My wife, our 10 month old and myself had a great first shake down run in our (new to us) 94 Minnie Winnie 421RB! Everything went very well with no major issues to report. It does have 59,700 miles on the 460 and I think it still has the original plugs. Occasional slight rough idle and it did die on me once when I shifted it into reverse. Already has a new distributor and ignition module, so I am hoping some Seafoam, plugs and wires does the trick. Prior owner had rear-end serviced, transmission serviced and radiator flushed so that is a bonus.A question I have for owners of anything on a similar chassis (E350 with 460, early 90s) is regarding the temperature. It was in the mid 80s climbing Mt. Hood and I noticed the temp would swing from maybe the 10:30 position to the 12:30 position depending on how hard it was working. Still nowhere near red but quite more substantial than other vehicles I have driven. Maybe its just because it is a heavy rig and it is working hard but I was curious if others could chime in regarding their own experiences.Thanks here are a couple pics!

That is one clean looking Minnie Winnie ... congrats!!We travel with another couple who have a small ~1994 Fleetwood Class C on an E350 chassis with a 460. That combination has served them well on many trips.

pnichols wrote:That is one clean looking Minnie Winnie ... congrats!!We travel with another couple who have a small ~1994 Fleetwood Class C on an E350 chassis with a 460. That combination has served them well on many trips.Thanks we were impressed with how well it had been kept up. No delamination. One issue is the house battery tray is warping on the bottom and pulling out a couple screws, but I will engineer a fix to that. We had a 2015 Keystone Passport TT and a Ford Ecoboost F150 tow vehicle but we wanted a motorhome again and no car payments! Got both when we sold the TT/Ford and found the Minnie :B

Congrats on your new (to you) RV!The temperature of your coolant does fluctuate with load, ambient temperature and amount of air traveling through the radiator. This should cause the needle to swing up and down throughout the "normal" range of the temp gauge.Unfortunately, some owners thought this was indicative of a problem, and would take their vehicles in to the dealership over and over when there wasn't anything wrong with the engine or cooling system. Ford finally put a stop to this by adding a resistor in line with the gauge. Modern Ford temp gauges remain centered in the "normal" range at all times except when the engine is stone cold or dangerously overheated. If you have a vehicle without a "dumb" gauge, consider yourself fortunate.

Stefonius wrote:Congrats on your new (to you) RV!The temperature of your coolant does fluctuate with load, ambient temperature and amount of air traveling through the radiator. This should cause the needle to swing up and down throughout the "normal" range of the temp gauge.Unfortunately, some owners thought this was indicative of a problem, and would take their vehicles in to the dealership over and over when there wasn't anything wrong with the engine or cooling system. Ford finally put a stop to this by adding a resistor in line with the gauge. Modern Ford temp gauges remain centered in the "normal" range at all times except when the engine is stone cold or dangerously overheated. If you have a vehicle without a "dumb" gauge, consider yourself fortunate.This is good info, thanks!

Nice rig. As others have said,the temp flucuations are normal. Mine also has a occasional miss so I'll probably change the IAC Valve as I've done the tune up and module.

First shake down trip in our Minnie Winnie! | Good Sam Community

15 Replies

-Lqdskier
Explorer
Jul 20, 2015
Nice rig. As others have said,the temp flucuations are normal. Mine also has a occasional miss so I'll probably change the IAC Valve as I've done the tune up and module.
Biggyniner
Explorer
Jul 20, 2015
Stefonius wrote:
Congrats on your new (to you) RV!

The temperature of your coolant does fluctuate with load, ambient temperature and amount of air traveling through the radiator. This should cause the needle to swing up and down throughout the "normal" range of the temp gauge.

Unfortunately, some owners thought this was indicative of a problem, and would take their vehicles in to the dealership over and over when there wasn't anything wrong with the engine or cooling system.

Ford finally put a stop to this by adding a resistor in line with the gauge. Modern Ford temp gauges remain centered in the "normal" range at all times except when the engine is stone cold or dangerously overheated.

If you have a vehicle without a "dumb" gauge, consider yourself fortunate.

This is good info, thanks!
Stefonius
Explorer
Jul 20, 2015
Congrats on your new (to you) RV!

The temperature of your coolant does fluctuate with load, ambient temperature and amount of air traveling through the radiator. This should cause the needle to swing up and down throughout the "normal" range of the temp gauge.

Unfortunately, some owners thought this was indicative of a problem, and would take their vehicles in to the dealership over and over when there wasn't anything wrong with the engine or cooling system.

Ford finally put a stop to this by adding a resistor in line with the gauge. Modern Ford temp gauges remain centered in the "normal" range at all times except when the engine is stone cold or dangerously overheated.

If you have a vehicle without a "dumb" gauge, consider yourself fortunate.
Biggyniner
Explorer
Jul 20, 2015
pnichols wrote:
That is one clean looking Minnie Winnie ... congrats!!

We travel with another couple who have a small ~1994 Fleetwood Class C on an E350 chassis with a 460. That combination has served them well on many trips.

Thanks we were impressed with how well it had been kept up. No delamination. One issue is the house battery tray is warping on the bottom and pulling out a couple screws, but I will engineer a fix to that. We had a 2015 Keystone Passport TT and a Ford Ecoboost F150 tow vehicle but we wanted a motorhome again and no car payments! Got both when we sold the TT/Ford and found the Minnie :B
pnichols
Explorer II
Jul 20, 2015
That is one clean looking Minnie Winnie ... congrats!!

We travel with another couple who have a small ~1994 Fleetwood Class C on an E350 chassis with a 460. That combination has served them well on many trips.

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First shake down trip in our Minnie Winnie!

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