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S_Manchester's avatar
S_Manchester
Explorer
Oct 12, 2015

1989 Fleetwood Southwind Coach Electrical Issue

I recently purchased an 89 Southwind, which worked fine from the time I looked at it all the way until the day I got it home. When I went to look at it initially, all 12v light fixtures worked, the monitor panel worked, as well as the fridge, stove exhaust fan, etc. The generator would also start right up from the switch on the dash as well as at the switch on the generator itself.

As soon as I got it home, i went to start the generator up and nothing happened. I tried also at the switch on the generator, still nothing. I then tried turning on the light fixtures in the living area, and other electronics, and nothing worked.

A bit later, I tried again to turn on the light fixtures and they would glow dimly, as though there were high resistance in the circuit somewhere....
I also tried the monitor panel battery meters, which read that both auxiliary batteries were low.

I tested all batteries with a volt meter and all of them were at full charge.

The next day, I started the engine, just to let it run a bit, and all light fixtures kicked on full power. The monitor panel suddenly functioned properly, fan ran at full blast, etc.

Shortly thereafter, everything kicked off again, and then everything came back on.

I timed this phenomenon, noticing that for five straight minutes it did this: The lights and everything would work for 25 seconds, then shut off for 15 seconds, never breaking that pattern.

I killed the engine and everything stopped working again.

The auxiliary batteries are supposed to supply 12v to the coach at all times I thought, so I don't know why nothing works. Also, when I tried to start the engine again to see if it was still behaving as such, the lights and everything else didn't come on at all.

I also notice that the radio does not save my presets, which suggests that all power to the coach is cut off when the key is not in the ON position or the ACC position.

I have checked all fuses and breakers, and have no clue what to do at this point. It's such an intermittent issue and everything worked fine the whole week before I bought it..this just started happening the day I drove it home. Even the day I bought it all that stuff worked fine, and it had been regularly driven in the weeks leading up to my purchasing it by the previous owner..so I don't know how I could have caused this problem just by driving it home.

11 Replies

  • Over the door is a main and coach switch. Is the coach switch in the on position?

    You could have a short somewhere that is tripping an automatic breaker.
    If yours is like mine the main panel is under the fridge. Remove 12 volt fuses one at a time until problem goes away and that circuit will probably be your problem.
    If no fix then
    If it is a chevy chassis under the hood on the drivers side you will find a relay that looks like this

    Tap it with a hammer and see if that fixes the problem. There is a big washer inside that corrodes. You can buy a new switch or remove the one you have and burnish the big washer which will make it work for a while maybe 6 months maybe 5 years.

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