No power at my fuses for trailer/toad

jefflbi · 02-18-2023, 01:18 PM

Hello, I have a 2004 Winnebago Journey 39ft. I recently had my GMC Yukon modified to be my toad. When I first got it back and tested the connection, everything worked fine. A month later I went to test them again and unknowingly had the Hopkins umbilical upside down. When I tried the right turn signal everything went dark on both the RV and toad. I found a blown fuse for the RV turn signals in the front of the RV above the generator. I replaced that fuse and the turn signals worked on the RV, but not the toad. In fact I have no power at all back at the 7 blade plug. Through this forum I was able to find the fuse box in the power compartment and all 3 fuses do not light up with a test light. There is one other 10 amp fuse labeled Crank, that also does not light. Even though visually all the fuses look good, I replaced them anyway, and still the test light fails to light. I've been racking my brain for over a week trying to figure this out. I know it has to be something simple. Any help would be appreciated. TIA

Morich · 02-18-2023, 02:41 PM

Often a good idea is to test the test!
Does the test light come on when you put it on some power source that you know is good like the battery?
Alternate is to find something that IS working likes lights and use the tester on that fuse as a way to test that there is not something wrong with the tester. Possibly just the bulb burned out or broken wire?

But just to cover all parts of the question, are you putting one of the leads from the light on ground and the other touching one side of the fuse where there should be power, finding it there, are you then moving to the other side of the fuse and finding no power? If the test is correct, one side should show power and the other side not if the fuse is blown.
It's really hard to imagine something so big that many of the fuses are blown at the same time, so I suspect the test.

jefflbi · 02-18-2023, 03:11 PM

Rich, the tester works fine as I tested all the fuses, both sides. The tester I'm using has a probe for the positive side and then a ground wire that clips onto the grounding point. It also has a voltage display.

My thought is that the 3 fuses for the power and tail lights are part of a larger circuit. Maybe the blinkers for that fuse box were blown as well, as I don't hear anything when I have the blinkers or 4 ways on. But I do hear the blinkers in the front of the RV.

Morich · 02-18-2023, 04:29 PM

ARGH! Okay time to rethink and see if anything comes up for seconds!
Will do a search for some info.

Morich · 02-18-2023, 05:55 PM

Not finding any info to help, so I have to leave you with a small bit of "theory" that may or may not fit.
When I think of several seperate items like the tail, turn signals, etc. all failing at one time, it feels totally wrong but possible. I think of shorting one of those circuits to blow a small fuse or breaker but not several at the same time. But that may still be what happened so if we move to think how several "might " trip at once it might be possible that a single larger fuse has blown. Not really high on that idea but the best I'm seeing.

So does Freightliner label any of their boxes with circuit names like the "crank" label that would lead to which box has the taillights, turn signals, etc. in it?
If you can find the box with the fuse for one of the failing items, there is likely to be a higher amperage fuse in that box for the combined items which are out.
Like a home breaker box that has a 200 amp which then breaks down to feed many 15 and 20 amp breakers in that box, if you have looked at any of that.

Your load center for the coach items is likely to be like that and have a main of larger size feeding lots of smaller for each circuit. If that large trip/blows, the rest are dead even though the fuse or breakers for each circuit are okay.

Pushers are a different breed, for sure, but I would have to start looking under any covers with lots of wires to try to find the magic box with the chassis fuses. It is likely a totally different box than the coach fuses as it is likely to have been added by the chassis builder for the stripped chassis before sending it to Winnebago to add the RV portion.

Maybe with luck some of the other folks who know pushers better will be along to point to better ideas.

l1v3fr33ord1 · 02-19-2023, 12:11 PM

jefflbi-

Brochure for the 2004 Journey says the 39W model came on a Freightliner or a Workhorse chassis. Which is yours?

If Freightliner, the box with fuses for the trailer hitch signals is in the left-rear, either behind a flip-up door that requires removing a couple screws (on the bottom) or in the compartment immediately ahead of that, behind a sheet-metal panel.

If Workhorse, I don't know where, off the top of my head.

jefflbi · 03-29-2023, 10:27 AM

Just wanted to update this thread........

I did find the fusebox in the bay where the shore power cord is. That was not my problem though. I realized at some point that to have power to towing connector fuses, the headlights/parking lights had to be turned on, so my issue was never on the RV side. It wound up being on my toad as I discovered, and I have no idea how this happened since it worked in Dec, but the 4 wires at the front of my toad were not on the right connection points. It took me less than 10 minutes to correct it and now the lights work as designed.

In retrospect this was 2 months worth of troubleshooting (not every day mind you) and I replaced everything from the Brite Lite box, umbilical, 4 wire cable and diodes in my toad. And all for nothing........... except the knowledge that I gained, which I will never forget........... Thanks to all that contributed their thoughts..........