Electrical Issue

[dalltop]

Wanted to share this experience incase anyone else has this issue. We were leaving Weekie Wachee heading back to Jacksonville Florida. I was running with the cruise and it was getting dark so I turned on the headlights. The cruise disconnected and the overdrive lockup torque converter started cycling on and off. If I turned of the headlights the cruise control and transmission worked correctly. Only the parking lights or flashers would cause the issue. If I flashed the headlights for passing it would not trip the cruise control.

I stopped for full and did a walk around check and then disconnect all of the grounds cleaned them and tested. Still had the problem. My cousin also told me that if it was not a ground issue then it must be a voltage issue. I was leaning concerned that the charging system was having an issue even thought the voltage looked ok on the needle and I had a new chassis battery. I pulled the coach batteries and had them tested at a local auto parts store. They tested out ok.

I was not happy to be sitting in Wal-Mart parking lot at 8:30 pm doing this but the next day was New Years Eve and my options for getting parts was getting harder by the minute and I was scheduled to be back at work at in 5 days with 900 miles to go and at this point I could only drive during daylight.

It rained that night. The next morning the right turn signal had stopped working. I pulled the emergency flasher and the right turn signal would come on very faint. Traced the issue to faulty toad wiring. Thank God it was something simple. I repaired the fault and we made it home without any further issues.

So the issue was voltage being in the wrong place. The fault in the wiring was allowing a small voltage leak from the running lights to the Brake light system which was causing the cruise control to turn off and causing the tranny lock up torque converter to cycle on and off.

[NWJeeper]

The toad wiring should be isolated from backfeeding the RV or cross feeding other circuits by using diodes for this very reason. Only line that cannot have one is the ground for obvious reasons. However if you do have diodes you should probably test each one to be sure that there isn't a bad one. You didn't mention exactly what the faulty wiring was with the toad though. What exactly did it turn out to be in case someone else has this problem. I have seen some crazy things when it comes to wiring issues, thanks for the heads up.

[dalltop]

The toad wiring should be isolated from backfeeding the RV or cross feeding other circuits by using diodes for this very reason. Only line that cannot have one is the ground for obvious reasons. However if you do have diodes you should probably test each one to be sure that there isn't a bad one. You didn't mention exactly what the faulty wiring was with the toad though. What exactly did it turn out to be in case someone else has this problem. I have seen some crazy things when it comes to wiring issues, thanks for the heads up.

We bought the unit used and it had an existing wiring for the toad I am not sure how the tow package was installed. My tow vehicle is an older 1997 Jeep so I used a simple magnetic mount lighting system and the wire chaffed. No fuses blew and I could see the toad lights were working. I can not complain about the tow lights. I have been 10,000 miles this year with them. The are positioned well and are very visable. I simple need to ad another item to the check list. Check wire condition in additon to lights working.

I may look into wiring the Jeep, I will also investigate the diode option, especially if wiring into the Jeep directly.

The motor home is a Fleetwood Bounder 1995 built on the Ford F53 chassis. I should have included that too. Anything built on this F53 chassis may have the same issue.