Rut Roh . . .
That’s what you say when you turn the key to crank the RV and absolutely nothing happens. All the lights came on just like normal, but,
No clicking, no cranky, no nothing.
Bummer!
We were getting ready to head out on our 150 mile trip up to north Alabama, so this was a kink in our plans.
Although my Silverleaf display showed my battery voltage was fine, I next tried the AUX Start, again with no luck.
Nada, not a peep.
I had a similar problem three years ago when we stopped for lunch in Jacksonville, FL. We came out to find that the engine wouldn’t crank. After a little troubleshooting I discovered that the Start wire had broken off the starter solenoid. Replacing the wire and the connector got us back on the road in about an hour.
But I doubted I had the same problem again. So my next idea was to call American Coach Customer Support. And it was a really good idea.
After thinking a minute, Jim, the tech guy, led me to a connector next to the Battery Control Center at the rear of the coach beside the engine. He said to pull apart the 2 wire connector and plug in the dummy connector that should be hanging on the cable. He said a Start Signal is routed through the box and using the dummy plug bypasses it.
And that did the trick. It cranked right up. Jim said there is a relay and a 5 amp fuse in the box that might be causing the problem. Since I wanted to go ahead and get on the road I asked what would not work with the BCC bypassed. He said that the house batteries would not charge.
Since we didn’t plan on running anything off the batteries, I decided to hit the road and worry about the fix later.
We pulled out of the Cane 9 Creek RV Park just 18 minutes later than I had planned and got on I-20W. But I got off about 10 miles down the road and got on US-431, a nice 4 lane highway heading for Huntsville, AL, about 100 miles away.
Taking I-20 all the way into Birmingham and then I-65 north to Athens, AL would have been faster, but US-431 was certainly more scenic.
Getting into Huntsville, we got on US-72W for the last 20 mile leg into Athens, and Northgate RV Park, which is owned by my cousin. It’s always convenient to have an RV park in the family.
After checking in with the family and resting up for a while, we headed out for dinner at a local favorite of ours, Catfish Cabin. Luckily for us, it was as delicious as always.
Tomorrow we’ll try to catch up with some more relatives.
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Thought for the Day:
Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue
sfgsfg
