2002 Coachmen Leprechaun Cab Clearance Light OUT??

[TWZMYJP]

I've just lost all (5) cab clearance lights on our 2002 Coachmen Leprechaun... I have checked all of the fuses in the under-dash panel, as well as those in the PDC under the hood, and all fuses are good. Can anyone give me any input on what to check next, or where the wires feeding the cab clearance lights might be routed? Thanks much in advance!!

[DrewE]

TWZMYJP wrote:
No, actually one of the side markers at the belt line was also dead, and turned out to have the same issue with +12v on both conductors... That is where I was able to find the wiring behind the kitchen cabinets and tap into the ground and run a new ground leg, which makes all of the lights work again. There must be either a separate ground circuit for those particular lights, or a break in the ground wire somewhere between them and the remaining clearance lights, as all of the others worked just fine??

Sounds like it. Were I in your shoes, I'd call the repair good enough and cease worrying about it and go camping instead.

[TWZMYJP]

No, actually one of the side markers at the belt line was also dead, and turned out to have the same issue with +12v on both conductors... That is where I was able to find the wiring behind the kitchen cabinets and tap into the ground and run a new ground leg, which makes all of the lights work again. There must be either a separate ground circuit for those particular lights, or a break in the ground wire somewhere between them and the remaining clearance lights, as all of the others worked just fine??

[j-d]

I'd guess Ground too, but...
...is it only Front Markers that are out? Some RV's have the tail and clearance lights connected to a "trailer" harness at the rear of the chassis. That also usually means they're on a different fuse.

[TWZMYJP]

Well, found the issue but not the source/location of the problem... I pulled the lense off the passenger side cab light fixture and verified the bulb was good. Out of curiosity, I pulled the bulb to expose the conductors in the fixture and put a test light on the conductors. To my amazement, the first conductor I touched had power to it?! Sadly though, so did the other conductor... I'm no electrician but I think this means I've lost ground somewhere... So I pulled a lense off a fixture down on the belt line that was working to verify wire colors for power and ground, and then ran a jumper from battery ground to the supposed ground wire on the cab light fixture. Sure enough, all of the cab clearance lights popped on!!

So... I made a quasi permanent jumper and tied it to a ground location inside the coach behind the cabinets. Not sure where or how the real ground failed, but the lights are working again now.

[DrewE]

On my '98 Coachmen Santara class C, the front clearance lights are powered from wires that come through the ceiling on the lefthand side. You have to at least partly remove the bit of curved carpeted paneling that runs up the front to the ceiling to get access to the connections. The wire I assume must run from there down to the rest of the RV wiring through the wall or something at some point, but I have no idea where that happens.

If you can find the color/stripe pattern of the wire for some of the other clearance lights, you might be able to track it down in various wiring bundles and see if there are any obvious broken connections there (or with associated ground wires).

[westend]

I'd suggest to start inspecting the lamps at the outboard fixtures. Look for corroded connections or a disconnected wire.