Log 2016052601

Departure in the motorhome failed and my trip across Ohio was aborted.  I got about 50 miles away before the uphill power loss problems came back.  This time, it was even weaker.  From a stop, the automatic transmission in my 1988 Ford Econoline 350 based Itasca Sundancer motorhome needed to be shifted to first gear where it would barely make it up at 8MPH.  And while in motion, I had to anticipate the next uphill by building enough speed on a downhill in the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau.  The area isn't mountainous, but does have it's hills and probably 50 to 80ft, or 120ft (at best) elevation climbs.

I'm living in Lake County for the moment and I was planning a direct trip of about 260 miles using two lane roads and highways to the Lane Farm Campground in the Wayne National Forest near Marietta of Washington County.  As I mentioned before, I thought that with the introduction of mid-grade gasoline and an octane booster, it solved it's problems.  But apparently not.

What was different this time was that I turned a switch from "neutral" to "dual" in hopes of charging the auxiliary batteries as I drove.  The motorhome was full of about 500lbs of gear and I was towing my utility trailer (which was relatively empty) and it weighed about 450lbs.

After searching through some forums, it seems that this is common problem among certain Ford engines.  But I'm with the majority of those that posted when I agree that it's probably fuel filter, or a bad fuel pump, followed by a tune up.  With it being 28 years old, who knows when either one of them was changed?  That can also be followed up by changing the spark plug, wires, distributer and possibly a fuel injector or two?  I'm no wiz, but I did grow up in an industrial, working class environment and I know my way around basic car repair.  We had gravel driveways back then and I we couldn't use a creeper.  So we just laid a carpet on rocks and that's how we did it.

~For those of you who work on cars on gravel, you might be able to dismount the wheels and make a "creeper sled"using steel strips about 3" wide and running the length on both sides.  The ends need an excess to be curved upwards.  Then bend pieces of some strip aluminum to create struts that will mount using the creeper's original bolt holes.  Then fix it all together using rounded bolts.~

Anyways, I got a used motorhome and one of the first things I should have done with it was give it a tune up so that I knew the age of those components (right now, I don't).

The generator turned over today, but it only ran for about 90 seconds.  Under the main bed, there's a over over it.  But I don't know if it dismounts.  I'm hoping it does because there's no way to service most of the engine without lowering with a jack.

The holder that I attached to the new lighter power port and switch came with a 30 ampere fuse.  Since my Chevy HHR only takes a 20amp, I reduced it to match.  Well, the tablet is a USB 3.0 device and since it has cellular signal, it's a
power hungry" device.  In operation, it was asking me that I use the original cable to charge it.  Well, it was the original cable and the whole set up couldn't sustain it's rate of power.  Some of the entries that I've seen online suggest that a 30.  It's plugged into a 5 port splitter as well.  So, I'm going to try 30 and see how it goes.  The question is the 5 port splitter's plug.  It doesn't have a fuse.  Instead, it's faceplate glows and when it doesn't, that's when it's time to change the unit.  If I have to, I might be able to splice in a fused replacement, or by-pass new the power port and wire it directly into to the switch and fuse?

I plan to go back towards Marietta early next month with my car and a tent.