Palazzo will not attempt to turn over

[Barry M]

Just wanted to introduce myself and ask for assistance. I don't know if this is the correct place or not so, I will just throw it out there.
I bought a new 2013 (in 2014) Thor Palazzo 33.2 and use or crank it often. I had a friend stay in it for a week and he left today. My wife and I cranked the generator, pulled the slides in and I decided to run the motor for a while.
I turned the key on the glow light went out and nothing. The front shade was up, the starting batteries had 13.4 volts, disconnected shore power, still nothing. I had my wife try to start as I listened. I heard the starter solenoid click but it does not engage, nor try to. What am I missing?

[lwmcguir]

Start with checking battery cables from the chassis batteries to the solenoid

Be sure they are corrosion free and tight. Be sure the cables are in good condition.

Also watch the voltage

Did it drop when the grid heater engaged? (Glow plugs maybe for yours?

Did the voltage drop when the starter solenoid clicked?

You might want to load test the batteries while cleaning the terminals

[Barry M]

All are good and tight. No corrosion. Starting batteries are 6 months old and have traveled from Texas to Florida with no problems. I will check the voltage to see with the ignition on, glow plug on/off and see what the difference in voltage is. It acts like there is something electrical that is not closed/open and I cannot figure it out. I have ran the slides in and out, shut the door, air brakes knob pushed in and out. Engine is in neutral. Puzzled? I feel like it is something simple I am missing. I also have a cross over switch that combines house and start batteries and that does not effect. Thanks for your reply, I will check the voltage.

[Barry M]

There was no significant drop in voltage when the glow plug came on and with the key held in the start position the voltage did not drop below 13 volts. I would not even know where to start looking. Any suggestions? We want to go camping and fishing.

[widdershins]

Don't you need to wait for the glow light to turn off before turning it over? First post seemed to indicate you tried cranking which turned off the glow light....

In short, is the glow circuit working as you would expect? If so, it sounds like your starter solenoid is not working correctly... it's trying to engage the high amp starter circuit and failing.

Back in the day I've seen starters act like that, and a few whacks with an axe handle fixed it... but it's been decades since I've seen that one ;-)

[lwmcguir]

Voltage should have dropped like a rock

Solenoid could bad but if the glow plugs ( you have glow plugs instead of a grid heater?) kicked in the voltage should have dropped

That sounds like the switch or an open between the switch and the relay

Verify voltage at the switch and that it is sending the 12v's to the relay

Do you hear the starter solenoid clicking for sure?

That makes a big difference where the issue is

[Barry M]

Thanks for the replies. You can hear the starter solenoid click but that is it. It does not sound as if the starter is trying to engage.

[lwmcguir]

Originally Posted by Barry M

Thanks for the replies. You can hear the starter solenoid click but that is it. It does not sound as if the starter is trying to engage.

Some folks get a decent sized hammer and tap the solenoid and the starter

Many have good luck doing that

Sure, sounds like a dirty/bad solenoid if the wires are good all the way

[lwmcguir]

Originally Posted by Barry M

Thanks for the replies. You can hear the starter solenoid click but that is it. It does not sound as if the starter is trying to engage.

On my Tuscany the grid heater drops the voltage down to around 10 when it kicks in prior to cranking

Makes me wonder why the voltage don't drop on yours unless you have a temp control or something else in the circuit

It is a push button start and I have never tried the key

[Barry M]

Because the voltage does not drop when attempting to start, it acts as if, not necessarily a slide but something like that, that is keeping it locked out from engaging. I will try to tap the starter tomorrow. I truly do appreciate the replies on what I might try. Thanks again to all.

[Barry M]

Hi, I wanted to thank all for your help. After following the post below, I crawled under the motor home checking the voltage to the starter solenoid and to the starter, everything checked out. I then told my wife to try and start the motor again. This time I tapped the starter solenoid and starter and the motor cranked. Subsequently, I have attempted several starts and all work according to Hoyle.
I have attached the post below in the order I checked things out in case it might be of use to someone else.
Again thank-you to all those who have tried to assist me.
Take care and God Bless


Barry, assuming it’s an electric starter (some big trucks use air starters), there should be a solenoid. If you’re hearing a click when you hit the key, that’s the solenoid. It’s probably cylindrical, a couple of inches in diameter and a few inches tall. It will have a minimum of three wires attached—two large cables and one smaller wire. One of the large cables goes straight to the battery and should show battery voltage at all times (12.5v with engine off, 14v with engine running, 8v or more while cranking). The other large cable should have 0 volts unless the engine is cranking; it should show 8-10 v while cranking. Ideally, the voltage will stay above 10 while cranking; if it dips below 8, you may have dirty cable connections or a failing battery (how old is the battery?).
The third wire goes to the ignition switch and shows voltage only while the key is in the start position. If the safety switches (neutral or park, slides retracted, parking brake set, etc.) are not happy, there will be no voltage on this wire.

If the solenoid clicks when you hit the start switch, the circuit to the switch is okay.

The second big cable goes to the starter. When the small wire has 12v, the solenoid should click (once), and 12v should show up on the starter cable. If the solenoid clicks and you don’t get 12v on the starter cable, the solenoid is bad.

If the solenoid chatters, it may be bad. Or, it may have a bad ground. They usually ground through the mounting bolts; remove the screws and clean the mounting surfaces down to shiny metal. Disconnect the battery cable first, and make sure nothing grounds out.

Make sure there’s NO voltage at the solenoid. Battery chargers, battery isolators, or battery booster switches on RV’s can back feed from one battery to the other. None of these hot wires should ever be grounded.

If you’re getting good voltage on the starter cable...it’s the starter. Or maybe a bad connection at the starter.

Sometimes if a starter is worn out, you can get one more start by rapping on the side of the starter with a hammer. This can cause the too short, worn-out brushes to shift enough to make the connection one more time. This may get you home or to a garage without a tow.

[lwmcguir]

Glad you got it going

[Pete'sMH]

Glad you got it going too. But even if it is working now you probably can expect it to fail again. And one of these days tapping it with a hammer won’t work. I’d find a replacement for the part that responds to the hammer while it’s convenient. Good luck.