'94 Winnebago Brave - Won't start

[bkbonner]

Hi, I have a 1994 Winnebago Brave. On the last few trips we've taken (Michigan, Florida, Maine), when we've stopped to get gas, our RV would not start. We'd jump it with our tow vehicle and it would start up. We bought the battery in 2011 it had 800 cranking amps. I brought it into a shop and they wanted $500 to replace the alternator which they said was bad. The RV was able to start. I drove the RV home, since replacing the alternator is not difficult. I did it in 2007.

I checked the Alternator...I made sure the battery had 12.8 volts in it. I started the RV and the voltmeter measured 13.7 volts. I turned on the heater, high beams and the voltmeter dropped back down to 13.3 volts.

I ended up replacing the Alternator and then the RV wouldn't start at all. I installed a new chassis battery.

After installing it, I tried to start the RV, it started up but shut down in about 4 seconds. I couldn't restart it and my headlights wouldn't work. I measured the voltage on the battery and it was at 12.8 volts.

I have knife switches on the batteries. I had the coach batteries in the open position while running these tests.

Any ideas??

[bkbonner]

Got the RV running in time for Spring Break. I'm a happy camper. Thanks everyone.

I had also called Winnebago and Rod in the service area said the same thing. He said that I'd have to clean each of the various connections starting at the battery and follow it toward the starter. This post sums up pretty much what I did. My plan was to test it as I went. Hope this helps someone else with their ground problem. The description at the beginning pretty much sums up what likely happened to my battery. I love step #9.

Anyway, I started at the battery (I have terminal posts) and these type of connectors that allow me to use side mounted battery connectors with it. It turns out the connector for the negative terminal was stripped on the inside so the terminal screw wouldn't make a good connection. It seemed good, but it obviously wasn't. I pulled off the connectors cleaned them with my plumbing pipe cleaner tool and cleaned the inside of new connectors I bought and voila, I had headlights and it started right up!

It also appears to have resolved some fluctuation I was seeing in my speedometer...the speedometer would float up and down and all around. I haven't taken it for a long drive, but just driving slow, it seems to be working better.

Thank you all for your quick responses.

[APRSRVer]

Chevrolet P30 chassis has a fusible link body feed at the battery post of the starter solenoid. No battery voltage there, no nothing. And of coarse, a good battery ground.

[bkbonner]

@garry1p, what do you mean by a fuseable link?

@garry1p/@johno02: If it's a corroded connection, then I should be able to bypass them with jumper cables, right?

What's the best way to check for good ground? I'm testing from positive to the chassis and it's the same voltage as the battery. If I check the impedance of the wire...what two points should I measure between?

Why would the wire to the starter affect the headlights? Does it run directly to the headlights from the battery, or does the wire to the starter come from a solenoid?

Thanks.

[garry1p]

I think you have a corroded connection.
.
You may also have a bad fuseable link on the pos side.

Time to get out the meter and check for resistance from battery to ground on neg side and battery pos to starter.

Should be around 1 ohm or less.

[Johno02]

Sounds a lot like a problem I had years ago. In my case, like you said, battery seemed to charge, but would not start car. To make it short, I had a corroded battery cable! It had corroded inside the insulation, and there were no signs at all on the outside. there sere only a few strands of wire left inside, which did not carry enough to run the starter. Don't know if this would help, but its another thing to check.

[wirenutz]

hot starter ? they make a heat shield for the starters

[crasster]

popeyemth wrote:
Check the voltage at the starter when trying to crank. Double check the ground.
I suspect ground .

I agree. I would clean all connections. Ground and also the positive to the starter solenoid.

[popeyemth]

Check the voltage at the starter when trying to crank. Double check the ground.
I suspect ground .