1993 Pace Arrow won't start

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Benson

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2021
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12
Location
North Tonawanda, New York, USA
1993 Fleetwood Pace Arrow that looked reasonably in good condition and was within our meager budget so we bought it and drove back home. It was built on the Ford F53 chassis 32’ and has the 460 engine. Parked in my drive way…..turned the key and the engine won’t start…..Headlights bright, horn won’t blow, hazards won’t flash…. won’t go. I checked the starter battery and found it bad so I replaced it. Same problem…..I’m figuring the starter switch…..took the whole steering wheel off…...ignition lock out and can’t find the switch where I’d figured it to be….there are 4 solenoids in a compartment under the front hood along with an electronic board. One is marked coach battery disconnect, one auto charge & Aux Starting, one Chassis battery disconnect and one ignition relay...there are two 30A breakers that tested good……...I’m stymied….any suggestions?
 

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My first suspicion would be the solenoids. I had that issue in a 97 Fleetwood Southwind. Try flipping your battery disconnect switches and listen for the solenoid to click. If you have a volt meyer check for power on either side of the solenoid. If power on one side and not on the other, it is a bad solenoid, you can jump it with a good size wire. Not the easiest to replace because it is crowded in there but I did it on mine.
 
Have you done any checking with a volt/ohm meter, and if so where and what were the voltages? I had a later model F53 and it had a starter solenoid that was mounted to the radiator support on the passenger side. There was a rubber flap to block air from bypassing the radiator that hid it but you could find it by tracing the large electrical cable from the starter back toward the engine or the other direction. The ignition switch sent power to the solenoid coils to close those contacts which then supplied current to the starter motor. They were known to fail. The ignition relay you found could very likely be the same thing.

Have you done any testing of those relays? Have someone operate the start position of the ignition switch and you should be able to feel or hear the ignition solenoid actuate. Better yet, monitor it with your meter to verify that it is passing current.
 
My first suspicion would be the solenoids. I had that issue in a 97 Fleetwood Southwind. Try flipping your battery disconnect switches and listen for the solenoid to click. If you have a volt meyer check for power on either side of the solenoid. If power on one side and not on the other, it is a bad solenoid, you can jump it with a good size wire. Not the easiest to replace because it is crowded in there but I did it on mine.
The house disconned and Main disconnect boths seem to be working, at least I can hear them click but I'll have to check them with a volt meter when I get someone over here to give me a hand. if the both the main switch and house switch are on the shouldn't there be power to both sides of the relays except for the starter relay unless the starter switch is on? and does the main switch have to be on in order for the starter solinoid to Pass Current?
 
1993 Fleetwood Pace Arrow that looked reasonably in good condition and was within our meager budget so we bought it and drove back home. It was built on the Ford F53 chassis 32’ and has the 460 engine. Parked in my drive way…..turned the key and the engine won’t start…..Headlights bright, horn won’t blow, hazards won’t flash…. won’t go. I checked the starter battery and found it bad so I replaced it. Same problem…..I’m figuring the starter switch…..took the whole steering wheel off…...ignition lock out and can’t find the switch where I’d figured it to be….there are 4 solenoids in a compartment under the front hood along with an electronic board. One is marked coach battery disconnect, one auto charge & Aux Starting, one Chassis battery disconnect and one ignition relay...there are two 30A breakers that tested good……...I’m stymied….any suggestions?
OK so I did a little research. Chassis battery disconnect and Coach battery disconnect or latching relays by intellitec INTELLITEC power to one terminal is supposed to latch the relay on power to the other terminal is supposed to turn the relay off. They are held in position, on or off, with the use of a permanent magnet. I wasn’t sure if it was the disconnect relay that was the problem or the control board controlling them that was problem so I switched the control wires on the relays from the one that I knew was working to the one that I suspected wasn’t working. The one that was working continue to work and the one that wasn’t working continued not to work hence I have to replace the chassis battery disconnect relay. Thanks all for your input you stimulated my thought process.
 

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