1997 Fleetwood Bounder (ford) not starting

Locate the starter relay. It is normally located on the fire wall under the hood. Follow chassis battery cable to it.
Try jumping the two large posts. The starter should engage.
You could have a problem with a neutral safety switch. By jumping the large posts, you will be by passing the safety switch.
Try also moving the gear shift lever. Try starting in neutral, and then wiggle the gear shift.

ok, thanks, I will try that and see how it goes.

Ciken,

You joined today.
It won't start today.
How long have you had it?
It is old enough to vote and drinking some states.
Do the lights go out when you try to crank?
- It is probably a bad connection somewhere.
The lights that are on stay good?
- Try the bit at the start contactor (solenoid) listed above.
could the the neutral safety switch.
That is about what wwe can do from here.

Matt

well the battery cables go into the battery control box... and I cant find any other wires to trace (I did find two large red wire going off and up and under the vehicle, ground muddy, not crawling under a car that is not mine in the mud LOL I am a 55 yr old disable female... as my excuse ;) ). I tried the neutral thing too and still nothing. The battery light and the check engine light are the only things that light up (besides Odometer)on the dash. I put the charger to the 100a jump start and still nothing.

Main battery at 12.9v, charger says fully charged. but have the charger on one of the other batteries again and will just try charging both those batteries and see if anything happens after they are both charged and let you know. in the meantime, I will see if I can find a repair manual for it online somewhere to see what is what...


Knowing my luck, it needs a repairman to come fix it and this one is not mine; I was letting a lady store it here and she was supposed to come get it today (but I have not heard from her in over a month).


Time will tell but I am wondering if in 3 months, I will be starting the paperwork for a lien sale....

(and, it has not started for over a month, I just joined today looking for some guidance as my fulltime RV is a vintage VW bus. Now THAT I know how to fix....)

If the chassis battery goes into the battery control center, try cycling the battery disconnect switch.
The rig is suppose to be able to run with the battery disconnect in the off postion. Double check for another cable off chassis battery.

Clean the battery terminals, sounds like it has volts just won't handle the amp load of starting.

1. Make really sure the cables to the battery are clean and tight. Take a pair of pliers and grab hold of a cable and try to turn it left to right and right to left. If they are loose clean them up and tighten. If the cables and terminals are not shiny than they are not clean. After that move on to other trouble shooting.

How do I cycle the battery disconnect switch?

all the cables are tight but tomorrow I will see if I can get them off and clean em.

I will update after that.

Thank you all :)

Sounda like you need an auto mechanic to look at it for you. Gassers are just like old cars, most any decent mechanic can troubleshoot them. I would start with a voltmeter to see if any power to starter relay.

There should be battery disconnect switches. Fleetwood normally puts them above the entre door. push bottom to turn off, then push on top to turn on.
When you turn the ignition switch to on, the dash indicator, red lights, should come on.
On the dash you should have a switch marked "aux start", Push and hold that in on the top. This should connect the coach batteries to the chassis battery to give more starting power.