FL70 - Lights Out??

Larry

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
When we purchased our used 1998 FL70 we needed a flashlight to read the gauges at night. I removed the 4 screws and pulled out the center console. On the back are 1/2" black plastic twistin holders. Pulled out and replaced the 194 miniture bulbs. It was easy to figure out why all six of the guage lights had burned out. That cute little mood altering red cap causes the lamp to overheat and to shorten the lamp life. We would be better off buying a colored bulb than to use the cap.

The lights in all of the switches (lights, wipers, mirror heater etc.) are also out. Do we have to purchase new modules to fix these?

Last night, while driving down I-275 all of the marker lights went out. In the morning I crawled around the box and found that the yellow lead wire from the cab to the back of the truck had a section about 5 feet in length that had 4 different spots where it had frayed. Some of the worn spots were green (old) and one had bright copper. Someone (Freightliner?) had wrapped the wires around various bolts, nuts etc. under the frame rather than using wire clips. Also, the connections were not fitted with weather tight connectors. You may want to check under your truck before the snow falls.
 

Wild Bill

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
Welcome to the wonderful world of Freightliner...lol Every one of the things you mentioned is very common. You can get the swtiche lights through Freightliner. (Buy 2 of each so next week you can replace them again.) After a while we learned the "Ray Charles approach to finding switches" It makes life a lot less complicated.

The box lights are usually different on every truck.. From the back of the cab to the back is usually done by the dealer who built the truck. That is why nothing is standardized. (except for the poor craftsmanship) The worst one we had is the cab lights would work and the box lights would go out when it rained. We took it into a freightliner "service facilty" :+ and after they was done the box lights would only work if it rained!

I am driving a 1996 Kenworth now from Jeff Jones in Fort Wayne. I wouldn't trade my tired old worn out KW for another brand new Freightliner!
 

Larry

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Bill: Thanks for the info. I suspect that I can get a really good price on the switches if I buy them by the gross.

We now have another light problem. When I turned on the reading light in the sleeper, the 10 amp fuse blew and we lost all power in the sleeper. I replaced the fuse and the lights were on for a minute and then lost all of the power again. However, this time the fuse did not blow and I cannot find the source of the lost power. I suspect a short in the sleeper caused the fuse to blow the first time. I checked the fuses in the cab (the panel in front of the passenger seat) but cannot find the main breaker for the sleeper. Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 

Weave

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Crawl under the truck, under the sleeper, and make sure the black ground wire going to it is connected and tight. They come loose esp. on Alumi-bunks. I suspect it was loose and arcing, causing the fuse to blow. Now it's probably not contacting at all.
You will be fighting shorts and opens on box lighting no matter what, esp. if your truck sees a lot of winter salt. The running light wire busts up a lot (they differ in color between boxes) due to the increased use/heat over the other wires. Get good copper (not aluminum) crimp splicers to repair it, and seal the splices up good.
Real fun to fix in the cold. I know:7
I'm not really sure why all your dash lights were out on your FL. I occaisionally burn one out, but I also try to keep the dimmer cut back so they don't generate so much heat- I noticed they will melt all the surrounding plastic if kept all the way bright.
Yep, Bill's right again- all common Freightliner cheapness woes.
-Weave-
 

Wild Bill

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
Sounds familar, Who made your sleeper? We had a Freightliner that was put together by Freightliner of Knoxville, Not only couldn't we find the fuse box/problem but neither could Fort Wayne Freightliner!...lol

They finnally called down to Knoxville and talked to the builders. Turns out the fusebox was in the floor of the drivers side closet, Under the carpet. We replaced the curcuit breaker with a larger one and never had a problem again with that.

If you have a Bentz sleeper I believe they put the fusebox under the bunk on the drivers side.

Mike and I have always believed that the engineer that designed a sleeper box should be forced to live in one for six months. Maybe they would then understand what we go through with their designs...lol}> :+
 
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