Enable/Talk Me Down - Limping a Large Vehicle Home

I've been thinking of adding a RV/Motorhome to the fleet to travel with our 4 dogs, the camper van is just too cramped. I've been selling stuff to free up vehicle cash and have been looking at listings. 

Today I found a 90 Fleetwood Bounder about an hour from home. Seller says it loses power (when it gets to going it slows bogs and will eventually need to be pulled over). Sounds to me like a fuel delivery issue. Would I be crazy to consider limping this home on back roads for 50 miles, maybe bringing a fuel filter with me to throw on in hopes that will help? 

https://www.facebook.com/share/JjZMoyDmtDQm2Eke/

1990 would be EFI so depending on where the pump is throw a jerry can on the front run some line to the pump and send it. 50 miles is not terrible even if you have to do three or four stops to get it home. 

In reply to wearymicrobe :

From what I've been reading the fuel pump is in the tank on these. Seller says chevy chassis so should be 454 TBI.

Common to see similar issues caused by clogged catalytic converters on old motorhomes too. 

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

I have a cordless sawzall. 

This is all the additional info I got out of the seller: When it had an episode I left it on the side of the road and went back 2 days later and it started right up so it’s hard to say.

What I'm hearing is a fuel filter job on a straight piped RV for 50 miles.  

Send it

There aren't as many places to pull over with a big vehicle like that - it's too long for a lot of the little pull-offs and it's too wide to be able to just pull over to the side and be out of the way.  So choose your route carefully.

If it's the fuel pump overheating and crapping out, I have heard of people using the generator feed tube, connecting some fuel line to that, using an external pump, and plumbing that into the "regular" fuel system for a "trip completion" repair.  That won't work if you've got under 1/4 tank of fuel.  I've never solved a damned thing by replacing a fuel filter, personally, and I'd think that if the filter was clogged it would be clogged, not free enough to get going and then start clogging up again.

If that's a P30 chassis, maybe the EGR isn't working right?  I know that those can cause some bogging problems, however, when I had that going on it wasn't so bad that you had to pull over, it just acted a little funny and lit up a code 32.

wae said:

There aren't as many places to pull over with a big vehicle like that

Yea that was one of my concerns. Back roads are better for slow speeds and less traffic, not great for wide shoulders or places to exit traffic when it decides to go from moving slowly to not at all. 

Bounder? Isn't that the rolling meth lab from Breaking Bad?

I think it is worth the risk, also if it goes bad how much would the tow bill be? It may be worth a call to the local heavy wrecker place to see what it would cost to tow back from there. I would be surprised if it was over $500. If you know the cost of the full tow and you can live with it you can try it the hard way and if it doesn't make it Sandy's has you covered...

https://sandystowing.com/

This sounds like fun.  I'd bring a boat fuel tank, external pump, and a chase vehicle to pull/tow it if needed.  Will there be a live stream?

In reply to NY Nick :

Good idea to find a towing company and call beforehand. I thought about signing up for good sam but they only tow to the nearest service center, although I may be able to pay additional to have it towed to my chosen location.

Stampie said:

Will there be a live stream?

Only if it raises more money to fund my questionable ideas.

Have you considered that in the future you will sign up for AAA-RV or Good Sam, etc for RV towing?  

If yes, sign up now.  Bring "a license plate" not necessarily the RVs plate to give the appearance of "road worthy."  Have the RV towed from current owners place to your place.  

Disclaimer:  I am not familiar with the specifics of the RV towing policies and how far they will tow for no additional charge.  I do know that AAA Gold will tow a car 100 miles!  Also with AAA for cars, there is a 3 or 7 day waiting period from the time you sign up to the time you can use the services.  

EvanB said:

wae said:

There aren't as many places to pull over with a big vehicle like that

Yea that was one of my concerns. Back roads are better for slow speeds and less traffic, not great for wide shoulders or places to exit traffic when it decides to go from moving slowly to not at all. 

Are you familiar with the route? If not take a recon trip. Pull over places and places it might stay over night.

A friend with another vehicle would / could be useful. Buy beer - for the friend not the trip.

Towing a RV can run into the thousands very fast.  If you are on the side of the road and broken down they can be brutal.

In reply to EvanB :

Isn't there a GRM member with an S2000 who lives in Yellow Springs; and might be able to provide temporary parking?

I think I'd go look with an intent to buy with a vacuum gauge. If the gauge starts to lose vacuum it's exhaust related. If not then the Home Depot 5gal intank pump tank sounds like a winner with some extra 5 gal cans.

EvanB said:

Stampie said:

Will there be a live stream?

Only if it raises more money to fund my questionable ideas.

I got 5 on it

My in-laws had pretty much the same unit. 

A Flair on a P-chassis with a TBI 454.

It seemed like every trip they took, something major failed in it and left them stranded in a campsite or at a rest stop. Guess what a towing bill, out of a campsite costs. Good luck finding a wrecker big enough that can navigate out of a campsite with that barge behind it.

You're putting an engine in the worst operating environment possible (working hard with little to no airflow), then expecting to be reliable while being driven on long trips, once every 6 months, carrying a house made of cardboard and chewing gum that resides in a permanent earthquake environment.

I've owned slide-in campers and travel trailers and I don't want another one, ever. RV's are even worse.

Maybe, MAYBE a diesel pusher would be ok if I was really drunk on eBay one night.

A 1990 motor home might have (probably has) a GVWR high enough that it doesn't have a catalytic converter.  I believe 10,000lb is the magic number, but the underhood emissions sticker will tell you for sure if it is supposed to have one or not.   This doesn't mean that it can't have a muffler with a loose baffle sometimes plugging the exhaust.

It's most probably a fuel pump or filter, maybe compounded by heavy rust in the fuel tank.

Is it HEI? Maybe a coil going bad/getting hot?

Normally I would think this would be a horrible idea.  For some reason after looking at the ad, I feel like it's worth the risk.  Dunno, gut from reading a lot of ads.  I know the ad is short and desperate, but something tells me this is going to turn out well.  I say go for it.  Any idea how low he's willing to go to make it disappear?

I say do it and bring a buddy.

One of my wildest adventures with my Dad was attempting to drive home a '78 Pace Arrow 38' motorhome. We made it half way home. I had already yanked the dog house and was alternating between tapping on the coil and the carb to keep it moving. It puked the trans dipstick and soaked the exhaust manifold, laying down a cloud of smoke so bad someone called the fire department on us. At some point we lost third...then second gears. While we poured yet another bottle of fluid in it the fire trucks showed up. We had to sweet talk the firemen into not hosing the doghouse and letting us go...until the cops showed up and told us our trip was over. Two tow trucks later we got it home (and lowered local housing values for two years). Mom was...less than thrilled.

Dad was usually a reserved kind of guy, but he was a mad lad on this trip and I remember it fondly. I'm cracking up just typing this.

glueguy (Forum Supporter) said:

Normally I would think this would be a horrible idea.  For some reason after looking at the ad, I feel like it's worth the risk.  Dunno, gut from reading a lot of ads.  I know the ad is short and desperate, but something tells me this is going to turn out well.  I say go for it.  Any idea how low he's willing to go to make it disappear?

I got the same feeling which is the only reason why I'm considering this. Dunno how low they'll go but me showing up at the end of the week they need it gone with cash and tools may net me a deal.