shorted out chassis side

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Havasujack

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Joined
Mar 19, 2018
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3
Ok got a odd one for you all.  Fixing up a 1988 South wind class a and having the oddest electrical issue  sometimes when i go to start it it clicks once then shorts out the entire electrical  till i disconnect the battery and wait a sec then connect back up.  coach side is unaffected.  does not do this all the time.  although some times it acts like a low battery slow cranking.  OK now to tell you what i have tried already.  New battery a beast 950 cca, fully charged.  took starter out and had them test it at auto zone test good. checked connection and terminals all look good.  I suspect the ford starter relay before starter but not sure how that would short out the entire system to the point volt meter shows 0 volts till i disconnect battery and re connect it. 

Any ideas would help
thanks
Jack
 
Welcome to The RV Forum, Jack!

First thing I'd do is remove the cross-connection between the chassis and house batteries.  They both should come to a relay, probably on the firewall.  When the relay is energized the two systems are connected so the engine's alternator can charge the house batteries.

Now you can troubleshoot the chassis side without having to worry about interference from anything on the house side, no different than any other truck chassis.

 
I did disconnect the house battery just to make sure there wasn't something funky going on there and no change. I will try removing it from that relay on the firewall next to the battery isolator just in case tho. Im usually pretty good for a shade tree mechanic just got done rebuilding the quadrajet carb on it  but this random electrical short is driving me nuts.
 
Sounds like a bad battery connection.
A short would draw excessive current, draining battery and not allow for a 2nd go around.
Look for arcing around connections.
 
Not sure what you mean by a short, but I had a similar sounding problem with one of my tractors last fall. Ended up being the ground connection to the frame. I did a poor job of troubleshooting. I used my meter to check for ground, but I tested at the bolt where the negative wire from the battery was hooked to, and that tested good so I prematurely eliminated a ground problem. After I bought new battery cables, solenoid, starter, and battery I went back to square one and tested continuity for ground to the actual frame. Unhooked the cable and cleaned the connection point and that fixed it. I felt really stupid and spent money needlessly I could have used for some pretty nice steaks to grill.  Just a suggestion.
 
I very much appreciate all the ideas i went ahead and disconnected all the terminals and wire brushed them shinny and connected back up.  everything from battery to ground on frame to starter.  so far it hasn't done it again but it was intermittent before so going to keep my fingers crossed it was that simple.  Wish i had more time to work and test it but apparently my wife is jealous of it now lol.
 
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