Club 80-90 Forums

Westy Club Joker 1985

My (3 way elextrolux) fridge has stopped lighting on gas, when I try to light it by holding in the gas and ignition button I hear no clicking anymore. In fact I am not even sure if it is working on battery either. I have gas as the cooker works and I'm fairly sure the pilot light is on although seeing it is an art.

I think the problem started when a friend decided to plug in their hair tongs into my inverter (sigh) which is installed in the cupboard next to the fridge and runs directly off the leisure battery, After that the inverter now only makes a beeping noise when you turn it on and no longer works and the fridge stopped working. I checked the fuses behind the drivers (LHD) seat and they seem fine and the fuse to the inverter is good too.

I've tried attaching another battery using jump leads (thinking the battery might be knackered) but no luck.

Thing is I'm in France (and will be for some time) so I'd rather walk into a French garage with some information or even better fix it myself so if anyone has any ideas I'd be really grateful. I know it's an old subject and believe me I've looked through the old posts but I guess the thing with the inverter is unusual...

12Volt first, the fridge works from the main STARTER battery, not the leisure battery, it ONLY works when the engine is running, so you don`t flatten the battery, it is made so you can run on 12V when on the move.

Gas, the electric clicker thing only clicks until the gas is lit, the pilot light you can see through the little window is the actual gas flame that makes the fridge work, it`s only small. If you can see it then it`s working. If the flame gets blown out, say if you left it on gas and drove away, the flame gets blown out and then you hear the clicker trying to relight it, if it fails then the gas will shut off automatically

If you are unsure of what is happening, I would pull the fridge out and service it, clean out the flue and blow out all the accumulated crap that will be living in the heat chamber. Test the 12V and 240v hook-up while it`s out, you can feel the long electric elements in the side of the flue getting warm / hot. Just done mine, the 240V element was knacked, had a job getting one, I`ve seen the German Westy guy has new ones, they are obsolete from Electrolux.

superb reply......... says it all

as for the inverter there are one or even two spade fuses inside to protect the circuitry, however my inverter beeps or whistles if the battery is to low to provide the amps for the electrical equipment.