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kenwat1967's avatar
kenwat1967
Explorer
Sep 28, 2016

98 34' Allegro - Chevrolet - Runs great and then just dies

RV runs great! I have never turned the key and it not crank right away. Took a couple of multi-hour trips lately and encountered a issue. Pulled up to a stop where it normally idles around 600-700 RPM and RPM dropped, engine sputtered and died. Put in park, turned off the key and it cranked right back up and I drove off. Over the rest of the trip it happened several times. Many of the times I was a cruising speed and had to wrestle it over to the side put in park, turn the key off and then it cranked right back up. I was over an hour into my trip before it happened the first time.

Came time for trip home and about an hour in, it did it again. Maybe half a dozen times over the next five hours. The last two times it did it, it wouldn't crank back up right away but did after maybe a five min break.

Keep non-eth gas in it and a bottle of seafoam every few fillups. Any ideas? Again, when it ain't dead, it runs super great!
  • Brian in Michigan wrote:
    had something similar with mine even though it's a older unit. Ignition switch was getting very warm and cutting out.


    Since it always restarts without anything having to cool down this is a strong possibility. I have never seen this with a fuel filter personally.
  • had something similar with mine even though it's a older unit. Ignition switch was getting very warm and cutting out.
  • Just another thought, but the fuel line in the tank may be cracked and sucks air when the fuel in the tank sloshes. Had that happen on a Harley once. Bike ran great as long as the tank was full, but after it got down to about a half-tank and it sloshed approaching a stop or leaning on a hard curve, it cut off. Turns out the fuel line in the tank was cracked and when the fuel sloshed and uncovered the cracked line, it sucked air and killed the engine. Full tank, the crack stayed submerged and ran like a charm.
  • All of the above ideas have merit. Change the fuel filter Have a fuel pressure test done to eliminate the fuel pump. Pray its not the in tank fuel pump, That gets expensive. Good Luck.
  • Put a rubber mallet in the RV and the next time it won't start, smack the fuel tank. If it starts right up, the fuel pump is probably failing. A little mechanical shock will usually restart the pump. As they approach the end of their life they are notorious about being intermittent...
  • Distributor ignition module, aka high voltage coil might be going bad