97 Fleetwood Bounder, F53 chassis

skiatom wrote:
Thanks for the tip on cleaning the battery connections. They didn’t look that bad, but I cleaned them on the starting battery and the house batteries. Everything is working like a charm!

Yep! I've had the same thing happen on my 1999 F53 several times. It really doesn't matter how the terminals look. When/if the engine/generator won't start, since it's basic and free, cleaning the battery terminals should always be your first plan. Don't over spend and don't over think it.

Chum lee

Don’t know. My theory is that due to corrosion, when trying to start, the connections heat up. So on a second or third try it starts.

Who knows. All I know is that after cleaning and tightening the connections, it is now working fine.

skiatom wrote:
My 97 Fleetwood Bounder with a Ford F53 chassis is having starting problems.

Try starting, dead.
Try starting with aux. start, dead.
Start generator, boom! Gen starts. Then I can start it.
I replaced the inverter about 3 years ago.

Most likely, your genset starts with the house batteries.
Your chassis battery is dead and your aux. start sw. isn't working, for whatever reason. Switch, solenoid....etc...etc...
Starting the genset, charges the chassis batteries for it then being able to start.
Only thing here, that's not adding up, is for why the thing even charges the chassis battery, if the crossover solenoid isn't working?

Thanks for the tip on cleaning the battery connections. They didn’t look that bad, but I cleaned them on the starting battery and the house batteries. Everything is working like a charm!

Could be bad starter solenoid. You can test it by jumpering across the two large posts.

I had the same issue with a 1999 Bounder on an F53 chassis. Mine ended up being a bad solenoid in the Battery Control Center.

The solenoid had failed, which caused the chassis battery to not charge when plugged into shore power. The auxiliary start button uses the same solenoid during an emergency to connect the chassis battery to the house batteries. So that didn't work either.

I posted pictures/details here: http://2manytoyz.com/bcc.html

It was a PITA to access, but the work wasn't difficult. Good luck!

I will check that out. Thanks.

We have a 1996 Southwind. If the terminals on the chassis battery gets a little corrosion it won't start but, will start with the generator running. I'm not sure why.
After I clean the terminals it starts without the generator running.
Make sure your terminals are clean/tight and the battery is charged.

Sounds like your chassis battery is dead. I never could get any of the emergency start switches to work in any RV I ever had. Not sure if I was doing something wrong. Have you tested the chassis battery?