Any Ford RV/ Motorhome experts on here?

Just the tiny livestock are enough to keep me out of hotels.

I'd rather be dead than battling those critters.

So I spent all day Saturday working on my little Onan generator and changed out the rotor bearing in the end of the stator housing. It was actually quite a bit of work, and then did the typical tune-up stuff after that.




Turns out my new fuel filter was not correct, so I had to reinstall the old one. Not a big deal..it was still flowing fairly well, but wanted it changed for peace of mind.



So the little generator now runs like a champ with it's new upgraded circuit board, and an almost full tune-up (everything except the fuel filter, as mentioned). New plugs, oil and air filters, all grounds cleaned, etc. So I stick it back in the RV and get it all wired and plumbed up, and bam...it doesn't work...lol.



So...
The thing actually runs great off a gas jug and a couple ft of 5/16" fuel line. Starts instantly at the panel or remotely, and will just purr along all day if you leave it. Voltage inside is a pretty solid 120v +/- .5v, so that's all good. Hook it up to the fuel line on the RV and will only run briefly and then sputter a few times and stall, clearly starving for fuel.

Using a vacuum pump I pulled maybe a cup or half a cup of fuel from the RV fuel line, and that was it. Pulled up to 20" vacuum, and not fuel. So I then ripped all 20 ft of fuel line out of the RV, and stuck a short 3 ft piece on the tank top fitting. If I blow through I can hear bubbles in the tank...it's not overly easy to blow through, but I can blow through it. If I try to suck on it, it feels completely blocked. Zero fuel.

I think this is the sending unit/pick up that is in it...two lines for the engine, and one (black fitting) for the generator.





Now I do know that this thing had a new fuel pump installed within the past year or so...maybe two. The fuel pump is IN this sending unit/pick up isn't it? Could they have changed out just the pump or would they had to have swap out the whole unit?

The reason I ask is, I wonder if one of those white flex lines is kinked inside the tank? Either that or there's some kind of screen/filter/foot valve in there that is stuck...

So frustrating. Anybody familiar with these pick up units that could shed some light on the topic?

Oh, and can somebody tell me what tool is needed to release those fuel line fittings on the sending unit?

Must be nice to have a little lift truck in your garage! 😉

Man, I can't tell you how easy that looks compared to in the bilge of a boat!
That gender should be good for another 25 years.  

Those are just the cuff (or garter) type connections.
You can get a double ended metal scissor type tool, or a color coded complete set of plastic release tools.
The double ended one should be 5/16 & 3/8"

If the unit was recently replaced it shouldn't be too bad to get the lock ring out.
I've got a beryllium copper drift, but any non-sparking tool is better than a screwdriver.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Must be nice to have a little lift truck in your garage! 😉

Having the use of the shop and tools at my work is a big benefit for me. Since I normally do everything by myself, I'll take whatever mechanical advantage I can get.

What I didn't show there was that the hanging brackets for the generator were tweaked inwards a little bit so the generator did not want to easily slide into place. I cut a couple 2x4's to fit between the generator and the vertical part of the forks so I could push the thing and not have it slide on the forks. Worked like a charm.

That does look like a lot of work, but the lift truck must have saved you a bunch of pain.  My father and brother have removed and reinstalled Onans several times, and it isn't easy w/o the fork lift.

On the fuel sending unit/pump, I think it is possible that they could have change out the pump.  But not probable.  And even if they did, it works other than for the generator - right?

So I think your idea of one of the white hoses being kinked is likely.  If you can blow through it, with difficulty, but not suck through it then it sounds like it is kinked and with pressure you are un-kinking it.

Gary,

I'm going to try tonight to feed a wire or weed trimmer line back through the metal elbow on the sending unit and see if it's free at all. I have some really small bottle brushes at work I can use if by chance it is plugged up with dirt, debris, or rust, etc.

If the plastic tube is kinked or collapsed, I guess I'll then be dropping the tank...not much choice. Bugger.
Two steps forward, one step back...lol.

What about a stint?  Push a piece of tubing in that will open up the other tubing?

Gary Lewis wrote

What about a stint?  Push a piece of tubing in that will open up the other tubing?

Gary,

I just put 40 gallons in that fuel tank yesterday morning, so anything that saves me from having to drop it I will most definitely try...lol.

The bottle brush would probably hold it open.

Yeah, you just put a new floor down in the RV...
I'd say cut a hole like the trunk of almost every Chevy.  

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Those are just the cuff (or garter) type connections.
You can get a double ended metal scissor type tool, or a color coded complete set of plastic release tools.
The double ended one should be 5/16 & 3/8"

Here is what the fuel line fittings look like. Two for the supply and return to the 460 EFI, and the small one with the rubber hose for the generator. Is the special tool required for all of them or just the generator line? I think I'm going to try and drop the tank myself if I can figure out what to do with the fuel. Going to reply again after this with a question about the tank.





If I'm going to need tools for these fuel lines I'll have to get them this week. Note that the fuel line for the generator is smaller than the lines for the engine.

Next is the tank. Don't laugh at the rusty frame...lol, it's really not that bad. Just surface rust.

The driver's side of the tank is bolted to the bottom of the frame rail, see below:



The passenger side is bolted to a beam that attaches to the crossmembers in front of and behind the tank.




It almost looks like the tank is meant to hinge down once disconnected on the driver's side. Does anybody know? That sure would make life a lot easier. Unbolt just one bolt at each end of the bracket on the passenger side, and it should act like a hinge, no? Am I crazy?

Sender doesn't look that new.
Screws are really rusty...


Maybe you could spray the frame down with Ospho to passivate the rust?

I was at Horrid Fate today.
(We don't have Princess Auto or Canadian Tire down here)

Took some pics of the line removal tools.

Ok Jim, thanks. Pretty sure Princess Auto has all this stuff as well, and they're close to my work. I need to make sure I have all the right stuff in advance, because once I'm at the shop and drop the tank, I won't be able to run out and get a needed tool...

Ospho is a good idea, and I still have at least 3/4 of a gallon left from doing my F150 frame with it. That'll be a good little project to slather it on the RV frame (after I get everything else operational lol).

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Took some pics of the line removal tools.

Do the two different style connectors disconnect in the same way?

I had these tools years ago. I bought a 1995 F150 in 1997 or 1998 and I remember buying these tools to change the fuel filter in it.

The two tools work In the same way.
The die-cast scissors style are a little more forgiving, but you still have to do your part.

I guess I’ve been out of the rust belt for a long time!

If that’s surface rust, my truck doesn’t have any rust!

grumpin wrote

I guess I’ve been out of the rust belt for a long time!

If that’s surface rust, my truck doesn’t have any rust!

Haha! Well, it's my salty east coast version of surface rust...lol.

This RV is a western vehicle, so I actually consider this good!

OK 460 people...

I finally got around to changing out my coolant temperature sender last night. The back story is that when I bought this thing, the temperature gauge barely moved off the bottom...and if/when it did, it didn't move very far. The seller actually gave me a new 185F t-stat with the RV and said that he thought the t-stat that was in it was a colder one that the original owner had installed for towing. This was just an assumption, so that's all I know. While I drove the thing home that day (120 miles) in the winter, he seemed to blow pretty good heat from the vents, so I just assumed that the temp sender was likely getting flakey after 27 years.

So I bought an aftermarket sender...the better one of the two available, and installed it last night. I let the thing sit and idle in the driveway for a while and it still barely moved up the gauge. I decided to take it out for a run on the highway, but I have a 10-12 mile drive (at 40-45 mph) from home before I get to the highway, and during that whole time, the temperature only came up to between the N and the O.



Once on the highway, the gauge moved a bit more, maybe up into the O a little bit, but that was it on flat ground. It was only when I climbed a couple big hills back to back that the gauge shot up to the middle, and even just a hair beyond the middle, but once I back on to flat ground for a while, the gauge dropped back down to between the N and O as pictured.

When I got back home I grabbed my temp gun while it was idling in the driveway, and all I could really reach was the top tank on the radiator, and it was reading 175F.

My brother inlaw says it's acting like there's no thermostat in it at all (or the one that IS in it is stuck open).

What say the 460 experts? Sounds like I need a thermostat? I was very pleased with myself for having swapped the temp sender without draining the coolant, but it sounds like I now have to drain it anyway...lol.

The way to tell if there is no thermostat (or it's stuck open) is to check the top radiator hose from cold, or look down into the radiator while cold.

The heater core is part of a bypass loop from the water pump.
It should be fully warmed up before the thermostat begins to open.

IF the coolant is flowing across the top of the core when cold, and/or the upper hose gets progressively warmer, you have no thermostat.

The thermostat is a modulator, not an on/off switch, but it should not be opening at all until it reaches a threshold level.

Gary has posted the resistor values to test the gauges.