engine won't start

enblethen wrote:
The lights do not go through the ignition switch only items that work with the ignition switch in the on position such as wipers.

Yes, obviously, as the tow trucker wanted all running lights on and the 4 ways going, while being towed. Just thought I'd mention it, to answer another poster's comment. Those overhead fans would be the biggest draw without a relay, I would think.

The lights do not go through the ignition switch only items that work with the ignition switch in the on position such as wipers.

Thanks again for all the feedback and and for the wealth of knowledge from some real gear heads here. My main drawback in figuring this thing out was not being in a good place with time to do so. Once we were towed and settled in a campground for the weekend, I was able to do some serious troubleshooting on Sunday. It was the red hot wire on the ignition sw. that wasn't getting over to the pink wire that feeds the ECM. I jumped the gun and made a mistake with allowing the same tech. that the tow service brought along, coming out on Sat. morning and accomplishing nothing. With my temp. bypass sw. we were able to proceed on our way and to our immediate destination and NAPA was able to get the sw. overnight. I have it installed and ready to go now, but will be here for awhile, so we had plenty of time on our hands, once arriving. Haven't removed my bypass sw. laying on the doghouse as yet and will chalk that one off to paranoia and just leaving it in the off position for now.
All exterior lights continued to work with the outage and my little 16amp bypass sw. never got even warm for the next 175 miles or so, although I never ran the overhead fans and not sure how many relays might be in the circuit to limit the amount of current draw through the ign. sw. itself.

Thanks for the update!

tropical36 wrote:
Update:
Found bad ignition switch
Installed temporary by pass switch for now and hope to proceed on our way, waiting on tow service to reconnect drive shaft.

Thanks for the update. As I mentioned, that is a known problem and some people I know carry an extra ignition switch and some have rewired the headlights with a relay so that their current does not run through the ignition switch and cause heat damage. Hope things go well from now on.

Update:
Found bad ignition switch
Installed temporary by pass switch for now and hope to proceed on our way, waiting on tow service to reconnect drive shaft.

Red should be power feed
Pink should go to distributor. This is the one that may not be getting power through the contacts.
Yellow should go through neutral safety switch then to starter solenoid to energize.

Something is up with the ignition switch. The part of the switch that feeds the starter solenoid also feeds the rest of the ignition circuit. Start there. Take a meter and figure out what wire is hot all the time. Then poke around and find out which wires go hot when the switch is turned on, then find the wires that go hot when turned to the start position. This is for a slightly different GM vehicle, but on the ignition switch, Gm has used the same color code for years. The rest of the schematic may or may not be accurate, but it should get you close enough to figure it out.

Have you checked the ignition switch? Connector is very easy to bump with foot as it is on the right side of the steering column near the service brake pedal.
Cranks indicates some power is getting to the driver's compartment. No dash lights means no power getting through the ignition switch in the run position.
Does your headlights work? This would show power is getting inside the coach and should not be the fuse link as I suggested earlier.

I had similar problem with my '98 Safari diesel pusher ,two weeks ago .
New starting batteries ,,engine would crank but not fire . So called a service man to storage yard ,,he checked wiring and fuse voltage,,,,,no voltage at VIPR and ECM. Had unit towed one and a half mile , cost $437.00 .
Coach spent 7.9 hours in BMT shop ,Sidney B.C. ---- labor $790.00 ,,they checked and cleaned ECM and connection . Traced and checked wiring and found bad ground at ECM caused by terminal at batteries .they replaced one fuse for $7.11 . My total bill here on beautiful Vancouver Island came to $1500.35 after taxes .
I do hope some of this information is helpful and hope you don't get slammed with an unrealistic bill like this . The total experience has reall clouded my desire to rv any longer and am thinking of selling my Safari .

Good luck with your rig ,,,if it's electrical it can be the smallest thing like a dirty connection and the trick is to find it ,,,in a repair shop it can take hours .
In my case I guess that old saying is pretty true " there's a sucker born every minute ",,but once they tow you in there ,,,what choices do you have ?
Seahunter 1