This morning was pandemonium at my house today--loading up for a long weekend at the beach, visiting friends and possibly doing some deep sea fishing. Everything was stowed, stove and cooler strapped down, luggage rack above the cab filled and ratcheted tight. My son and his buddy were riding with me, my better half had a couple of stops to make on the way so had already left in our car.
I tell they guys that they'll need to move the wheel blocks as soon as I start the bus, put the key in, turn it--nothing! No clicking, no starter noise, just silence and then some foul language as I tried again with the same result. The battery must be dead, so dead it won't even click. I must have left the key turned on.
I get out, move my van so I can jump-start the bus. Remind the boys of the particulars of how to jump a car. No success. Grrrrr. A phone call from my better half--have we left yet? I explain the situation and say to call me back in 10 minutes.
I roll the battery charger over to the bus, turn the van off, and turn the charger on. Hmmm this is weird, the charger is at 0 amps. Verify that the charger is set to charge 12 volts, still charging at zero. I find the electrical tester gizmo and test the van battery, noting how the needle jumps all the way to the right. Disconnect the battery charger from the bus, and test the bus battery. Once again the needle jumps all the way to the right---huh?? The battery isn't dead, so why won't it start?
Another phone call to check on our progress...
Open the hood and try the tester on the distribution center (not sure what it's called, a pair of bolts sticking out of the firewall with wires and cables connected to them. One that the hot cable from the battery connects to, the other bolt's wire is obviously the ground). No power.
Say a few more choice phrases, the boys are busy with their computer games and hopefully not listening to me. Come in the house and do a quick search on the Skoolie website. Someone had a similar situation and the recommendation was to try to start in neutral, maybe the transmission shift lockout wasn't working right.
No luck. No power...WTH is wrong with my bus???
It was running perfectly 3 weeks ago. The battery was replaced less than a year ago. I even tried to turn the lights on to see if it was just the starter that pooped out on me, although it was working just fine, no grinding or skipping or turn the key on, no turning over, turn they key off and try again, rinse and repeat a few times until it starts (just had to replace the starter on my van a few months ago). The lights don't work, so it makes me wonder there's a master fuse somewhere that's blown.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
TA
going camping. The kitchen was not well organized, wasted a lot of space, and had to go. This is the work in process for the new and improved kitchen.
