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No Electrical Power Showing
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Rayzen
Novice
Sep 24, 2015, 5:55 PM
Post #1 of 5
(1376 views)
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No Electrical Power Showing
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I have an old '83 Class C motorhome built onto a Chevy van (V-8), automatic transmission, two-wheel drive.
When I went out to start it, all I got was a clicking sound, coming from the solenoid, so I just figured that the battery was dead.
I charged the battery, hooked it back up, but got the same response.
Next, I tried cleaning the battery connections, reconnecting the battery and jumping it from my car, thinking that I either had bad connections and/or the battery was still not fully charged (even though I had charged it for several hours). Same response (clicking).
Getting frustrated, I figured that maybe the solenoid was just sticking, so while my neighbor held the ignition switch to "start," I crawled under the RV and rapped on the solenoid.
That's when I noticed some arcing and sparking right at the solenoid terminal. I was encouraged, as obviously I just had a bad connection or bad wire. Quick fix, no need to remove the starter.
My neighbor went home and I disassembled the connection and cleaned all of the wires, as well as the connector on the solenoid until they were all nice and shiny. They were all incredibly oxidized and in need of cleaning. However, while undoing the solenoid wiring, my wrench made contact with the frame and there were sparks, which surprised me, as I figured that there wouldn't be any juice to that solenoid, if the ignition had been turned off. Figuring that my neighbor had forgotten to turn off the ignition, I looked, but it had, in fact, been turned off. Strange, but maybe that's just how they wired it (that is, with the solenoid always being "hot." Dunno)
Anyway, I finished reassembling the wiring, then got back in the RV, fully expecting to fire it right up, no problem. Wrong, of course. Now there is no juice anywhere, no dash lights, no clicking, no headlights, no nothing nowhere, nohow. Dead. I must've blown a fuse, when the wrench hit the frame, while disassembling the solenoid wiring. However, when I look at the fuse box, I can't find any fuse in the fuse box where it is labeled "battery." Instead of a fuse, there is nothing but a wire that is inserted straight into the fuse box. Now I'm thinking there must be one of those wonderful fusible links, somewhere; however, I have no idea where to look for that, since fusible links look just like any other wire.
Or maybe there is some other problem/reason for my current dilemma...other than my bumbling backyard mechanic talents.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(This post was edited by Rayzen on Sep 24, 2015, 5:57 PM)
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Sep 24, 2015, 6:50 PM
Post #2 of 5
(1364 views)
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Re: No Electrical Power Showing
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Of course you have power to the starter all the time. The battery cable ic connected directly to it. Your fusible links are also connected to it. Pull on each wire at the starter and see if any of them stretches. That is the burnt one.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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Rayzen
Novice
Sep 24, 2015, 7:04 PM
Post #3 of 5
(1360 views)
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Re: No Electrical Power Showing
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Hi Hammer Time. Thanks for the help! Okay, that sounds like a logical check. I'll give it a try, tomorrow, then post what I find.
By the way, just as an aside, what's the reason for those damn fusible links, anyway? There must be a good reason to have something other than a regular fuse. The only thing I can think of might be that they could handle more current than a normal fuse, although there are fuses with pretty high current ratings, so I dunno. Just curious.
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Sep 25, 2015, 1:59 AM
Post #4 of 5
(1352 views)
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Re: No Electrical Power Showing
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Yes, they carry more current and they supply the power to the smaller fuses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Sep 25, 2015, 2:53 AM
Post #5 of 5
(1348 views)
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Re: No Electrical Power Showing
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Thoughts on old and customized thing like this:
Chev drivetrain made into a camper: This already suggests that if only one battery that it likely has a stack of wires to a side post battery so must be perfect, clean and greased at all electrical connections especially now old and likely just periodic use. This should be left on a battery maintainer all the time when not being used as well.
You said you whacked the solenoid! What? NO - if anything you tap on the body of a starter. You probably wrecked that solenoid since you saw arcing and it is LIVE power there. Bet is on you need a new solenoid or whole starter by now over that.
Hammer Time suggested checking fusible links by pulling and would show a bad one as he said. Wouldn't be surprised and might even have added wires there for the camper part?
These creations did have a well thought out wiring set up when aftermarket made it into what it would be. That info should be kept as companies who do this stuff are frequently gone or unavailable.
Was quite a while ago with an 1988 stock van with tons of add on electrical inside. Just one case not necessarily yours but the rubber wiring block at firewall was over stressed IMO by tapping into power on inside fuse panel. Seemed properly done just a bit much and not so old of course at the time. Could be a problem spot for strange issues is all I mean. That one easily fixed.
Can't know what it involved to make this camper or how powered from where. You are probably going to plain look and check items/wiring one by one.
Do only use fusible link wire and fuses if found blown of the same rating NOT over fused,
T
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