Engine Not Starting (No Starter Activity) Issue

Engine Not Starting (No Starter Activity) Issue - Partially Solved

April 14, 2014, 12:23:20 pm

Some of you may remember last December when I pulled my U225 out of the storage area, parked it in front of the SnB for loading (about a 5 block drive) and then had it refuse to even activate the starter a few hours later. If you all recall, we tried a lot of things and after I had cleaned the battery terminals well the engine started. This was 2 days later...

Last Thursday we had almost the exact scenario except that this time we drove it 200 miles to a friend's driveway near Tacoma and the starter would not engage the next morning.

The solenoid in the dash was clearly audible so I did not think that was the issue. My suspicion was the starter batteries but there was plenty of "juice" with the booster switch on and the generator running. I pulled the starter batteries anyway and did a load test using the $50 (more-or-less) battery load tester from Harbor Freight. That showed one of the Optima Redtops as good but the other bad. So $170 later we had a second Redtop installed, connections cleaned and tightened and back in the driver's seat...

Nothing.

So we had a spare solenoid and decided to change out the unit at the isolator panel aft of the rear driver-side wheel in the engine compartment. After 30 minutes of fun in the dirt I was back in the driver's seat and, again, nada.

On a whim I gave the DW an 8-inch 10-gauge wirte with alligator clips on both ends and told her to keep her body outside the wheels but short out the two large studs on the aft solenoid. I got in the driver's seat, turned the key on, and yelled "ok". Five minutes later (the alligator clips did not want to stay on) we had the engine running.

I still don't know exactly what the problem is but I know how to start the engine as long as the DW is with me.

At least the possible suspects have been reduced; I know it's not the starter assembly (which includes a heavy duty solenoid). It's either the front solenoid, the rear solenoid, or a wire issue between them.

Ordering two new solenoids today and as soon as we can get both of us over to the shop we'll check the wiring to see if there is control voltage to the rear solenoid. It's good to have spares, anyway.

Craig

Re: Engine Not Starting (No Starter Activity) Issue - Partially Solved

Reply #1 – April 14, 2014, 01:34:49 pm

So many of us have had the main ignition solenoid fail there under the dash. Hopefully that is the problem solved by one of the new parts. I think I do remembering hearing my old solenoid clicking, but still not allowing the key to start the engine. I had some telltale signs of strange happenings on the dash leading up to the failure.

Re: Engine Not Starting (No Starter Activity) Issue - Partially Solved

Reply #2 – April 14, 2014, 09:27:05 pm

Did you wiggle the ignition key switch and / or the wires on the back of it while trying to start the engine? The key switch has more than one circuit going through it. One circuit is the ignition, which causes the solenoid to click. The other circuit is the starter. My key switch sometimes will turn on the ignition but fail to start unless I wiggle it for a moment... Yes I know I need to buy and install a new key switch but I was kinda hoping it would fix itself after it got used regularly, like so many other things in my coach which was seldom used until I bought it a couple of years ago and started driving it all over the country.

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