Motorhome February 21st, 2017

I finally installed the new high pressure fuel pump and filter in the motorhome today.  But it didn't have any power and I don't think that my battery jump box was working.  It's another set of diagnostics, but it shouldn't be anything too difficult.

When I was installing the parts, I noticed what the wrecker operator did.  The drive axle is completely separated from the rear one.  I'm going to leave it's power problems be for another day.

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I took my 1988 Itasca Sundancer 25ft motorhome [with a 1988 Ford Econoline 350 (E - 350) cutaway] out for a drive on some some roads that had approximately 50 - 100ft elevation gains and after about 40 miles, it still had the same old problems accelerating and going up hill. It's definitely getting weaker. It almost barely made it back to storage.

About a mile from it, I barely made a turn on to a road on flat land and then into a parking lot.  I shut off the engine then realized that it cocked in the parking lot. Thinking that I was going to sit at the bar until the wrecker came, I turned the engine back over, but it in reverse and it started acting normal again.  At that point, I left, "made a run for it" and got back to the storage facility without a problem.

But out of curiosity, I put my hand on the hood and felt that it was hot. Now my temperature gauge in the cab has always read that it's been in the "normal" range. But there's two possible problems. One is that it's a 28 year old American auto. The other is that one of those dead mud dabble straw nests is insulating the sensor and fooling me into thinking everything is fine.

I can rule out the cooling fan because it's not electric. Instead it has a housing on the belt system that would have to run all the time.  Tomorrow, I plan on checking the levels and east color before I replace the fuel pump.

Lastly, with my new Insignia 6ft Coiled Car Charger MicroUSB, the Tablet held its charge. I couldn't measure the devices amperage because the battery was at 100%.  It runs on 12 watts and 2.4 ampres.

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The fuel filter for my 1988 Itasca Sundancer 25ft motorhome is on the bottom.  And I believe that it's fuel pump on on top.  Don't quote me on the fuel pump as my HHR's is on the gas tank and I still need to put a few more hours in just exploring the Ford Econoline 350 side of the motorhome.  This was directly under the driver's seat on the inside of the beam on the driver's side of the frame.  I'm somewhat slender and I drug my back along the ground under the driver's side runner board to get to it.  Unfortunately, I didn't have enough room to get a better shot, but this is looking from the front and to the rear of the vehicle.  The fuel filter is strapped to that triangular piece with a hose clamp feeding through it.

I changed the fuel filter on my 1988 Itasca Sundancer 25ft motorhome.  Because I'm slim enough, I was able to do it without putting it on ramps.  But the #1 & 5 spark plugs were in an awkward place.  They're on the engine block just forward of the firewall.  And the only way I could see them was through a hole in axle.  They're angled, so if I managed to get them off, I'm not sure that I could get the replacement's back on and not cross thread them.  I might be able to do this in the future, but right now, I think that I'd a mechanic.  But with some appointments coming up, I might try anyways?

I didn't have enough time to do a full road test today.  But the auxiliary generator easily turned over.  Since that piece of equipment is in back of the gasoline tank, it seems that the fuel line for it must be over 20ft long to meet to meet the fuel filter?

I guess so...  Both engines run much cleaner.  But with running out of time today, I'll have to put it on a shakedown cruise tomorrow.

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A new fuel filer on my 1988 Itasca Sundancer 25ft motorhome was installed at 70,496.7 miles on the odometer.  The old one did have a lot of dirty gasoline in it (it was filthy).

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I sprayed a bunch of old wasps nest under my 1988 Itasca Sundancer 25ft motorhome.  It's possible that there might have been 20 of them active on the under body at one point.  It would have taken an exterminator to get rid of them when they were live.  And they can be a bit hard to get rid of.  I'm very careful and I'm watching to see if one of them reanimates.  I have a little league tee ball bat, but sometimes it's just difficult to reach them with that.  what I need is a 4ft long 2x2, cut at an angle on one end and blunted on the other.  Most of them are mud dabbers with their straws, so they have to be scraped off.

Wait a minute... (they're mud) they could be washed off.

I just bought a 2 sets of Rhino Ramps rated at 16,000lbs per set.  The motorhome is only 11,500lbs.  When I was taking them to the register, one of the employees at the auto parts store said "you know that each of them is a set, right."  But he probably didn't know that I was lifting a motorhome with duallies (my motorhome is a 6 wheel vehicle with 4 in the back, or two on each side) on the on the back axle?

I got those because the rear axle is too low for me to crawl under far enough to see the front of the gasoline tank.  I went looking for the fuel filter earlier.  I couldn't find it.  Then I went looking for the fuel pump... I couldn't find that either.  From what I've heard with F-150's of this area, the fuel filter should be about 1ft behind the area where the driver's side seat mounts.  That would be nice if it's there, but I have ChiltonsDIY as my repair manual and it's on the Internet only.  It doesn't have many pictures.

I purchased an external wireless keyboard and touch pad combination for my laptop so I don't get it's keys dirty.  The auto parts store said that it could take 6 days for me to get a Haynes manual for the Econoline.  I'm not even supposed to be here now.

All I have to do is follow the fuel lines from the gas tank (pending that I can get close enough) towards the engine and I will arrive at the filter somewhere.  It will be nice to finally have it changed.  I normally work on the motorhome at my storage unit.  But lifting it there is out of the question.  It's an uneven dirt surface and the management doesn't want me doing it there.  So, I'm going to squeeze it in to another driveway and lift it there.

Because of it's age and the fact that I haven't seen the rear brakes yet, not knowing where the mechanism is, I'm not too sure about the parking brake cable.  But I have chalks and they'll work fine on the front wheels when the back end is up.  And then I believe that the transmission will hold it from there.

While I'm there, I might have a second person to help feed the spark plug wires, too?