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Old 01-19-2017, 04:03 PM   #1
Bus Nut
 
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Montana/Texas
Posts: 681
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Crown by Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: 230 HP DT 466e/MT 643!
Rated Cap: 16
Help! No front end lights!

Yet another question for the hive mind:

All of a sudden yesterday pulling out of Skooliepalooza I noticed that my front blinkers weren't working. Upon further checking, I now have the following issues:

When you hit the turn signal, both lower signals blink. On the dashboard, it shows both turn signals and the high beam indicator.

DRL's (daytime running lamps) no longer light when you turn the key.

When you turn on the headlight switch, headlights do not turn on. HOWEVER - all body lights (clearance, marker, tail and brake lights) work without issue.

When you use the turn signal, the rears work fine EXCEPT when the headlights are in the "ON" position.

Some weird sh*t! Any ideas? I have checked all fuses in the front fuse panel and everything looks OK. I also checked the wiring at the headlights and turn signals and all wires and connections appear to be un-damaged and show no wear or signs of shorting out, etc.



Are there other relays/switches I should look for? Don't have any schematics and I'm pretty sure they don't exist for my rig anymore since Carpenter went out o' business....

I have a 1998 Crown by carpenter body with International 3800 Conventional Chassis

Any suggestions/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Also dealing with an overheating issue, but hoping to have that resolved tomorrow. I replaced the fan clutch before the trip to Arizona, and will put in a new t-stat tomorrow when it arrives. Hoping that should fix it. We'll see...

Thanks in advance!!

John

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Old 01-19-2017, 06:43 PM   #2
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Winlcok, WA
Posts: 2,233
Electrical gremlins are never fun to chase down.

Getting back to basics, I would start by making sure the connection from the harness on the hood going to the chassis was still in good shape. Sometimes they can work loose or get all corrupted which will play havoc with the rest of the system. And then a particularly rough stretch of road can loosen things up to the point where nothing is working correctly.

I would then make sure the ground from the lights to the chassis is a good ground.

More electrical gremlins are banished by nothing more than making sure you have a good ground for all of the electrics.

If everything from the chassis to the hood is good my next culprit I would look at would be the headlight switch itself. Our church had an S-Series chassis bus with a Carpenter body. It had a leak that I was never able to stop that would drip occasionally under the windshield with the drip dropping directly onto the back of the headlight switch. Needless to say, after a number of years we started to have wonky stuff happening with the headlights. Replacing the switch solved the problem.

I owned a Loadstar chassis bus with a Carpenter body. It too had a leak I could never discover that dripped right down onto the back of the headlight switch. In the seven years I had that bus I replaced the switch twice. The second time I even cut the factory plug end off because the interior of the plug was all green.

The symptom presented itself in the headlights, dash lights, and clearance lights would not turn on correctly. If you wiggled and wobbled the switch and twisted it through from on the dash light dimmer from bright to dark a few times would get the lights working correctly again.

On both buses we also had some issues with the turn signals. We determined the problem was in the connections in the steering column where the turn signal switch was. Moisture just from sitting really messed it up. I was able to get it to work by spraying a lot of Electromotive cleaner and cycling the switch multiple times. Fortunately both buses were sent down the road before I had to go to the trouble of getting a new turn signal.
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Old 01-19-2017, 06:48 PM   #3
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Montana/Texas
Posts: 681
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Crown by Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: 230 HP DT 466e/MT 643!
Rated Cap: 16
Thanks, Cowlitz! I will look into that.... I also discovered a small drip that seems to drip right around the headlight switch...could it be as easy as a switch or bad ground?? Hope so!

John
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Old 01-19-2017, 07:05 PM   #4
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: Oklahoma aka "God's blind spot"
Posts: 2,446
Year: 1989
Coachwork: 1853FC International/Navistar
Chassis: 35' Retired Air Force Ambulance
Engine: DT466, MT643
Rated Cap: 6 souls and a driver
Blinker fluid is low!

Sorry, someone had to do it.... And with today's terrible horrible crappy day at work, I had to be the one!
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Old 01-19-2017, 09:10 PM   #5
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Lebanon, IN
Posts: 272
Year: 1998
Chassis: TC 2000 bluebird
Engine: 5.9 cummins
Rated Cap: 66
I had a similar issue that came and went. Turned out i had shorted the stepwell light wire when i paneled the stairs. And the stepwell only tried to turn on if the air actuated entrance door was opened. Took me an entire day of tearing apart the bus to trace it down and fix it. Now the instrument panel lights are out. I'll be working on that next.
Bill
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Old 01-20-2017, 01:57 PM   #6
Bus Nut
 
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Montana/Texas
Posts: 681
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Crown by Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: 230 HP DT 466e/MT 643!
Rated Cap: 16
Success!! Found the gremlin.

Apparently as I was climbing around the engine area taking off the old thermostat, I must have kicked some wires... as I was doing as Cowlitzcoach suggested and checked all the connections (Thanks, Cowlitz!!) I found a connection that was loose. Pulled it apart, re-seated it and sure as sh*t all lights back on. Yipee!!!

Now to put the new thermostat back in and hope the overheating issue us resolved.... It did seem to be pretty low on coolant too as the reservoir was almost enpty...

Thanks for the suggestions, guys! That's why I love this group.

John
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Old 01-20-2017, 07:47 PM   #7
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Location: Richmond Virginia
Posts: 932
Year: 1984
Engine: 366 Big block Chevy! :) w/ Stick shift
Success is good for marale congrats!
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Old 01-21-2017, 12:05 AM   #8
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Winlcok, WA
Posts: 2,233
Ya' gotta love those cheap fixes.

They are few and far between!

I am glad I was able to help.
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Old 01-21-2017, 08:33 AM   #9
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,707
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
its definitely imperative on these split radiator systems esp on the 444s and 466s that the coolant is 100% full, its a crazy small radiator for the engine size.. plus make sure your fan clutch engages as it should..

-Christopher
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Old 01-21-2017, 10:12 AM   #10
Bus Nut
 
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Montana/Texas
Posts: 681
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Crown by Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: 230 HP DT 466e/MT 643!
Rated Cap: 16
Yep!! I got the new thermostat in, filled up the coolant and ran her 300 miles up hills and never saw above 202 on the gauge (I have a scan gauge hooked up). So relieved! At one point climbing a pretty good hill, I remember seeing the temp start to rise, heard the fan spin a bit louder and immediately saw the temp drop back down to 193... what a relief!

John
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Old 01-21-2017, 10:20 AM   #11
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,707
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnbloem1974 View Post
Yep!! I got the new thermostat in, filled up the coolant and ran her 300 miles up hills and never saw above 202 on the gauge (I have a scan gauge hooked up). So relieved! At one point climbing a pretty good hill, I remember seeing the temp start to rise, heard the fan spin a bit louder and immediately saw the temp drop back down to 193... what a relief!

John
thats exactly the way its supposed to work .. i set my fan temp down a bit as I didnt like running my DT above 200 but I also have a 180 Tstat and I think the DT-466E is stock with a 192 so you are set at the perfect combination for the tstat.. your stat is fully open at about 200 and you have good fan engagement at just above and temp drops to where Tstat starts to close a bit and shuts off.. you've got that dialed in!!

-Christopher
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