P30 starter mystery box
Hi All,
I'm the third owner of a 1991 Fourwinds Class A on a Chevy P30 chassis. Everything has been working perfect since purchase in 2011, until I went to start on a very cold evening (20 degrees F) turned key to run all dash lights come on then to start and smelled electrical burning and no starter activation. Initially I thought buring smell was coming from hydroflame heater that I had just reinstalled after replacing blower motor and ignored smell (though my wife didn't... good on her). I have 84K on the chassis so I set about working from the starter backwards. $50 and new starter later still nothing. From pervious forums, I went to look at starter switch which seems to have been problematic according to others. While underdash I would get periodic whiffs of burnt electrical so I figured I was getting close. With starter switch out and it not smelling like fried electrical, I started tracing starter wire and found an aftermarket black box with no markings but clearly the source of burnt smell. The box has 6 #16 wires running into with a small removable jumper wire board opposite of where the wires enter. 4 of the wires are crimped to ground while the remaining two appear to simply to bridge the starter wire. Removal of the board from the black reveals definite scorched jumper. I cracked the laminated box open to find nothing more than essentialy all wires leading to the sorched jumper board. Do anyone know what purpose this black box device may have served?
I'm the third owner of a 1991 Fourwinds Class A on a Chevy P30 chassis. Everything has been working perfect since purchase in 2011, until I went to start on a very cold evening (20 degrees F) turned key to run all dash lights come on then to start and smelled electrical burning and no starter activation. Initially I thought buring smell was coming from hydroflame heater that I had just reinstalled after replacing blower motor and ignored smell (though my wife didn't... good on her). I have 84K on the chassis so I set about working from the starter backwards. $50 and new starter later still nothing. From pervious forums, I went to look at starter switch which seems to have been problematic according to others. While underdash I would get periodic whiffs of burnt electrical so I figured I was getting close. With starter switch out and it not smelling like fried electrical, I started tracing starter wire and found an aftermarket black box with no markings but clearly the source of burnt smell. The box has 6 #16 wires running into with a small removable jumper wire board opposite of where the wires enter. 4 of the wires are crimped to ground while the remaining two appear to simply to bridge the starter wire. Removal of the board from the black reveals definite scorched jumper. I cracked the laminated box open to find nothing more than essentialy all wires leading to the sorched jumper board. Do anyone know what purpose this black box device may have served?
