Holiday Rambler Electric Issues

[Shademan]

I purchased a 2000 Holiday Rambler Imperial 40WDS two months ago. It is in great shape. I thought I had a good understanding that with a great deal and I was also assuming a lot of responsibility maintaining a 17 year old motor coach. However, I am running into a number of electrical issues that I can not find a way to solve.

To be clear, I want to find a reputable technician that can fix these problems and I am willing to pay for the work. I am not looking for technical support on how I can fix the problem. Frankly, I do not have the time or the patients to engage in any more fixing and I am not looking for technical advice. I am willing to travel a reasonable distance from my home in South Central Pennsylvania to have a qualified person fix these issues. The issues range from what seems to be a simple issue with the headlight (they mysteriously stopped working last weekend) to issue with the signal in the backup camera (also a mystery from last weekend).

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[j-d]

I'm glad it's done, it works, and you get to enjoy what's just got to be One Great Coach!

[Ron3rd]

Good mobile rv tech will fix you up

[Shademan]

Just wanted to check back in and thank everyone for some great advice and offer an update on my electrical issue with my HR.

The past two weeks have been a true lesson. I took my coach to the local Freightliner Service Center. After many conversations with the service writer and about 14 hours of diagnostic work, the tech identified the Smart Wheel module as the issue. They replaces the module and the lights are in perfect working order.

For those of you that offered comment on the high cost to diagnosis this problem, you were 100% correct. I chocked a couple of times when I wrote the check. But here is the true lesson...Before I threw in the towel on fixing the problem myself, I removed that very same module from the dash and had it in my hands with a thought to replace it. I should have trusted my initial instincts and just replaced the **** thing. But live and learn.

Thanks again, friends and have a great holiday.

[westend]

An alternative is to take it to a truck/trailer service and see if they will take it on. These are fairly easy issues to fix, it seems. Also, may indicate some delayed maintenance on the 12V system.

[RLS7201]

The Cummins Coach Care service center in Kansas City does good electrical work.
Maybe the Cummins Coach Care service center in Harrisburg, PA does electrical work.
4499 Lewis Rd, Harrisburg, PA 17111
(717) 564-1344

Richard

[Shademan]

newman fulltimer wrote:
weavers rv service

Thank you, Newman.

I found there location and contact details. Will reach out tomorrow morning and see what they say.

[newman_fulltime]

weavers rv service

[Shademan]

Thank you to everyone for the insight and guidance. Lots of great information from everyone.

Does anyone have a recommendation on a good mobile RV Tech in the South Central Pennsylvania area? Not finding much on Goggle.

[gbopp]

Even if you don't have the time or patience to repair your HR, you should at least listen to opinions on what could be wrong.
Maybe it's something relatively simple or, the information may help keep you from getting ripped off.

Before you start to diagnose the problem, make sure your batteries are charged and the terminals are clean/tight.
A little corrosion on the terminals has caused problems on our 96 Southwind.

[newman_fulltime]

As mex says find a tech school like uti they take in peoples projects to teach on

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Again the largest local auto shop will have the most students. The teacher would have a good appraisal of whom has the best aptitude to tackle the job and would have the patience to see it out. Reward the Auto Shop with a gift, say an OBD 2 scanner or whatever the auto shop teacher suggests and reward the student with either cash or preferably basic test gear from say, Harbor Freight. Some schools teach electronics and radio theory - another place where an advanced student could be found. Harbor freight also has wire and connectors. This does not have to be a single weekend enterprise. You never know. With an agreement, the entire class and teacher make take on the job right in class.

[newman_fulltime]

as they age wiring can get brittle so when you open the cookie box all the cookies can fall out like opening a can of worms just a chain reaction of constant repairs. Nobody wants the liability of it

[DrewE]

It sounds as though your problems are all chassis 12V things, at least the ones you've listed. That at least narrows down the scope of the systems to debug. These are basically the same as for any truck. A competent vehicle shop (not just RV shop) should be able to troubleshoot them. If you are also having trouble with the house electrical system, then that's a somewhat different story and I'd be more selective in looking for professionals.

As others have said, debugging electrical problems can be a long, laborious process. You might be able to do a quick visual inspection of the wiring and find some sorts of problems. Certain wire types used in some vehicles, for instance, has organic (soy-based) insulation that can be attractive to some critters, and a chewed wiring harness can cause all sorts of weird and unpleasant oddities.

[Shademan]

newman fulltimer wrote:
Here is the perspective of things the honest of us mobile techs.
The ones that do know what they are doing are to busy to bother with a older rv and electrical.
Then theres the ones might touch it in their off season . As far as a dealer good luck easier money to be made

Good advice, Newman.

But let me ask you a question...what does it matter if it is old or new unit to an RV Tech? If the RV Tech has the knowledge and there is a customer that is willing to pay for the service to fix the problem, wouldn't it just be another business transaction? Simply stated, my cash is the same with my 17 year old coach as the other customer that has a 5 year old coach. Truth be told, I may have more to spend on the service because I spent less on the purchase of the motor home in the first place.