'02 LY 26', engine won't turn over, no power to dash

[kardy]

Long story short: no power to ignition when key turned on, no power to half of fuse boxes=no go for me.

Long story long:
In the middle of what should've been a long run from Ohio to Oklahoma yesterday, I parked at a rest area for a while to refresh. Upon trying to restart the rig after about a 1 hr. break, I turned the ignition key to get moving again and got absolutely nothing. No response in the form of lights in the dash, gauges moving, a buzz, nothing. I checked around elsewhere to see I it appeared there was power left in the chassis battery and all indications were that it was good. I pulled my jump start battery out and checked its charge and attached it, with still no response when turning the key. I checked power connections to the starter, at the battery terminals, checked the few chassis fuses related to the ignition, all good. Also tried jiggling shifter around, in and out of gear, messing with ignition switch thinking maybe a short or other flaky malfunction, no luck.

At that point I'd reached the end of my troubleshooting. I called for help to a local truck center and they came out. After doing pretty much everything I'd already tried, we decided to bypass at the starter to get the engine to turn over thinking I could at least drive to the shop for a look. The engine turned over great (further proving to me the battery was good), but would not fire. It ALWAYS fires right up, so this was not a good sign.

After going thru various troubleshooting at the shop the mech noticed that only half of the fuse panel under the wheel/dash area was receiving any power. Also, it appeared the steering column was not. I noticed as well that my scan gauge would not connect to the computer via its OBDII connection, which normally it would when simply turning on the key. It was getting power from it's connection but never moved past "Connecting...". Also, the fuse panel under the hood on front of firewall is only getting power to one half.

The mech thinks he's narrowed it down to a failure in the power control center located in the exterior hatch on drivers side front. A fuse or breaker behind it that feeds power to the chassis 12 volt system?

I throw this up here hoping someone may have had a similar experience, and because I needed a way to waste some time as I spend an entire New Years Day in the parking lot of this place waiting for them to return after the holiday...

Help?

[masseyfarm]

Sorry your New Year is starting off at a standstill.

Did you shut off any battery disconnect switches at that stop?

Probably will not help, but I would disconnect the battery cables, and clean and reconnect just to try while you are waiting.

Hope your New Year improves quickly.

Dave

[DnS]

What kind of vehicle is it?

I had a dodge that did that very thing once. I found a wire (by luck) in the steering column that was broke in half. The insulation was still intact so you could not see the conductor broke but you could feel it. I found it when I moved the steering wheel through tilt while the key was on and the lights in the dash flashed on real quick.

They really cram those wires in there.

[Moflash]

Check your main ground strap.It should be bolted to the frame.Follow the neg side battery cable.This would be the first thing I would check if you havent already.

[kardy]

Originally Posted by DnS

What kind of vehicle is it?

I had a dodge that did that very thing once. I found a wire (by luck) in the steering column that was broke in half. The insulation was still intact so you could not see the conductor broke but you could feel it. I found it when I moved the steering wheel through tilt while the key was on and the lights in the dash flashed on real quick.

They really cram those wires in there.

It is an 02 Land Yacht 26'. They spent a fair amount of time jiggling wires, etc. around in the steering column while moving thru the gears, etc. but nothing stood out. Thank you for the suggestion and I will keep it in mind.

[kardy]

Originally Posted by Moflash

Check your main ground strap.It should be bolted to the frame.Follow the neg side battery cable.This would be the first thing I would check if you havent already.

Yep that is one of the first things we both looked at but thank you for the suggestion.

[Gatogordo]

Had basically the same thing happen to my 98 33" Land Yacht just after I bought it and got it home a couple of weeks ago. It was sitting at mechanics, a friend of mine and really a fine mechanic and went dead. I was really lucky it didn't happen on the road back from Ohio.

At any rate, I'd run a wire from the negative on battery and ground it to engine and see what happens. It might work, it did for us.