Heater Blowers stopped working

[HeadLamp]

Well the good. I picked up a 2006/07 IC 32' bus and was impressed that all the features worked, lights, radio, front, rear, entrance, defrost fans, heater blowers, lift, all worked good. Then we got a soaker rain. Now the toggle switches light up, but the heater blowers, radio, defrost, refuse to work. I checked the fuse box with is missing the cover piece, and found water had dripped down into the box. None of the fuses are blown. I used a hair dryer to blow out the water and to dry it out. Still no power. All the weep holes around the drivers window look good and clean, but screw heads in the bottom of the window traq look suspect. The gasket on the control panel door looks ok, the paper wiring diagram on the inside of the door looks like new so I think the leak is coming from around the window, via the screw heads. During the storm the bus was leaning left to right maybe helping funnel the water to fuse box.
Only other issue was when I first got the bus as i was testing out all the switches, I somehow set off the anti theft: horn blowing, flights flashing. I disconnected the horns but head lights kept flashing and I think the brakes would not release. I shut it down and checked again in an hour and apparently it reset itself. I don't know where to start looking. I don't have any manuals yet. All I have is the diagram on the control panel door. Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated.

[rossvtaylor]

Hi there - if you have multiple things not working, I would also check the relays or solenoids which provide power to circuits inside that panel. If one of the relays failed, then you wouldn't have blown fuses (like you checked) but it would still prevent all the items on that bus bar from working. Do you have a test light or voltmeter you can use to check those bus bars for power?

[HeadLamp]

Yes I have a Harbor Freight Voltmeter. Im not an electrician, and not real save at using it, but I believe it works fine. I am now trying to figure it out. It's been a few years since I did any electrical stuff. Now that I am semi retired I can begin to refresh my memory and my skills. Reason why I opted for a school bus I guess.

[Dbacks2k4]

Did you accidentally engage the "Noise kill" Switch? That will nuke a lot of that stuff - radio, heaters, fans, etc by shutting off the solenoid in the electrical panel.

Definitely check your voltages on the two solenoids in the fuse panel with a multimeter. Those solenoids are infamous for going bad.

There are some details on this troubleshooting video around the 5:30 mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDgauk3lEN4&t=4m15s

[rossvtaylor]

Originally Posted by Dbacks2k4

Did you accidentally engage the "Noise kill" Switch? That will nuke a lot of that stuff - radio, heaters, fans, etc by shutting off the solenoid in the electrical panel.

That is a genius suggestion! I've never driven a school bus which was still a school bus and the first time I saw that switch I had to ask our forum friend Simplicity what it did. You're right, it does turn off lots of stuff in one fell swoop...or press.

[HeadLamp]

Nice video. Thanks for the suggestion and the post. I was wondering what the noise reduction was all about. I will check it tomorrow and see if I can determine if either of the solenoids are bad. I will start posting pics as soon as I learn how and will post any discoveries as I find them. I like this Skoolie site. Lots of information to be had and like minded folks who don't mind lending a hand. As far as the water leaking into the fuse area, I think I will have to remove the drivers side window and clean and reseal. I am thinking about using a product called Sika Flex. I used to to work on sail boats in another life. The stuff was great on sealing the gaps on the teak decks. Held up well against the sun and salt water. It shrinks as it cures and makes a tight seal Just make sure the area is as clean as you can get it. They also make a remover that is not toxic. It works very well.

[Dbacks2k4]

Originally Posted by HeadLamp

Nice video. Thanks for the suggestion and the post. I was wondering what the noise reduction was all about. I will check it tomorrow and see if I can determine if either of the solenoids are bad. I will start posting pics as soon as I learn how and will post any discoveries as I find them. I like this Skoolie site. Lots of information to be had and like minded folks who don't mind lending a hand. As far as the water leaking into the fuse area, I think I will have to remove the drivers side window and clean and reseal. I am thinking about using a product called Sika Flex. I used to to work on sail boats in another life. The stuff was great on sealing the gaps on the teak decks. Held up well against the sun and salt water. It shrinks as it cures and makes a tight seal Just make sure the area is as clean as you can get it. They also make a remover that is not toxic. It works very well.

Those solenoids are pretty simple devices. One terminal on the bottom will have +12v coming from the battery (well, a relay and fuse somewhere, but essentially the battery). The smaller terminal will be a +12v signal wire that comes from the ignition when it's turned on. With ignition off, you should have +12v on one big terminal only. Inside the solenoid when the key is turned on you'll hear a "CLICK" when it engages and at that point you should have +12v on all 3 terminals. Most of the ones I've seen ground through the mounting screws, but I have seen some variants that have two smaller terminals in addition to the 2 large ones, and the second small one is a grounding wire. So to check if your solenoid is bad, turn the key on and measure all 3 terminals with your multimeter.

The second solenoid that is your "noise kill" one gets its +12v from the first solenoid, not the battery and gets its signal wire from the noise kill switch at the dash. So if the first one doesn't come on, the second one won't either.

Lookup Bussy McBusface on YouTube. He had a video early on about re-sealing his windows that I'm following. He used butyl tape on the seals then gave it a bead of sikaflex on the outside if I remember right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnft4RC7e0k

[HeadLamp]

1st solenoid appears to be OK, no click and no readings from the 2nd No Noise solenoid. I will be changing both out. They both have some rust around the tops. I think this will get the ball rolling. I checked out the Bussy video, Good Stuff. Will have to be extra careful removing the windows. Moisture is the enemy of the bus. Thank you rossvtaylor and Dbacks2K4 for walking me through this. Now to find the parts.