Battery issue?

[dscottsupp]

2001 Adventurer 37G
Short version: So turn the key, click click click, but press booster button fires right up. Buy new battery, not the issue, install new starter, not it, alternator is charging when running turn off start again not even a click dead. Use booster fires up. Any guidance would be appreciated. Searched high and low for relay and fuse diagram of what is for what. no luck.

[Ranger Smith]

Sounds like a bad connection possibly on the ground or even possibly a bad cable or the solenoid for the chassis battery disconnect is bad

[Morich]

Definite problem with getting power from the start battery to the starter motor. Standard issue for a dirty connection somewhere.
What you are seeing is there is not enough power to close the starter solenoid and keep it closed long enough for the starter motor to run and crank the engine. When you hit the key a signal is sent to the starter solenoid and it clicks as it closes to send power to turn the starter motor. But when it connects and the starter motor uses lots of power, there is no enough left to hold the solenoid to make the contact and it drops off, disconnecting the starter motor, so if it thinks there is enough power to pull the solenoid, it clicks again as it closes! Click, click, click!
But if the power is a bit lower, it may just click and quit or not click at all!

When you hit the boost switch,it connects both house and start batteries together and you often get enough power for the solenoid to click closed and stay while the power goes through to turn the starter and start the engine. Two battery sets being stronger than only the start battery.
From the start baterry, you probably ruled out a bad battery and likely the connections on the battery are now clean but is the negative/ground cable clean at the other end? Usually a big metal bar mounted on the frame close to the battery but often out of sight and ignored!
From there, there are often things like "mega- fuse" which don't look like fuses as they are big and often covered, but they have a cable going in and one comming out and those can get corroded as well as the point where the cable connects to the starter solenoid. Also the solenoid contacts at the starter have to be good and they can wear out from the arcing they do every time we start the engine.

One way to test for bad connections is to measure the voltage at the battery and then compare it to the voltage at the starter connections. Ifyou get 12. 7 at a good battery but 11.5 at the starter, there is a bad connection along the path!

[Morich]

I took a look at the drawings for your RV and spot the ground bar behind the batteries on both the Ford or Workhorse chassis. Also the route to the starter seems to be fairly short and I see no mega fuses in the path ( but be alert for me missing one??) but look for any connections (bumps?) in the cable going forward!

Drawing here:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...001/135038.pdf

[dscottsupp]

Thank you so much for the help. These under the stairs. Which one is the starter relay? if i need to replace.

[Morich]

Okay, you havefoundone of the big things that can go wrong but it is not the starter solenoid/relay but a different one.

What I thinkyou have there is called the "mode solenoid"
and next to itis the relay that disconnects the coach batteries when stored.
Winnebago does a pretty good job on their drawings for drawing the parts pretty close to what they look like!
So while there, it never hurts to look at what you have?
Click this drawing to get a better view of it.



Some place around the driver/ dash area there is a switch labeled "boost, Aux" or something like that. That switch lets you do a jump start if the start battery is weak!
When you push the switch, it sends battery positive down the blue line to the coil magnet in the relay, through that coil to the ground wire coming from the dash and tied to the mounting screw. That completes the circuit and makes the contacts in the solenoid close to connect the start battery cable on the left to the coach battery cable on the right to jump start the engine.

Part of the reason this is a frequent problem is that it works so often and gets lots of arcing to make the contacts corrode and stop passing the current.
This solenoid has a second use as it also has a connection on the blue line to the ignition, so that when we start the engine, this solenoid closes the contact just like when we do a boost or jump start only it does it every time we turn the ignition on as a way to let the engine alternator put "some" charge back int ot the coach batteries while we drive.
That also lets us use 12VDC things like fans, frig, lights and such as we drive and not run the coach batteries down.. Good thing to have but not what you are looking for right now!

File the info away and sometime if the coach batteries start going dead while you are driving, this solenoid is a frequent problem and may need replaced!

Finding the starter solenoid is a different problem because Winnebago thinks of it as not part of the RV part they add but something that they buy from FORD/Chevy as the stripped down chassis. So they don't post any info on stuff they feel is somebody else's work!!!

My last real mechanic work on cars was so old it was when they mounted the solenoid on the firewall under the hood and I'm pretty sure they are now built as part of the starter motor itself or mounted to the side.
I think that means getting down under and looking up at the starter but I better let you get better info on that!

Lots of guys on here to know better where to find the starter solenoid!
Maybe looking for something more like this?
https://www.google.com/search?q=Ford...FqCfROZHlR_7vM

[Morich]

This list of tape colors they put on the battery cables may help sort things?
But then it may not help because the tape getsold and falls off! If tape is still there and original, one at the start battery should have red tape near the end and that one goes to the starter area!

[deckape]

Time to check and clean all your battery connections . Tight any connections you find . It's always the ground .

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Morich

This list of tape colors they put on the battery cables may help sort things?
But then it may not help because the tape getsold and falls off! If tape is still there and original, one at the start battery should have red tape near the end and that one goes to the starter area!

Colors can also fade into incomphensibility, especially if one has any degree of colorblindness, which accounts for about 8% of all males (including me).

[Brooks]

Originally Posted by dscottsupp

2001 Adventurer 37G
Short version: So turn the key, click click click, but press booster button fires right up. Buy new battery, not the issue, install new starter, not it, alternator is charging when running turn off start again not even a click dead. Use booster fires up. Any guidance would be appreciated. Searched high and low for relay and fuse diagram of what is for what. no luck.

Had the some problem cleaned all connections from battery to starter and that took care of it