Friday 30th April 2021 to Thursday 6th May 2021
I went to shuffle Nelly into a better parking space but when I tried to start her up there was a strange series of clicks from the EBL99 (it controls charging of the leisure batteries and the power to all the habitation equipment) and then everything went dead. Habitation power and chassis power. Everything.
Nelly off to the repair shop
So I had no I have no electrical power at all. Even the LCD clock on the dashboard had no power. I checked the starter battery and that was at 12.4 volts which is not great but it should be enough to power the LCD dashboard. I checked all the big fuses I could find but they were all okay. The general consensus on the FB Hymer forum is that the starter motor is drawing far too much current and that is draining the battery and upsetting the EBL99.
The EBL99, not something you want problems with.
When the garage bench tested the starter motor it emitted blue smoke and they found the bearings had gone.
They fitted a new starter motor and now the van will start but only on their jump pack. They reckon there is a problem with something they call a battery post. The only problem is they don’t have a Fiat part number for this battery post and Fiat make 7 different versions. They tell me they are looking for online pictures, including on Ebay, to identify the part. Which sounds like a plan but not a very good one.
The damage so far is £320.67.