Starting problems - 92 Fleetwood (E-350) motorhome

[Andonso]

I have a 92 Fleetwood (E-350) 23" Motorhome with approx. 55,000 miles I'm trying to move to another location.

It's started in the past without any problems, but yesterday went to start the only response is a single click when the ign key is turned to start that sounds as if it's coming from the top side of the engine and as if it's on or in the drivers top side of the engine compartment.

I thought perhaps it was the starter and/or solenoid however while underneath I can here a single "click: when the key is turned to start, above and not below the engine.

I'm trying to remember, where is there a starter relay? I know there are three relays on the drivers side near the front of the engine compartment, one I think is for towing, but unable to remember what the other two relays are used for.

I believe the engine is a Ford 385 V8 7.5 L (460 cu in) OHV V8

I'm trying different batteries but none are the correct Groups size and CCA and all are fairly old.

Group 34 Yellow Top out of a Jeep (CCA 750)
Group 31 Sears Platinum AGM
Group 31 RV / marine batteries with 600 CCA.

I'm currently have the Group 31 RV/Marine battery on a 20 amp Truecharge2 but am uncertain if 600 CCA is enough?

---

I looked up the Group size and it takes a Group 65. Appears some have CCA's of 775.

Weak battery and.or low CCA?

The Group 34 Yellow Top I also tried (still working great), has a date code of 04/08

Walmart does have a Group 65 Ever Start battery with an 850 CCA.

[midnightsadie]

you need a buddy to listen for the click. its sounding like a relay not working.

[Andonso]

I have a fully charged battery on it now but am not getting any sound from the starter or solenoid.

The single Click when ign. key is turned to start sounds as if coming somewhere above the engine on the drivers side.

Where is the starter relay? I haven't really ever worked on this engine. I've worked some on the RV installing a solar panel, solar charger, extra house batteries, power distribution panel, new converter charger, wiring for tow vehicle, plumbing, etc.

Years ago I remember connecting to a Innova obd1/obd2 scanner, performing a few tests, etc.

[Andonso]

BFL13 wrote:
Sounds like it is just a bad battery connection, like others suggest. Clean posts and clamps, try again.

When the starter went bad on my E350, it just whirred. Was the "Bendix" not engaging. New starter solved that. Needed a tow from campground to a garage nearby though. (Thanks, Good Sam!)

Possibly the starter or solenoid. I think the main problem is the Jambo hasn't moved in 10 years and only been started a few time within that time frame.

When running it started, ran and sounded very good. I'm next to the Ocean in the Pacific Northwest, perhaps the salt air has effected the wiring, starter, solenoid, etc. It's accumulated alot of rust underneath. The Searcher that had been previously in Calif most of it's life and had very little rust when bought back in 07.

[Andonso]

Gjac wrote:
I would start by cleaning the battery terminals. How soon after taking your 11 year old battery of the charger did you take a reading and get 13.5 v? That could be just a surface charge if you took the reading an hr after you charged it. At any rate if you don't want to buy a new battery I would charge all 3 let them sit over night take a reading on each one and if you see 12.6 v on two of them wire them in parallel and see if the engine will turn over. Once you know your connections are free of corrosion and you have enough CCA's to turn the engine over(if you have house batteries which are good you can use your emergency start button also) and it still wont start the next step it tom look at the starting relay. See if you are reading 12+ v on each side of the relay. Try all that and let us know how you make out.

The 11 year old Yellow Top was sitting in my Jeep which is temproarily disabled until I install a new rear hard brake line. I had it on a charger but took off a few weeks ago, so it's been sitting with out a charge either from a charger or alternator for at least a few weeks.

I was thinking of swapping to my other Jeep that has a brand new Ever Start that has gone dead twice, leaving the interior lights on. I left my door open once for approx. 4 hours and another time 2 hours and it went completely dead (2-3 volts) I think it's a piece of ?#?x?. They put this stupid tight fitting cover over the cells that's impossible to remove to perform maintenance.

Anyway when I went to swap it for the Yellow Top recently the 11 year old Yellow Top voltage read 13.35 volts (from Fluke DMM) and it hadn't been charged in several weeks.

I'll take extra care in cleaning terminals, perhaps chain a few of the batteries in parallel.

It does have an auxiliary start but the three house batteries have been removed.

[BFL13]

Sounds like it is just a bad battery connection, like others suggest. Clean posts and clamps, try again.

When the starter went bad on my E350, it just whirred. Was the "Bendix" not engaging. New starter solved that. Needed a tow from campground to a garage nearby though. (Thanks, Good Sam!)

[midnightsadie]

start simple, before you dig into a mess , battery sounds like your using a bunch of junkers,, clean post both battery and rv, take ground neg wire from the frame and clean to bare metal.

[Gjac]

I would start by cleaning the battery terminals. How soon after taking your 11 year old battery of the charger did you take a reading and get 13.5 v? That could be just a surface charge if you took the reading an hr after you charged it. At any rate if you don't want to buy a new battery I would charge all 3 let them sit over night take a reading on each one and if you see 12.6 v on two of them wire them in parallel and see if the engine will turn over. Once you know your connections are free of corrosion and you have enough CCA's to turn the engine over(if you have house batteries which are good you can use your emergency start button also) and it still wont start the next step it tom look at the starting relay. See if you are reading 12+ v on each side of the relay. Try all that and let us know how you make out.

[Andonso]

I have a two ton floor jack I'm hoping can lift up the front enough to access the starter.

I seem to remember checking the Yellow Top was at 13.35 volts, after it had been sitting unused.

I then had the Yellow Top on a charger overnight. With the Truecharge2 connected to the Yellow Top Group 34 I can here only a single click when ign turned to start.

The yellow top had been working ok holding a charge and cranking the Jeep's 4.0L engine.

It does have a date code of 04/08 which makes it approx. 11 year old battery.

I'm just moving the motor home down the road a short ways and don't really want to purchase a new Group 65 battery if it's going to be sitting in one spot and not being driven at all.

Another option would be to pay a tow company to tow it ~five miles down the road.

Once it's moved I may need to move it on the property once or twice. I can then work on it later to get it to start.

I have all the factory schematics, FSM, etc. for an E-350. I'll probably need to take a closer look at the wiring in case the problem isn't the battery.

The check engine light comes on when the ign key is turned. I do have a Snap-On MT-2500 which works with most OBD1 vehicles providing live readout and some diagnostics. However Ford OBD was behind other manufactures in the 80s and early 90s may not have much information when connected to an OBD1 scanner. (other than perhaps a Ford scanner)

[twodownzero]

I would use a multimeter and see what the state of charge is of the batteries you tried. I would also test the solenoid, either with an ohm meter or by bypassing it and see if the starter motor turns.

A 65 is bigger than a 34 but not a lot bigger. A group size 34 battery will start ANY engine if it's charged and not sulfated, but the bigger battery will last longer.