Pizza and Solenoids…
Well, we left the park in St. Augustine about 10:30 am heading north. We had planned to stop for lunch north of Jacksonville and then head another 100 miles further north to overnight at a KOA park just south of Savannah.
The stopping for lunch part went just fine. We stopped at Boston’s Pizza, a chain that we first discovered in Dawson Creek, BC, Canada. Later on, we found them in Whitehorse, YK, Canada, and Fairbanks, AK.
We ate at the one in Fairbanks regularly when we were there for 5 months last year. They have great pizza, probably our favorite.
As I said, the stopping for lunch part went just fine. However, the heading further north part didn’t go so well.
When we got ready to leave the restaurant, the coach wouldn’t start. Or rather, it wouldn’t crank. Everything seemed to be fine, otherwise. No error messages or warning lights.
I even tried the Aux Start system, in case the engine batteries had run down for some reason.
Our coach has 6 batteries. 2 12 volts batteries provide the starting and engine power just like the single 12 volt battery in your car. (big diesels require more starting power than your car).
Our coach also has 4 big 6 volt batteries that power the coach when we are not plugged into shore power. Normally these two battery systems are completely separate. However the Aux Start button lets you use the coach batteries to start the engine in case the engine batteries are dead.
With no luck.
I then checked the voltage at the engine batteries while Jan tried to start the engine. The voltage did not change. This told me that the starter was not pulling any current.
Normally when you start your car, the battery voltage will drop significantly while the engine is cranking.
After taking to Cummins Diesel to confirm that I hadn’t missed anything obvious, I started checking out the starter system.
First, I had Jan try to start the coach while I listened back by the engine. I heard fuel and lift pumps starting up, and other noises, but no starter or bendix noises.
Luckily we were in a large shopping center parking lot, and not by the side of the road. And since we had been parked for an hour, both the engine and the pavement underneath were cool.
Next I crawled under the engine and checked the voltage at the starter while using a walkie-talkie to tell Jan to try to start the engine.
No voltage. This told me that the starter wasn’t getting any power. It also meant that the starter itself probably was OK.
Next I checked the voltage at the starter solenoid that controls the power to the starter itself. Again, no voltage.
I then tried to check the two smaller wires that feed the signal from the key switch to the starter solenoid. One of the wires was on top of the solenoid that I couldn’t easily reach, but when I touched the one that I could reach, it came off in my hand.
The ring terminal that was used to the connect the wire to the screw terminal was broken.
A ring terminal looks like this.
ring terminal
KOA
