deaton60 wrote:

Over Labor Day, we took our 2008 Monaco Camelot out to the Texas hill country to attend a rally. It's about a 285 mile trip from Beaumont to Boerne, Tx. Ariving at the park, I shut down the Cummins ISL 400 to unhitch the tow and register with the office. I Came out after about 15 minutes and the coach would not start.

Dash had power, fuses all checked out, batteries had 13+ volts on the meter. Generator was running just fine, keeping all the batteries charged. Starter appeared dead.

Called GS road service. Tech came out after about an hour and reviewed all the stuff I had checked. He said, "has to be the starter". I said, "What do you want to do? Hit it with a hammer?" He said, "Yeah, why not?"

The tech crawled under the coach. It was pouring rain. Hit the starter with the old ball peen hammer and, voila, the thing started right up.

He confirmed my suspicion that the starter must have a "bad spot" and should be replaced. I paid him the $200 for hitting it with the hammer (after hours rate is double) and we drove to our slot in the park. The next day, I called Cummins Southern Plains down the road in San Antionio to see if I could bring the coach in Friday before Labor Day) and get them to check out the starter. They advised they were way too busy and probably couldn't get to my coach before the following Tuesday.

On Monday, Labor Day, we drove the coach to another rally south of San Antonio. It started up without any problem. We parked for that rally which ran through the following weekend. Then we headed back east toward Beaumont. The coach started right up that time as well.

My past experience with Cummins Southern Plains in Houston had been good, so we pulled in there last Monday to see if they would check it out. They provide prompt service and advised that while the engine was still well within warranty, the starter was NOT because it had not been supplied by Cummins. It seems that Monaco, like many other manufacturers, buys their Cummins engines sans the starter and buys the starter elsewhere - to save bucks no doubt. Since my 2008 coach is "pre-bankruptcy", it was not going to be covered by Monaco nor was it covered by Cummins. Southern Plains wanted $725 plus tax to swap it out for a new rebuilt unit.

Since the coach seemed to be starting ok after the hammer trick, I passed on that offer and drove on back to Beaumont. I put the coach in it's garage and, just for "luck" hit the starter. Nothing happened! It was stuck dead again.

I didn't tell DW, because she would be real upset with me for not getting the thing replaced in Houston, but I promised myself I would come out the next day and try the hammer trick and then, if that worked, I'd pull the starter and send it to the local repair shop that my company often uses to rebuild motors of all types.

Arriving at the garage yesterday afternoon, I slid under the coach with my trusty hammer. Looking up at the starter, I could not help but notice that the positive lead, that attaches to the top rear of the starter was not only loose, it was REAL LOSE. Like three turns of the nut lose and tilted sideways.

I set my hammer aside and went to get a 3/4 inch box end wrench. I torked up the nut and went to the cab. The engine started on the first try and on each of three subsequent tries. I think I've fixed my problem, and I'm happy with the fact that I appear to have saved the $725. I am a bit upset with the fact that both the roadside tech and the Cummins Southern Plains techs looked at that same starter and didn't notice the loose lead.

Moral of this case is to check everything you can yourself and don't just trust the story you get told by the tech.