Broken down. Fuel pump issue?
We have a 96 fleetwood southwind with a big block fuel injected Chevy engine. We are stuck in a Walmart parking lot. The engine started sputtering and stalled out. I was able to get it restarted and g...
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I ended up getting the fuel pump from advance auto parts. I don't have the part number, but I told them it was for a 1996 P30 with the J vin code.
I also found this to figure out what the fuel pressure needed to be while I was troubleshooting: http://www.askatech.com/AskATechLive/AatFileShare/References/FastTrack/G083.pdfhttp://www.askatech.com/AskATechLive/AatFileShare/References/FastTrack/G083.pdf
Definitely will never forget that trip! The first day we we broke down, we ran out of propane and had no heat. The gauge must have been stuck on a 1/4 tank, so I thought we were fine, but it was completely empty. Me, my wife, and 2 teenage daughters all had to sleep in the same bed to keep each other warm that first night.
When I got up the next morning it was 34 degrees inside the RV. So I had to make getting propane my first priority so I could get the heater cranked up. It was new years day, so nothing was open. I even tried to call amerigas' emergency line to see if they would come fill me up, but they wouldn't do it. Luckily I had a small gauge for a gas grill propane tank in one of the storage compartments, and realized that one of the brass fitting were the same size as one of the fittings on the regulator of the on board propane tank of the RV. So I took the fitting apart, screwed in the fitting from the gauge in line with the regulator that is plumbed in the RV and now was able to screw on a gas grill propane tank which I bought from 7-11. That stopped most of the whining that was coming from the three girls which was a major plus. At least now they weren't freezing.
Picturehttps://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B02GWZuqDGlaOBw;6355070D-845B-4FD6-B327-E5506E18EB1C
All this time the generator wouldn't start either (It worked perfectly fine the whole trip and the morning we left), so I was trying to troubleshoot that at the same time. I ended up switching one of the house batteries around with the starting battery, and got the generator running. That was a huge step because now, at least there was heat and the girls could sit inside and watch movies in comfort while I tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do. Then I switched the other house battery around with the now bad battery that was in the starting battery position. I tried to start the engine one more time and waaalllaaaa, it started right up. I quickly gathered my stuff together and hauled booty up two exits to where there was a WalMart and it died in the walmart parking lot. First thing I did was went and got a new battery from Walmart and replace the bad one.
Now I had heat, the generator was running, I had a full tank of fuel, but running low on fresh water, and my gray and black water tanks were almost full. At least now I was in the middle of a decent city with options for food, parts, etc. I would have had to wait until Monday to get towed to a repair shop, so I decided to drop the fuel tank in the parking lot myself.(This was on Saturday).
I bought a cheap skateboard from walmart, and rode it to the auto parts store a couple miles away to get the fuel pump. (I've been surfing since I was 17 years old, so it seemed like a faster option than walking)
I ended up talking the manager at Walmart into letting me borrow a pallet jack and 2 pallets that I used to hold the weight of the fuel tank while I unbolted everything, then when I had it all unbolted, I used the leveling jacks on the rig to lift the back end up away from the tank. It worked out great. Getting everything situated to go back together was a little more trouble, and took me a while. I had to have the tank hanging off the front of the pallets half way to get into place, and at one point the front end of the tank was on the ground and the back end was up against the frame. I had to use a pump jack under the front of the tank to get it back up on the pallet. Once I got the tank back in place and bolted I realized that I forgot to guide the fill tube onto the filler neck as I was putting it in place so it was smashed between the filler neck and the frame. That took me about an hour to straighten out and get put on right.
Once everything was back together, thats when it started right up, and stalled a couple times as I said above. Got back on the road, drove for four hours, stayed overnight, got up the next morning and drove some more, then thats when the crank sensor went out.
See Pics Here
Definitely not something I want to do again, but I know we will be able to look back and laugh a few years from now. I think it will be a good lesson for my kids to see all the trouble we had, and that I was able to keep a cool head and work through it. At least I like to think so! It's like my brother says, the best stories never come from when things go right.
I also found this to figure out what the fuel pressure needed to be while I was troubleshooting: http://www.askatech.com/AskATechLive/AatFileShare/References/FastTrack/G083.pdfhttp://www.askatech.com/AskATechLive/AatFileShare/References/FastTrack/G083.pdf
Definitely will never forget that trip! The first day we we broke down, we ran out of propane and had no heat. The gauge must have been stuck on a 1/4 tank, so I thought we were fine, but it was completely empty. Me, my wife, and 2 teenage daughters all had to sleep in the same bed to keep each other warm that first night.
When I got up the next morning it was 34 degrees inside the RV. So I had to make getting propane my first priority so I could get the heater cranked up. It was new years day, so nothing was open. I even tried to call amerigas' emergency line to see if they would come fill me up, but they wouldn't do it. Luckily I had a small gauge for a gas grill propane tank in one of the storage compartments, and realized that one of the brass fitting were the same size as one of the fittings on the regulator of the on board propane tank of the RV. So I took the fitting apart, screwed in the fitting from the gauge in line with the regulator that is plumbed in the RV and now was able to screw on a gas grill propane tank which I bought from 7-11. That stopped most of the whining that was coming from the three girls which was a major plus. At least now they weren't freezing.
Picturehttps://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B02GWZuqDGlaOBw;6355070D-845B-4FD6-B327-E5506E18EB1C
All this time the generator wouldn't start either (It worked perfectly fine the whole trip and the morning we left), so I was trying to troubleshoot that at the same time. I ended up switching one of the house batteries around with the starting battery, and got the generator running. That was a huge step because now, at least there was heat and the girls could sit inside and watch movies in comfort while I tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do. Then I switched the other house battery around with the now bad battery that was in the starting battery position. I tried to start the engine one more time and waaalllaaaa, it started right up. I quickly gathered my stuff together and hauled booty up two exits to where there was a WalMart and it died in the walmart parking lot. First thing I did was went and got a new battery from Walmart and replace the bad one.
Now I had heat, the generator was running, I had a full tank of fuel, but running low on fresh water, and my gray and black water tanks were almost full. At least now I was in the middle of a decent city with options for food, parts, etc. I would have had to wait until Monday to get towed to a repair shop, so I decided to drop the fuel tank in the parking lot myself.(This was on Saturday).
I bought a cheap skateboard from walmart, and rode it to the auto parts store a couple miles away to get the fuel pump. (I've been surfing since I was 17 years old, so it seemed like a faster option than walking)
I ended up talking the manager at Walmart into letting me borrow a pallet jack and 2 pallets that I used to hold the weight of the fuel tank while I unbolted everything, then when I had it all unbolted, I used the leveling jacks on the rig to lift the back end up away from the tank. It worked out great. Getting everything situated to go back together was a little more trouble, and took me a while. I had to have the tank hanging off the front of the pallets half way to get into place, and at one point the front end of the tank was on the ground and the back end was up against the frame. I had to use a pump jack under the front of the tank to get it back up on the pallet. Once I got the tank back in place and bolted I realized that I forgot to guide the fill tube onto the filler neck as I was putting it in place so it was smashed between the filler neck and the frame. That took me about an hour to straighten out and get put on right.
Once everything was back together, thats when it started right up, and stalled a couple times as I said above. Got back on the road, drove for four hours, stayed overnight, got up the next morning and drove some more, then thats when the crank sensor went out.
See Pics Here
Definitely not something I want to do again, but I know we will be able to look back and laugh a few years from now. I think it will be a good lesson for my kids to see all the trouble we had, and that I was able to keep a cool head and work through it. At least I like to think so! It's like my brother says, the best stories never come from when things go right.
