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All_I_could_aff's avatar
All_I_could_aff
Explorer
Sep 30, 2017

I'm trying to help a friend with his 2000 Fleetwood F53 V10

A good friend of mine called me in a panic. He needs to drive his Fleetwood bounder F53 V10 Home from his seasonal site this weekend and is having some trouble.

It has a single 12 V chassis battery (65 series) and a pair of 6 volt battery's in series for the coach. The rig has been plugged in to a 30 amp circuit continuously for the last two years, and the batteries are all three or four years old, and have probably been boiled dry. As far as I can tell he has the original basic converter not a fancy modern one that would go into a low charging float mode.

The problem he is having is keeping the engine running. He was able to get it started while still plugged in to the 30 amp pedestal, but as soon as he unplugs from the pedestal, the engine stalls. By chance, the other vehicle he was down there in used a 65 series battery so I suggested he swap it into the RV chassis position.

It's still only starts while plugged into the pedestal and stalls as soon as you unplug it. Even if he had a bad alternator I would expect it to remain running an hour or two until the battery got right now. I am trying to guide him over the phone as best I can, otherwise I am driving down to help tomorrow afternoon.

Is there any reason That the bad coach batteries could prevent the rig from staying running? I suggested he try disconnecting the coach batteries based on the possibility that they were internally shorted and thus causing enough voltage drop to stall the Rig?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. This guy took me and for other friends on an all expenses paid trip to the Florida Keys two years ago in this very same rig. Thank you
Class A

9 Replies

  • 2_many_2's avatar
    2_many_2
    Explorer III
    Oct 01, 2017
    Thank you for coming back with an update.
    Great job helping a friend:)
  • All_I_could_aff's avatar
    All_I_could_aff
    Explorer
    Oct 01, 2017
    Thanks for all the tips guys. We had it running within 20 minutes of me getting there. I can't say for sure exactly what the problem was, because on my way down with new batteries I had him disconnect the old ones and begin cleaning up all wire ends with wire brush.

    I installed a new chassis battery first, and with no coach batteries connected it started and ran fine with 14.2 volts at the terminals. I then installed new coach batteries and was showing 14.1 there.

    Next, I opened up the water fill ports on the old 6volt batteries to take a look inside. Completely dry and looked like a science project between the plates. So I'm pretty sure that was the load that would stall the motor upon pedistal disconnect. I imagine the converter has been working overtime trying to force a charge into these batteries for a year or two.

    We made it home safely. Thanks again for the tips.
  • Hank_MI's avatar
    Hank_MI
    Explorer
    Sep 30, 2017
    As a note, the chassis battery is probably good. The converter via shore power can't supply enough current to start the engine so it must be drawing current from the chassis battery. Neither the converter nor the battery disconnect solenoid are designed to handle the current of the starter. That's why I suspect the chassis (Main) disconnect is off or the disconnect solenoid is bad.
  • JaxDad's avatar
    JaxDad
    Explorer III
    Sep 30, 2017
    Start with the very basics.

    Get a voltmeter. If the chassis battery is dead, replace it. Disconnect the house batteries and see what the chassis battery reads before and after starting the engine. If the alternator is working, it will run fine to get where he needs to be.

    After that start diagnosing the house battery issue.

    It's likely that with three dead batteries the alternator at idle just can't keep the voltage high enough to sustain the engine. Disconnected house batteries will fix that.
  • Hank_MI's avatar
    Hank_MI
    Explorer
    Sep 30, 2017
    Being a Fleetwood MH he probably has both a Main (chassis) and Aux (coach) battery disconnect. Make sure the Main is on and I would turn off the Aux for now. The Main disconnects power to the ignition system but power to the starter is direct, not routed through the disconnect.
  • chuckftboy's avatar
    chuckftboy
    Explorer
    Sep 30, 2017
    That's a strange problem. Might be a bad negative cable or ground connection to the frame. When plugged in the coach sees ground from the pedestal but when unplugged, it is through the negative battery cable. Just a guess on my part.
  • Lwiddis's avatar
    Lwiddis
    Explorer II
    Sep 30, 2017
    No reason to panic. Call a local RV repair shop and gave a mechanic come to his location or have it towed. Surprised an experienced RVer wouldn't test his unit after two years of sitting and that he didn't realize his converter was crummy or that batteries need water.
  • MountainAir05's avatar
    MountainAir05
    Explorer II
    Sep 30, 2017
    up plug the batteries neg side and check voltage on all of them. Battery voltage first. With out any more info , I would say bad alt plus other electrical issues, connectors , relays.

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