine using battery boost.  Kept genny on while driving until alt fixed.  Good luck.
Jerry

[Fred Cook]

I can’t start the jenny with the coach battery override. But I have to keep the button pushed down for the Jenny to keep running.  The moment I tried to start the coach the Jenny dies.

[Fred Cook]

I meant to say that I can start the Jenny with the coach battery over ride.  Put The  Jenny dies when trying to start coach

[Mike Shumack]

If the Chassis batteries are dead and you are running the generator and trying to start the coach, you are putting a lot of load on the generator. You may need to run the genny for a while to charge up the batteries first then try again to start with genny as supplement.

I suppose your alternator is not charging the batteries while driving (did you notice a charge warning light or happen to see what the Volt gauge said)? If the alternator is charging, three other things come to mind: 1) the chassis batteries are just bad and wont hold a charge (how old are they?), and/or 2) the battery cables are bad or corroded, and/or 3) the starter or starter relay is bad (too much current draw).

Do you have a handheld voltmeter to test with?

[Fred Cook]

 Well it has been an interesting day or should I say a bad luck day. Finally got the coach towed away from the fuel pumps to a repair facility a few miles away. Once we got to the repair facility the tow truck driver began releasing the motorhome and it rolled backwards onto the lifting arm and put a hole in my oil pan.... a mess everywhere.  Also a piece of 2 x 4 that was under the tire trusted forward up through my basement floor just behind the water control panel.  It is still stuck in there and I’m not sure what the damage is there.  Apparently the brake was not on when he started releasing the coach.   An adjuster will come out the next couple days from progressive insurance to assess the damage. What a bummer!

[Frank Bergamo]

Fred, I would check the ignition solenoid located in the front left electric bay. Here is a post that may help you. http://beaveramb.org/forum/index.php/topic,2051.0.html

[Fred Cook]

Frank... yep I checked it. No current going to the solenoid.

[Gerald Farris]

Fred,
Your no start condition is almost certainly a bad engine alternator and you were not running the generator long enough to adequately recharge the batteries before trying to start the coach engine. Especially because your coach has an Echo Charger, the chassis batteries recharge slowly from the generator and need a jumper cable hooked between the positive house battery bank and the positive coach battery bank to recharge in 1/2 hour or so, or you can hold down the boost switch until the coach batteries are charged with the generator running and the inverter charging.

Gerald

[Mike Shumack]

Well it has been an interesting day or should I say a bad luck day.

 the tow truck driver began releasing the motorhome and it rolled backwards onto the lifting arm and put a hole in my oil pan..

Also a piece of 2 x 4 that was under the tire trusted forward up through my basement floor just behind the water control panel. 

Wow. That must have been some incline to allow coach to roll with that much force. Was the block of wood just laying on the ground, or did tow truck drive try to use behind a tire and it just popped up?

I have watched several of these YouTube "fail videos" where some construction equipment (front end loader or such) has rolled over and then its pulled upright and it rolls away because no one thought to apply the brakes beforehand. it's funny to watch but not so funny when it's your machine. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=958b5Siv6kA

[Dave Atherton]

Fred, does the starter click at all or nothing. Had cases where the 12volt to the small trigger
to starter solenoid lost voltage from the key switch. What I have done  take a jumper wire
connected to 12 volts and connect to where starter trigger wire on solenoid on starter starter should spin,turn on your key first. Dave Atherton Retired Cat Mechanic

[Fred Cook]

Fred, does the starter click at all or nothing. Had cases where the 12volt to the small trigger
to starter solenoid lost voltage from the key switch. What I have done  take a jumper wire
connected to 12 volts and connect to where starter trigger wire on solenoid on starter starter should spin,turn on your key first. Dave Atherton Retired Cat Mechanic

Yes starter does click. It is at the mechanics shop now and I informed them of your input. Thanks to all!

[Joel Ashley]

Fred, not only has your alternator probably failed, but the chassis batteries will have lost some potential, a good deal of it from my experience.  If they have much age on them, you might consider new ones.  Unless they are the rare and ill-advised instance of being deep cycle chassis ones, they will never be quite the same and will have at the very least lost some longevity.

As Gerald and others pointed out, you just didn't let the genset run long enough to get the batteries back up to where they could spin the engine.  In a pinch where all banks were down, one could conceivably start the genset with jumper cables or a portable pack, then let it run 30 mins. to a couple hours and after Gerald's jumper suggestions before trying to crank the engine.  The chassis set would just deplete again on the road unless you kept the genset on, so the prudent thing is a new alternator asap. 

Make sure a new alternator is a Leece-Neville 160amp;  one here recently had a shop put a 140amp one in, and it was inadequate.  Then be sure in the future to charge up with the genset before driving after dry camping.

Joel

[Fred Cook]

Fred, not only has your alternator probably failed, but the chassis batteries will have lost some potential, a good deal of it from my experience.  If they have much age on them, you might consider new ones.  Unless they are the rare and ill-advised instance of being deep cycle chassis ones, they will never be quite the same and will have at the very least lost some longevity.

As Gerald and others pointed out, you just didn't let the genset run long enough to get the batteries back up to where they could spin the engine.  In a pinch where all banks were down, one could conceivably start the genset with jumper cables or a portable pack, then let it run 30 mins. to a couple hours and after Gerald's jumper suggestions before trying to crank the engine.  The chassis set would just deplete again on the road unless you kept the genset on, so the prudent thing is a new alternator asap. 

Make sure a new alternator is a Leece-Neville 160amp;  one here recently had a shop put a 140amp one in, and it was inadequate.  Then be sure in the future to charge up with the genset before driving after dry camping.

Joel

Thanks Joel.  Is this the one you are talking about?   160 Amp Leece Neville Duvac Alternator for applications with Battery Isolator 2824LC 2825LC

[Joel Ashley]

I’m not sure which exact model is appropriate for your particular coach, Fred.  They can have different hookups, if past threads here are an indicator.  Dave Atherton, Gerald, or another member should know.  A responsible install shop should also be able to look it up in an applications document.  If one of those isolator models is what you have, than perhaps you are on the right track.

http://beaveramb.org/forum/index.php/topic,7852.msg54617.html#msg54617

Joel