Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: How many of us are there? Owners of Dodge based RV's?

Print | Close

Topic: How many of us are there? Owners of Dodge based RV's?

Posted By: oldtrucker63 on 08/16/10 08:36am

This was the inside of my 1979 Dodge, Looked real good on the inside and you could not see any water damage, The next is what was behind the walls and could not be seen from inside or the outside so check everything real good water damage can hide sometimes and not be seen.
[image]

Without Trucks,....America Stop's

Posted By: oldtrucker63 on 08/16/10 08:38am

This is what the inside walls was hiding.
[image]

Posted By: Chipmunk222 on 08/16/10 08:59pm

Took some time this evening to check over some stuff, clean up some wiring and run some more tests. Maybe I'm totally lost but during this whole process I failed to find one fusible link, there was an orange wire up by the battery that said fusible link on it, but it looks just like a regular wire, nothing is attached to it. Is there any way possible that at some point in time someone has removed the fusible links??? I'm pretty confused at this point.

We did have a battery drain situation since purchase and finally narrowed that down to something to do with the generator, unhooked the large wire running to it and now no more battery drain.

Went by the book and checked out the ignition switch and it doesn't have continuity at one of the points on the back, book says to replace.

Went by the book again and checked the plug that hooks into the module, says I should have almost the same voltage from second slot in the connector as I do in the battery, but I do not, battery is still reading over 13 volts and the connector prong says only 4 volts, says this is a short between the coil negative and the connector, ran a totally new wire and nothing changed, I'm miffed.

Still have no power to anything, no headlights or any other accessory, fuses are all good but there is no power at the fuse box. I would think this has to be something that we are missing and I can't figure that's it's something really horrible as all this started after moving it across the yard about 50 feet and then went inside for the evening, how bad could it be other than really frustrating. It must really be getting the best of me as I was considering how much it would bring at the scrap yard.

Thanks for all the help so far, appreciate all the info.

Posted By: Leeann on 08/16/10 09:09pm

An unblown fusible link looks just like a fatter wire - it's amost impossible to tell the difference.

I don't know about your rig, but the (very) few ground wires mine did have were completely inadequate. We ran all new grounds, from the headlights and alternator and engine and ignition and it's much better now.

'73 Concord 20' Class A w/Dodge 440 - see profile for photo

Posted By: Griff in Fairbanks on 08/16/10 09:12pm

Chipmunk222 wrote:

... there was an orange wire up by the battery that said fusible link on it, but it looks just like a regular wire, nothing is attached to it. Is there any way possible that at some point in time someone has removed the fusible links???

That orange wire is the fusible link ... they look like ordinary wires, which is why many people overlook them. Unfortunately, because of the special insulation used on them, they often look the same whether good or bad.

The fact that nothing's attached to it leads me to believe a PO cut it out of the circuit ...

It's worth noting, based on personal experience, any wire, anywhere on a vehicle, will act as a fusible link if you put enough juice through it without some kind of fuse or circuit breaker. The insulation on ordinary wires tend to catch fire under the circumstances ... which is why I carry a pair of cable cutters and cut the positive battery cable whenever my vehicles have caught fire.

Listen to Leeann ... an inadequate ground can cause all kinds of headaches and weird readings ...

1970 Explorer Class A on a 1969 Dodge M300 chassis with 318 cu. in. (split year)
1972 Executive Class A on a Dodge M375 chassis with 413 cu. in.
1973 Explorer Class A on a Dodge RM350 (R4) chassis with 318 engine & tranny from 1970 Explorer Class A

Posted By: skimask on 08/16/10 10:16pm

Chipmunk222 wrote:

there was an orange wire up by the battery that said fusible link on it, but it looks just like a regular wire, nothing is attached to it. Is there any way possible that at some point in time someone has removed the fusible links??? I'm pretty confused at this point.
.............
battery is still reading over 13 volts and the connector prong says only 4 volts, says this is a short between the coil negative and the connector, ran a totally new wire and nothing changed, I'm miffed.

The fact that you've got 'some' voltage "over there" tells me that at least some of your fusible links are good.
And I don't think it's a "short" you're looking at. Sooooooo many people use the term "short" when they actually mean "open" (I work in the electronics repair field and after awhile it really irks me, but that's beside the point). If it was a shorted wire (direct connection between the current source and the current return), you'd likely have smoke somewhere and likely some fairly obvious other wire damage, melting, burning, etc. An "open wire" is just like an extension cord that's unplugged...nothing works and nothing gets damaged, but, as you're finding out, a pain to find.
I'd re-start by checking the heck out of your battery cables.
First, I'd give a good beating to the battery terminals/cable a little bit with a hammer/wood-block and see when happens. And watch the headlights while you're doing this and see if they flicker.
If/When that fails, grab a pair of jumper cables, hook the negative side of the cable up to the negative of the battery, then the other negative side of the cable and hook it up to somewhere that has clean metal, a frame rail, the bumper, whatever would have a really good contact point...and see what happens. If you're negative cable ground is bad, the jumper cable will bypass it and BAM! you'll find your problem, or at least narrow it down to a single harness.

Back in your 1st post on page 453, you said you used a test light, and got it to light up.
When you were probing, what was your ground wire for the test light connected to?

JDG

Posted By: eyeteeth on 08/17/10 06:11am

Griff in Fairbanks wrote:

... which is why I carry a pair of cable cutters and cut the positive battery cable whenever my vehicles have caught fire.

This really begs me to question just how many times you've had a vehicle you're driving catch fire? [emoticon]

Posted By: philmeng on 08/17/10 12:33pm

Never hit a battery terminal you can crack the connection to the plates inside.

Posted By: Griff in Fairbanks on 08/17/10 01:44pm

eyeteeth wrote:

Griff in Fairbanks wrote:

... which is why I carry a pair of cable cutters and cut the positive battery cable whenever my vehicles have caught fire.

This really begs me to question just how many times you've had a vehicle you're driving catch fire? [emoticon]

A half dozen times over the last 40 years ... of course, I've owned a lot of much older vehicles that PO's did "creative" wiring adjustments on. (Also been in two house fires caused by faulty wiring.)

Posted By: Jer&Ger on 08/17/10 09:32pm

Chipmunk222, here is where my fuseable link is attached. I couldn't find out what size to use, so I just replaced it with a regular fuse holder. I just checked and without a fuse in it, the RV acts just like you discribe yours is doing. I think I would check this one out as you say yours is not connected to anything. Oh yes, my RV is a "77" with a 360 in it.

Jerry & Gerry, our pets (dogs), Byron, Coco
1976 Monaco, 440 ci. Dodge Sportsman chassis

Print | Close