First Time Buyer...Updated 03/06/2006
This post is intended to be helpful to the first time buyer of a motor home. For those of you who don't fall into that category or believe this post is incomplete or off the mark, do us all a favor, a...
Forum Discussion
This post is long so if you are not Paul and do not like long post then this is one you will want to skip to save you the time to post that it is not well written which is factual. :)
Paul that is a touching post of how your grandparents planted the positive motor home experience in your mind as a child. I did not catch your state but the place you go get your car tags would be the place to start to get it titled again. Sometime people turn in the title to keep from paying taxes.
From your post I gather you go in the MH from time to time and it has stayed dry inside assuming it has been setting outside so you know you do not have water damage over the past 5 years. DO NOT worry about the tires at this point if they look so so and have the minimum air pressure stated somewhere around the driver’s door and if they are the 19.5 wheels that will be around 65 pounds most likely for that generation. Just do not get out and run it hard with those tires but slipping around to get service and checking it out if the MH is worth fixing up should be OK. 20-30 mile local trips do not require the best of tires and if the cracks are less than 3/32 deep Michelin states they are not show stoppers in and of themselves. You can deal with the tires before you put it over the road. Defer all like expenses until you know you are going to put it on the road and have the paper work in order.
Getting the gas out would be a good idea but you may be able to do that with the electric fuel pump by defeating the safety feature at the oil pressure sending unit. The safety device prevents 12 volts from reaching the fuel pump if there is no oil pressure and I assume that an 87 would be set up that way but I think you also have a mechanical fuel pump at the engine as well. There should be a fuel filter ( rather large) in the fuel line near the tank and most likely mounted on the frame. I think yours also has a fuel filter in the carburetor when the fuel line screws in at you can remove after you remove the fuel line. However I would not get concerned about the gas supply just yet because it is not required to get it at least to start and run a few minutes.
If it was parked with clean oil some would start it up with the current oil if it was clear but there could be moisture in the bottom that would get picked up if started so just draining it out and replacing it and the filter would cost less than $20 for both from like Wal-Mart. I would just go with 10 W 30 or 10 W 40 or even 30 weight because you will want to change in most likely in a few hundred miles any way or I would.
Ideally I would remove the plugs and put a couple 50/50 mixture of like motor oil and diesel in each cylinder and leave out the plugs so you can bring up the oil pressure with the starter but first I would turn it over by hand (socket on the crankshaft pulley bolt) just to make sure it has not frozen up (stuck piston). The junk yards will take an engine that has been frozen up for years and start doing the soaking with the 50/50 mixture and working with the engine to get it freed up over a period of a days. A lot of people do not know it but if moisture does not get built up on the crankcase (and most often they do not) the sitting does not really hurt an engine in a mechanical sense. I have seen old trucks, tractors, dozers, etc sit for 10-20 years and fire up and be OK. You could dry start it by putting squirting a little gas into the carburetor but since you may want the MH for a long while I would pull the plugs because you may want to replace them anyway since I think new plugs for my 454 was only like $12-$15. For $3 you can get a spark plug boot puller and can save you hours and tearing up your old wires which should be fine to test start it. With no plugs in it will take little battery power to turn it over and bring up the oil pressure but I would not turn it for more than 30 seconds at a time because starters when not designed to turn under a load for very long.
Assuming the engine turns over fine you could then install the plugs (check the gap and I would guess .035 would be about right based on what it would be in a Chevy). Just to get it started I would squirt about an ounce of gas into the carburetor and turn it over to see if it will try to start. If it does you can keep it running by squirting (I have used a catsup bottle) a little gas at a time into the carburetor. I have seen one backfire and catch fire so I would make sure I had an old coat or something to put over it carburetor just in case. If the engine starts and kind of runs for a few minutes you should be OK on having a functional engine.
Then you could look at removing as much fuel as possible either with the electric fuel pump or taking it out the filler opening if there is not plate designed to keep people from stealing your gas by preventing a hose going down the tube. Those tubes are very long also. If you do it by the electric fuel pump that is in the tank then you have tested and proven the electric fuel pump to be functional but it would take a long time to pump our 40-60 gallons of gas. If the tank has a drain plug then you are good to go with out messing with all of the other stuff. Remember a spark could be one too many so make sure not to bang the wrench against metal when removing it. Diaphragms in the mechanical fuel pump (if you have one with your engine) can dry out but fuel pumps are easy to replace (if you have access). I would only get concerned about the fuel filters at this point if you can not get the smell of gas when starting the engine.
Check for fuel line leaks if it does start and run. Later you will want to look at all hoses and belts (any and all rubber stuff). Ideally you would drop the transmission pan and replace and refill it to bring it backup to full but I would first move it around the place a little which will be all you can do until you get it tagged for the road. Then you can start on brakes, etc but if they stop it OK for now then you can turn your attention to other issues like the AC units, Generator, convert, etc. I would get one engine and one coach battery initially. After that you could turn your focus on the appliances, etc.
Best of luck but go slow on spending cash because if either the engine or transmission is bad you can get great running units for a fraction of what may cost you to get the Grand parents MH on to the road again.
Paul that is a touching post of how your grandparents planted the positive motor home experience in your mind as a child. I did not catch your state but the place you go get your car tags would be the place to start to get it titled again. Sometime people turn in the title to keep from paying taxes.
From your post I gather you go in the MH from time to time and it has stayed dry inside assuming it has been setting outside so you know you do not have water damage over the past 5 years. DO NOT worry about the tires at this point if they look so so and have the minimum air pressure stated somewhere around the driver’s door and if they are the 19.5 wheels that will be around 65 pounds most likely for that generation. Just do not get out and run it hard with those tires but slipping around to get service and checking it out if the MH is worth fixing up should be OK. 20-30 mile local trips do not require the best of tires and if the cracks are less than 3/32 deep Michelin states they are not show stoppers in and of themselves. You can deal with the tires before you put it over the road. Defer all like expenses until you know you are going to put it on the road and have the paper work in order.
Getting the gas out would be a good idea but you may be able to do that with the electric fuel pump by defeating the safety feature at the oil pressure sending unit. The safety device prevents 12 volts from reaching the fuel pump if there is no oil pressure and I assume that an 87 would be set up that way but I think you also have a mechanical fuel pump at the engine as well. There should be a fuel filter ( rather large) in the fuel line near the tank and most likely mounted on the frame. I think yours also has a fuel filter in the carburetor when the fuel line screws in at you can remove after you remove the fuel line. However I would not get concerned about the gas supply just yet because it is not required to get it at least to start and run a few minutes.
If it was parked with clean oil some would start it up with the current oil if it was clear but there could be moisture in the bottom that would get picked up if started so just draining it out and replacing it and the filter would cost less than $20 for both from like Wal-Mart. I would just go with 10 W 30 or 10 W 40 or even 30 weight because you will want to change in most likely in a few hundred miles any way or I would.
Ideally I would remove the plugs and put a couple 50/50 mixture of like motor oil and diesel in each cylinder and leave out the plugs so you can bring up the oil pressure with the starter but first I would turn it over by hand (socket on the crankshaft pulley bolt) just to make sure it has not frozen up (stuck piston). The junk yards will take an engine that has been frozen up for years and start doing the soaking with the 50/50 mixture and working with the engine to get it freed up over a period of a days. A lot of people do not know it but if moisture does not get built up on the crankcase (and most often they do not) the sitting does not really hurt an engine in a mechanical sense. I have seen old trucks, tractors, dozers, etc sit for 10-20 years and fire up and be OK. You could dry start it by putting squirting a little gas into the carburetor but since you may want the MH for a long while I would pull the plugs because you may want to replace them anyway since I think new plugs for my 454 was only like $12-$15. For $3 you can get a spark plug boot puller and can save you hours and tearing up your old wires which should be fine to test start it. With no plugs in it will take little battery power to turn it over and bring up the oil pressure but I would not turn it for more than 30 seconds at a time because starters when not designed to turn under a load for very long.
Assuming the engine turns over fine you could then install the plugs (check the gap and I would guess .035 would be about right based on what it would be in a Chevy). Just to get it started I would squirt about an ounce of gas into the carburetor and turn it over to see if it will try to start. If it does you can keep it running by squirting (I have used a catsup bottle) a little gas at a time into the carburetor. I have seen one backfire and catch fire so I would make sure I had an old coat or something to put over it carburetor just in case. If the engine starts and kind of runs for a few minutes you should be OK on having a functional engine.
Then you could look at removing as much fuel as possible either with the electric fuel pump or taking it out the filler opening if there is not plate designed to keep people from stealing your gas by preventing a hose going down the tube. Those tubes are very long also. If you do it by the electric fuel pump that is in the tank then you have tested and proven the electric fuel pump to be functional but it would take a long time to pump our 40-60 gallons of gas. If the tank has a drain plug then you are good to go with out messing with all of the other stuff. Remember a spark could be one too many so make sure not to bang the wrench against metal when removing it. Diaphragms in the mechanical fuel pump (if you have one with your engine) can dry out but fuel pumps are easy to replace (if you have access). I would only get concerned about the fuel filters at this point if you can not get the smell of gas when starting the engine.
Check for fuel line leaks if it does start and run. Later you will want to look at all hoses and belts (any and all rubber stuff). Ideally you would drop the transmission pan and replace and refill it to bring it backup to full but I would first move it around the place a little which will be all you can do until you get it tagged for the road. Then you can start on brakes, etc but if they stop it OK for now then you can turn your attention to other issues like the AC units, Generator, convert, etc. I would get one engine and one coach battery initially. After that you could turn your focus on the appliances, etc.
Best of luck but go slow on spending cash because if either the engine or transmission is bad you can get great running units for a fraction of what may cost you to get the Grand parents MH on to the road again.
