Lost tailights- and worse

[wyrmrider]

Nice officer "noticed" that I had no lights at the back of 2008 3500 Express Motorhome
so 4 way to campground
book said fuse 15 for tail and backup
nope fuse good and when pulled BU still worked- go figure
got home by driving day only
got under and discovered under drivers seat- Body fuse box area where the FACTORY cable comes out a jagged hole with NO bushing
BIG blue wire cut which may be trailer brakes- maybe some more (like tail lights)
going to disconnect battery, remove seat etc and do some investigation
I'd suggest everyone take a peak under their vehicles in this area and report
The wire loom stopped before the hole so it did no good there
cheers

 

[Will L.]

Oh that sucks when somebody just doesnt do their job.

Maybe post pics to help teach the next guy what to watch. Betting that wire theough brake controller circuit is your issue.

 

[wyrmrider]

just had pics taken, will post up later tonight what I need to know is if Chevrolet routs wires straight down through sheet-metal under the seat through about a 2" hole or is stock out the back or somewhere else Is this a Chevrolet Problem or the Motorhome builder problem

 

[WarWagon]

Par for the course in RV, Motorhome, trailer, camper arena. Not a GM problem. Undersized wires to headlights and especially the blower motor is a GM, we have the real Blazer, problem.

 

[Will L.]

Thats a motor home builder issue.

I used to own a truck equipment shop where i would build trucks nearly from the chassis up. Instead of motor homes I built bomb disposal trucks, swat team trucks, etc. Gm always runs everything through the firewall on the bodies they do, usually via fisher body.

The problem with upfitter builds is there is always room for one company to point the finger at the other. Unless you have both of them there, the guilty party doesn't fess up.

Post a picture and we could give our 2cents on if you will get it fixed under a "warranty" issue at a dealer, but really all you could do is try.

 

[wyrmrider]

Schematic show the wires as GM back to the rear axle area where there are two connectors for builder however builder could have re-routed the gm wire where it leaves the under seat fuse box
several hold downs are not in place

 

[wyrmrider]

Schematic show the wires as GM back to the rear axle area where there are two connectors for builder however builder could have re-routed the gm wire where it leaves the under seat fuse box
several hold downs are not in place

 

[wyrmrider]

well pasting it in did not seem to work so here's a jpg uploaded

 

[Will L.]

If GM did the hole it would have been stamped- that was clearly cut.
GM does not use split loom.

Totally builder hack job.

Repair the damage, put in quality grommet, test everything working proper. Then seal up with permatex the right stuff, or better a quality body cock. Do not use plain old silicone.

I would take some time examining the rest of the rig. Hopefully that one mistake is the way only thing, but better to take the time to look it all over. A little problem now turns into a huge one later.

I would send an email to the manufacturer including pictures and see if they will corect their error.

 

[wyrmrider]

If GM did the hole it would have been stamped- that was clearly cut.
GM does not use split loom.

Totally builder hack job.

Repair the damage, put in quality grommet, test everything working proper. Then seal up with permatex the right stuff, or better a quality body cock. Do not use plain old silicone.

I would take some time examining the rest of the rig. Hopefully that one mistake is the way only thing, but better to take the time to look it all over. A little problem now turns into a huge one later.

I would send an email to the manufacturer including pictures and see if they will corect their error.

 

[wyrmrider]

builder went bk in 2008-9 timeframe
GM wiring diagram shows wire to rear
going to the wrecking yard to see a couple of other vans and see how GM would have routed
will not be able to move motorhome to place where I can disable for about a week then pull fuse box and loosen cable and pull up enough so that I can see all the wires and fix whatever
not only clearly cut but a rough jagged cut
I rent space to a auto electric shop and a body shop so we'll get it done right- which means I do it myself

 

[Will L.]

Yeah, go figure. They do stuff like that and go bankrupt the same or next year- wonder why?!?

Well, who knows... maybe the owner of the company will see your rig and come brag to you that his company built it. Then you can show him the pictures after he wakes up from you knocking him out.

Everytime someone does stupid crap like that it brings up my old thought: take an engineer that did some junk design, his replacement part of the p.o.s. He created, and a descent tool selection out to the middle of the desert- about 3 days walk. Then shoot the crap part with a .45 leaving him with his car, his part, the tools, and 1 day worth of water. Of course point out "the book" says its only 5 hours to fix...

This may not apply exactly here, but you get the idea.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[wyrmrider]

got under several expresses today
they were conventional not cutaway but all had wire loom

 

[wyrmrider]

turns out hole was under drivers step not under fuse box
wires change color 3 times between taillight and connectors near rear end
don't you just love it
there were three cut wires but they may just be builders not used dead ends as there were no matching on cab side of hole
go figure

 

[wyrmrider]

Rewired the taillights
There was no +12 to the rear (as shown for the trailer hitch)
The only working tail light was a SIGNAL in socket F (small wire) in the Chevrolet 10 way connector
(which was Mickey moused into a 4 way connector with a large gauge wire running forward and another large gauge brown wire with black stripe also running forward- neither appeared working- they could have if there was a Fleetwood relay up front somewhere but we could not find it.
so we installed a 30 amp fused 10 ga Red+12 from under the seat fuse box to rear and fed a relay with the +12 and the existing Chevrolet SIGNAL (there are other signals for other trailer lights (back up RT LT so Chevrolet expects them to be on relays)
The Chevrolet SIGNALS are fused and Relayed under the seat
The front marker/ park lights are seperate
cheers

 

[deejaaa]

good job.

 

[wyrmrider]

I have the chiltons and found the Chevrolet electrical manual online- the Fleetwood drawings did not match the van- fun
Since the owner does not drive at night the taillights may never have worked
none of the wires to the trailer socket work