Dead in the water, what to check?

[Mshaneweaver]

I have a 1996 Coachman Santara. It has been sitting idle for just over a year. I went out to crank it this weekend and it is dead, nothing. All the batteries were dead so I put a good one in place of the engine battery but still nothing. If I put the key in and turn it, I get no lights or anything. If I try to turn on the headlights I get nothing. Are there some simple things to check that could be causing it? I don't really know anything about them, a friend is giving it to me. He said it worked fine when it was parked. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[JohnG3]

Worst case mice got into the wiring.

[John_Wayne]

I think if the relay pops when you hit the kill switch by the door you have the batt. hooked up to the house side. and not the starting side. Not all kill switches by the door kill the starting batt.

[Mshaneweaver]

Ok I messed with it today. There are three solenoids next to the battery, two have fuses on top and one looks like a standard ford starter solenoid. I'm certain the other two are really relays. Now that I have the new battery in there, the left relay "pops" when I hit the battery kill switch in the doorway. It's a temporary rocker switch though, I expected it to be an off/on switch. I could not find another kill switch in the battery bay. The ground to the chassis is good, put a meter on it and got good continuity. The red wire did not show continuity so I removed it and found that it was torn open exposing the copper wire. I figured I had it solved do got a replacement. Still no luck.

I can't find any fusable link unless it's inside the wire loom. I didn't crack the loom open. Where can I find a wiring schematic so I will know what the bundle of colored wires in the loom are for? Each of them go to a post on one of the solenoids.

I cleaned all the connections.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for all the help guys.

[wa8yxm]

List of suspects:
You replaced the house battery, not the chassis
Disconnect switch
Dirty terminals
Bad cable.

That about covers it.. I have actually seen bad cables on more than one occsion.

Oh, one final suspect. "New" battery bad.

[SCR]

Mshaneweaver wrote:
I have a 1996 Coachman Santara. It has been sitting idle for just over a year. I went out to crank it this weekend and it is dead, nothing. All the batteries were dead so I put a good one in place of the engine battery but still nothing. If I put the key in and turn it, I get no lights or anything. If I try to turn on the headlights I get nothing. Are there some simple things to check that could be causing it? I don't really know anything about them, a friend is giving it to me. He said it worked fine when it was parked. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Real simple, did you clean the terminals? (Already suggested)

Did you connect the new battery properly - Red positive and Black negative ?

Are you sure the battery you connected is fully charged?

[Tom_Diane]

I had a starter on my old chevy silveraodo. Same type of situation, but after a battery and still no start or lights. Had starter replaced and it turns over fine. Gauges and all respond but now fuel pump is dried up and will be getting rid of the old girl next week. It would have started with the new starter had the fuel pump would work.

[donn0128]

Did you connect the new battery to the house side and not the engine side?
If your sure it is connected to the right side, then start looking for the fuseable link that protects the chassis in case of short.

[trop-a-cal]

Check for bad ground. Follow it from battery to frame.

[Trackrig]

Did you clean the battery terminals? I think it's something else, but that shouldn't be overlooked. Next year when you park it, be sure to disconnect the battery terminals. Two minutes saves a lot of $ on new batteries.

Bill

[Gjac]

Start with the simple things first. Does it have a battery disconnect switch? is it in the off position? Are the battery terminals clean and tight? Is the chassis ground clean and tight? When you check your good chassis battery what is the voltage reading?

[doxiemom11]

Do you have a battery shut off switch? Some coaches have a shut off for the chassis and another for the batteries for the house part of the coach. Ours does. The engine shut off switch is in a front bay and the house shut off is in one of the rear bays. I've read some also have a switch by the door.