I win. After battling with the motorhome from Hell...I beat the f'in thing. For those of you who have endured the countless rants and offered advice I applaud you. Some of you were actually very close on my troubleshooting nightmare. I had a 2 part problem. 1.NEVER buy an HEI distributor from Summit un der any circumstance. This will be hard to believe but it is the God's honest truth. I had put timing tape on the balancer since it is in a m/h you can't see the tab, so they install one from the factory that mounts on the bottom of the oil pan.They just forget to rescribe the balancer, thus the need for tape. I throw my timing light on it at TDC and vacuum disconnected, I get 0 degrees on the initial time, plug in the vacuum advance, it goes to 12 at idle...good so far, right? I crack the throttle and it goes to......80 degrees. I swear. I called my Dad down out of the inside of the m/h to double check. This can't be....this is impossible. It was possible...pulled the old distributor off the shelf and overhauled it, it was wore out though. Throw it in, same timing light, same tape, same reference marks....runs like a champ 12 -14 degrees initial and 36 total. What a piece of crap. Problem 2 My father-in-law owned this m/h since new and babied it. Always took it to a Chevy garage to have the work done by a "qualified dealer". Well, when the surging originally started 3-4 years ago it was progressive, once in a while and finally got really bad after I bought it. Long story longer, he told em to replace the in-tank elec pump, which they did. I dropped the tank today and they had changed it but the retard that did it CUT the wiring harness on the pump instead of just unplugging it.There were 2 butt splices submerged in the fuel tank and one of them, the ground, was not making good contact. Therefore the intermittant problem of pump working/ not working. So not only was the mechanical pump having to pull the fuel 34 ft, it was also having to pull it through the old elec pump in the tank. I pulled the pump and hooked it up to a power source and a ground and it purred right away. Funny how that works. I AM VICTORIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, congrats an your perseverence! so glad to hear that you found the troubles. can be a MFer sometimes. jerry
I am continually amazed at the lack of talent that you find at the average dealership. It seems some of these guys have their head up their ass as far as knowing the correct way to do their job. Now, a poor wiring job on a in tank fuel pump is creating a bomb IMO. Whoever did that job should be sweeping the parking lot a McDonalds.
Im a bodytech at a dealership! I resemble that remark! Actually...your right! I see it often. Just the other month ago I had a full heaterbox assembly to install into a 2002 Grand Voyager. Seems the heat control door inside the box was broken and the defroster/whatever wouldn't work properly. This had been determined by some Tech in the mechanics department. Anyway...rather than just pull the dash and replace the box I did a visual check myself and found that an electric actuator was stuck on the outside of the heaterbox! A 5 minute replacement part! I saved about 3 1/2 hours of torture and wasted effort on that one. Last week I had to replace a pass airbag module on another Voyager (common problem) because the Airbag lite was on. Problem identified by the mechanics in the service department as usual. Popped it in, (2 hour job) and the light was still on. Darn!!! Called up for a Mechanic to run down to the bodyshop with the OBD tool and recheck...hmmmm....DRIVERS SIDE squib problem! The original Mechanic who checked it out hadn't used the OBD tool and had just assumed it MUST be the pass side. We don't have OBD tools in the bodyshop or I would have checked it myself. (5 minute job!) Management was tickled over that little snafu... I blame management for overbooking jobs most of the time. They leave the Techs with NO time to do proper diagnosis. They just don't have a clue... Bill
Congrats, my fellow warrior, for you have victored over the EE-VIL mechanical enemy! A lesser man may have tried to live with the problem until the damn engine simply wouldn't run anymore. I've worked a few dealerships and always hated 'the book'. "THE [flatrate] BOOK" gives you a predetermined time allowed to do each job that comes in the door and I still wanna meet this guy that can supposedly do these jobs in the time alloted. HA! They even claim he doesn't get to use any air tools when they time this guy.[or these guys] I always felt under the gun when I did any work like Roothawg's problem, even though you're not working flat rate on this kinda problem. Still, you have the service manager coming over every 2 mintues, harrassing you and asking "How much longer...didja find anything yet?" And the rub is, I love working on problems like this. I do this all day long at work and really enjoy it but I'm slooooooow. I always find the problem but it may take awhile and service managers don't dig that. I'm glad I have an hourly rate but a sharp, fast tech, working by the book can make a lot more money than I do....
My father-in-law spent mega bux for troubleshooting man hours. Even after they changed the pump, they changed the relay. There should have been a flag at that point, when there was no power to the pump. The only reason I have put this off for so long is the fact that the tank is 68 gallons, pretty dang heavy, and I figured if it was at the dealer it was in good hands and they had already been in the tank. My father-in- law is gonna give em a call Monday, just for a little butt chewing.
I have worked in dealerships and currently work for an O.E. The "book" is designed to screw you, the tech. The techs that do the work for establishing the times know the diagnosis when the car is pulled into their stall. Diagnosis times are determined by factory repairmen on the line. Most of those problems were noted by operators on the assembly line and entered into the computer by them. You guys don't have a chance of getting paid for proper diagnosis unless your dealer is wllig to eat it or the service mgr. is willing to fight for you. Yeah, right.
You see, I used to be a service tech for an RV dealer and the "book" was designed for max profit for the dealership not the tech. But, on the other hand, when you pay someone 8 hours of troubleshooting time, you expect a return. Although, I have been jacking with it for a while, the actual troubleshooting time to find the problem was about 4 hours. Dropping the tank was another story. I put in a 12 hour day yesterday.
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