Hi there.

My name is Luke and I have an 1984 Chevy Cutaway Motorhome. It's a 350 Chevy and I'm having some problems.

Nearly every time I drive this (which is daily as I'm on a huge road trip) my radio, 12v (cigarette lighter) and headlights will stop working. Usually they will work for a few minutes then stop after a short while. The voltage gauge on my dash usually drops from just under 18 to about 1/2 way up the gauge, this problem kicks in. I have noticed a couple of times that turning on the head lights or cruise control will trigger this problem, but more often then not it will just happen after 5-10 minutes on the road. Right now the vehicle has been resting at our RV site for an hour and everything is working.

My wipers and heater/AC fan still work. (My air con is broken and the belt has been removed all together)

Is this a loose drive belt? Today at the exact same time that everything cut out I heard a belt squeel.

This hasn't really effected my trip too much as I'm only driving during the day, but sometimes that west coast fog gets thick and I could use my head lights.

Hopefully someone out there can help me out because I know next to nothing about this kind of stuff.

Thanks in advance.

-Luke

 

Luke,

First of all, welcome to the Forum, but...
It's going to be hard to deal with this, if you know nothing about this kind of stuff as you say.

It's certainly a good idea to check the tension on your Belts. IF they are slipping, that could cause the voltage drop, but, I don't see how it would disable systems totally.
Another avenue is that it's heat related. When something warms up enough to put tension on a connection, it fails.
I'd do a thorough check of all main Battery Cables and Wire Looms, for any short/frayed area where there may be an intermittent connection/short.

After you check the above, you might pull fuses to see if there was a certain Line associated with the problem. MAKE sure you know where the fuses go back to ! Take a Picture of make a drawing before you start pulling them.

Do you have separate Start and House Batteries ?
If so, how are they charged ? Is it a delayed connection/relay ?
In either case, make sure the Terminals and Connections of ALL the Cables are clean and tight.

 

thanks for your help on that one. I did most of what you said (again, not that handy with motors) but everything seemed alright.

Since I am on the road and didn't want this problem getting worse out on the road I took it to a shop today. New alternator put in, the old one was toast and some bizarre wiring going on. The guy sent me to an auto elec who rewired what the previous owner had stuffed up himself. $290 later the rig is back on the road, better than it was when I bought it 4 months ago. Can't really complain since I was an Aussie, driving a Canadian RV in California. I was at the mercy of the shop, but they looked after me more than I could have hoped for. Ed's 4X4 and John's Auto Elec in Eureka, CA. good, honest guys.

thanks again for your help