DoubleEagle wrote:My first Eagle is the same year as yours. How the two problems could be related is a mystery, but a bad situation would be if household current was loose in your coach because of a chaffed wire that is grounding on the frame. If you have a multi-tester, and the coach plugged in, put the negative probe in the ground and then touch the coach with the other. If you read high voltage, you have an electrocution hazard because of bad wires or connections.
As far as turning the engine over goes, the starter is not getting full juice. I trust you have both rear master switches on (one higher, one lower, on right rear)? If you have the coach A/C parts out on your coach, it will be much easier to go into that hatch area and trace down the cables from the battery's. The original cables are like welding cable, in that they have very fine strands of copper that are easily corroded away when exposed to road salt. I had a similar problem on my second Eagle (1982) where the cables going to the shut-off switch were so corroded they totally broke off when I pulled on them. Beyond that, there could be bad contacts, and chaffed wires where they pass through panels. The relay switches might not be turning on the current as well, but that can be tested by hooking up a remote starter switch with two alligator clips. One clip goes on the positive cable at the starter, and the other on the positive terminal of the starter solenoid. If current is there, you squeeze the trigger and it starts (or not). I have original manuals for most models of Eagles, if you need more help, but wiring diagrams are not as handy as crawling around with a multi-tester.
Thank you, DoubleEagle. Great information! I'll let you know if I need the wiring diagram. I would like to have a manual for the bus, however many things have been removed when the conversion was done. I'll send you a private message to discuss if it's worthwhile to have the manual.
What I found out today:
Straight to the point...the solenoid on the starter was bad. I jumped it and it would actuate but then immediately retract and make a weird coughing type sound. Like a 'puh...puh...puh". So, I pulled the starter and batteries loaded them up had Napa test them. The batteries tested good. Battery 1 @ 12.78V, measured 1622 Cranking Amps (CCA) and is rated at 1400 CCA. Battery 2 @ 12.81V and measured 1448 CCA, rated 1400 CCA. The starter test failed. It would move in and out while it was spinning. I think that is what caused the coughing noise i heard as it made contact with the gear to spin the flywheel momentarily then retract. I was fortunate the starter had a one year warranty and I purchased it 03/06/17 at a price of $481. They replaced it free of charge.
Due to time constraints, I was unable to install the starter and see if that fixed the problem. I'm going back in the morning to install the new starter and see what happens.
I'll post results tomorrow.
I don't know where the master switches are (yes I have a lot to learn). Are they on the right rear of the engine bay? My batteries are located in the right rear hatch behind where the original battery and water fill was located. I'm not sure what used to be there, but that is where my batteries are (about 1 foot to the side of the starter). They are exposed to the elements and road spray/dirt etc. I need to enclose them as a future project (many things to do though!)
This forum is great. All of you are very knowledgeable and I can't thank you enough for sharing that knowledge with me and the others in this forum.
Best,
Greg