greasecan

Until you get power to the shift panel, nothing will happen. You have a loose or corroded hot wire missing on the chassis battery. Seeing as how you were in the battery bay, that's where i would start. I know, been there done that. John 2000 safari z

I did find a damaged pos. lug on the starter solenoid, caused some arcing,could have contributated to the demise of the echo charge, but it was 12 years old and the new one is doing good with the volts in the middle 13's. Again this could have been caused by a bad starter connection Brett, I do have a volt meter on the dash, will have to check it to see if it has higher volts now. I feel sheepish for not thinking of it. John m 00 Safari

OK, got a reman starter installed, along with a new Xantrex echo charger, and it started right up, batteries are real close to voltage on house batt. House 13.78 and chassis 13. 56 so it seems I had a defective echo charger (org. with coach) and I did not realize the batteries were not getting charged. Th new reman starter had a big yellow sticker on it warning of low voltage, anything less than 12.4v could be harmful to starter. We have devices to measure house batteries inside the coach, why not the chassis batteries also? May have to figure out something here. Thanks for all the help. John M 00 Safari Zanzibar 3886 300 Cat

I am running out of time to troubleshoot, so went ahead and ordered a starter from Louisiana Cat. So removed the old one for core, while looking at it on the picnic table, noticed the Positive post on the solenoid had some arcing on the bolt, looks to me like it was never fully tightened down, even though the nut was extremely hard to remove (I had visions of it breaking or galling). Anyway its out and I'm going to replace it anyway. I see why its important to check the connections, I don't think this would have been found as the nut was tight, galling on the threads I suppose and being such heavy cable, would be hard to wiggle next to the frame. Thanks Brett and Herman for your input, I learned a lot. By the way, that bolt was copper (soft) John M 2000 Safari 300 Cat

OK, got it started this morning, but had to use a hammer on the starter, took more hits than usual. So I know I have a bad starter and will try to limp home. I am going to fix it, but should I just rebuild the current one or just get another one? What causes these CAT starters to act this way? only 42000 miles, but is 12 years old. Road splash? John m 300 Cat

I took the batteries into the Interstate Service Center here in Lafayette,LA. They pronounced them OK, but low on charge, so on the charger they went at the service center. They have a much bigger charger than I do, so 2 hours later they were good to go. Installed back into the coach. Checked voltage before installed at the posts and again after from pos post to a metal frame support and was the same voltage, so that ruled out bad chassis ground. Still believe that old Heart Echo Charger is at fault. Did find out the propane detector and water pump are off of chassis batt. Don't think that's right.. Did find out the carbon monoxide detector works off the house battery. In dash radio works off of house battery, nothing else on dash does. Its late so will try to start her up tomorrow. John M 00 Safari 300 cat

Thanks all for the comments, at least it gives me something to go. I have the Batteries out now and my battery charger says they were fully charged this morning, now 12 hours later they are at 75-80 capacity. Taking batteries in to Interstate service center tomorrow, only 9 months old. Never thought of measuring voltage from positive post to chassis ground. I have beat on the starter before, so I think its time to change it out soon too. Will post tomorrow when I get back.. John M 00 Safari 300 cat

I agree with you, Brett. The house and chassis should be nearly the same voltage. Checked fuses on Echo Charge and they were good, also checked to see if voltage was coming through the Echo Charger to the chassis Battery and there was voltage, but maybe not enought amps, chassis batteries have always been a lot lower in the 2 years I have had this coach, could explain some of my intermitten starting issues.... Have chassis batteries on a 12 amp charger now and they appear to be coming up. Thanks John 2000 Safari cat 300

Was wondering what the battery voltage should be with a Xantrex echo charger between the house and chassis batteries? Reason I ask is that this morning in prep to leave here in a week, went to start coach and turned over some, now just clicks. Voltage on house is 13.6 and chassis is 11.5, checked with volt meter at battery. It has been plugged in for 4 months and not run, (we are snowbirds). Tried the batt boost, but nothing happened except volt meter on dash went up. Put battery tender on (1.3amps) overnight, still no crank this AM. These batteries were new last June, Monday will remove and take to Interstate service center and have then load tested. Even when new these NEW chassis batteries always had low volts 12.5/12.6. Beginning to suspect the echo charger is faulty. Thanks for any help. John M 2000 Safari 300 Cat