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My 91 Beaver Coach Problems
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Harry,
You are getting very good advice from others, but you seem to be taking it to heart as though it could be the source of your problems. The best advice so far is when you do something, don’t do something else until you have determined what you did last did not fix the issue because we all want to know what is the cause of your issues. Bad fuel filters will indeed slow you down, and in fact could after a shut down enable you to get some speed before they begin to restrict fuel flow, but keep in mind they don’t make solenoids burn or starters fail or check engine lights to come on and throw the codes you described.
What will not help at this point is for you to have two or three things changed and then find the bus starts and the problem with the codes has gone away.
Unrelated to this part of the conversation regards what has already been pointed out plus something else I noticed. I agree your batteries look ancient. I don’t know what your understanding of the age is, but they don’t look like they are relatively new. The thing that caught my eye this morning is when I looked at the circuit breakers in your electric box they looked like they were “weathered”. There is a covering of dust or some material on them and inside the box under normal circumstances I would expect them to be protected and not as dirty or maybe even corroded as they appear.
I’m surprised for a guy living in the middle of nowhere that Mother Nature even has your address so she can deliver rain. Man up and crawl in the mud to get that starter in and the bus running. It is not raining under the bus.
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Jon: Geeeeeeesh. After busting my balls on another thread earlier today over not going right to “batteries”, at least you could give me a little credit for pounding Harry on his batteries post after post earlier this week. You’re getting to be just like Tom.
Harry: Most of us following your situation are excited to read you plan on visiting ETLC and Jeff Rowe as soon as you can your coach fired up. Great step in the right direction. We think you’re close to turning the corner.
All my dealings with Jeff Rowe have by the hour. Because of his extensive experience with Prevost conversations he usually will estimate the time and has proven to be right on time after time.
I’d highly recommend you call Buddy Brown at ELTC and get on his schedule. Buddy is in charge of new customer orientation as well as being a long time Prevost owner. Now Buddy is a busy guy, but I’m sure he’ll take some time to help you learn more about your coach. He’s been there, done that on lots of stuff related to Prevost ownership. He’ll get you headed in the right direction and hand you off to Jeff so you can have your coach thoroughly inspected by possibly the most knowledgeable Prevost guy in the country … for sure the most knowledgeable Prevost guy within 70 miles of your house.
Good luck!!!! Keep us posted.
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Ouch! Just like Tom? Really? You really know how to hurt a guy.
I think at this point with all the varied suggestions that by the time Harry gets done with this episode he will have completely rebuilt his coach.
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We’re all excited that Harry is going to ETLC, you need to get out more Dick.
Jeff and Lindsay
91 Marathon XL -
If I knew how to spell despondent that’s the world I’d use.
We met at the coach, they installed the starter and had as much trouble putting it back on as they did taking it off. The bolts for whatever reason were as hard to get off as to get on, but they got it done!
Then he asked me to turn the two switches in the battery bay on and he checked the power to the new relay and there was nothin. He checked each battery and again nothin and I was a very unhappy boy! When I first had Good Sam’s come out to jump the coach, the guy told me there was nothing wrong with the batteries. When the mechanic came out he also said it wasn’t the batteries and as he was checking things noticed the blackened relay and replaced it, took the starter off, had it rebuilt, reinstalled it today and that’s where we are now!
All I could say to the mechanic was lets wrap it up for today and revisit things tomorrow! What in the world could take 4 batteries which they said were not the problem and they are now showing nothing?
The bus sure is pretty it just won’t run!
Harry
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That is what I call hard to find elect problem.. In you first picture of the selnoid I noticed the 24 V ground to the selenoid. My first response was the wire carried all the starting current and was to small heated up and burned thru.I would check grounds to batteries. If batteries are at least 12.6 Volts each(all indivual).corrison or loose connections are worth a check. Will they tow you to Jeff?
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Harry,
Put a freaking set of batteries in it.
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Towing is extreme. I hope it doesn’t come to that.
Without knowing what Good Sam or the local mechanic(s) did to “test” the batteries, its hard to offer suggestions.
Can we assume the mechanic(s) bench tested the rebuilt starter with a 24 volt power source to ensure it worked? No insult to the mechanics, but at this point everything needs to be double checked and confirmed.
Were the chassis batteries “hooked up” while the starter was being rebuilt? Was the key left on? Parasite load drain the batteries?
Lights work? City horn work?
If you’re pretty sure the batteries are dead or drained, I would pull them, take them to NAPA, and have them charged and load tested. NAPA’s load tester should be able to tell you if the batteries are good or not. From the looks of them as Jon has observed they look old. If one or more are deemed bad by NAPA, replace all four of them.
Are you comfortable pulling them and replacing them?
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I feel your frustration and pain, but there are good days ahead.
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Harry,
Remember what you were told about Good Sam and the Camping World mentality.
Do you remember what was mentioned about separating and checking the chassis batteries individually?
Now I suggest to start at the beginning with a battery test. Each one individually and separated from the others. Once the batteries are ruled out as the issue (or replaced) then the diagnosis has to go step by step if it will not start. Did your diesel mechanics measure the battery pack voltage? If so what was it?
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The mechanic just had a simple tester the lit up when there was power so no numbers were involved. The only thing I know to do is have them take out the old batteries and put in new ones. What specific batteries do I need? I’ll call NAPA and see if they have 4 of them they will be open in a couple hours.Harry
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Harry,
NAPA’s Group 31 commercial batteries is the basic answer. There is a good thread titled “Won’t start need new batteries” that would be good reading. It references a link to a very helpful thread by Dick that has some great advice on the installation. Battery stuff can drive you crazy. Good luck. -
Here is the Napa part number Harry. They make 3 versions of the group 31, this one has the most CCA.
7234 w/ 1125 cca
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does your coach insurance include towing? Also we use coachnet premium plan.
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I just ordered four 7234 w/ 1125 cca batteries from NAPA that I’ll be picking up Tuesday morning. The mechanic will meet me at the coach to install them.
He also talked to me about the inverter and how the bus is a negative ground etc that I didn’t understand half of. He will be coming with a gauge to check the inverter because he said if the inverter is bad it can blow out the relay and solenoid on the starter we just put in.
I know that Good Sam’s offers towing but have no idea how far! I’ll check the information packet I just got and see what it says!
I’m not yelling “UNCLE” I’m not doin it!
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