Thought I pass this on what turned out to be very expensive and could have been a twelve dollar repair, so it may save someone else. Our RV is built on a Workhorse 24 chassis. Left on vacation twelve days ago and commented to wife on first day there was a slight lack of power going up hills, but it was so slight I thought it was my imagination. On the second day we drove thru heavy rain most of the way to the campground, about ten miles from our designation the lack of power up hills became a real concern. Pulled off at exit and fueled up, plus checked all fluid levels.
A mile after leaving the gas station on a flat road the RV dropped down in gear and wouldn't go over twenty, with no shoulder to pull over, drove half mile more before being able to pull off, the check engine light was on. To make the story shorter, mobile mechanic comes out and checks fuel pressure (which is good) scans and finds maf sensor error. It's late so we agree to follow him to campground, unhooking the tow, disconnect the sensor and see if we can make the few miles. We make it there, but still lacking some power. Next day mechanic comes out with a tech ll scanner and determines the throttle position sensor is the problem. Order part, takes five days, weekend involved, swap out, clean maf sensor, believe everything is good to go.
I searched on this forum for the conditions of rain on the workhorse chassis and several post talking about water being sucked into the tube, with solutions. Other posts covering the lack of power from maf sensor or throttle position sensor being bad. We leave a day early in case there's a problem, two miles from campground the RV wouldn't climb a hill. Once again barely could find a place to pull off. Call mechanic and he's little dumbfounded why there is still an issue, suggested to unhook maf sensor and call back when we're at safer location.
While unhooking sensor I looked at the air filter box and thought could something have got pass the screening, causing a clog. Initially the mechanic and I had spoken about how I had changed the filter this past spring. Opened up the box and found the filter ribbing had totally collapse flat and was concaved in the tube, starving the engine of air. The traveling in the rain the last few trips and then this last heavy rain finished the job. The wife took the jeep to Walmart, bought a twelve dollar filter, RV ran great all the way home.
To sum it up I could of saved a lot of money if I had just connected the symptoms to this solution, but hopefully this experience will help others.
Will & Michelle
2008 Fleetwood Bounder 38P
2005 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
1990 Jeep Wrangler
