Help RV broke down

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Scards

Active member
Joined
Jul 17, 2021
Posts
38
Location
Chino ca
Im safe waiting for AAA, but what went wrong?? Driving along the freeway when suddenly, no power, the engine stopped, i pulled to the side, it wont start, it tries to, but doesnt. All cabin stuff works so uts not the batteries, plus it does try to start. So, while i sit and wait, where should i look first to solve this? Any thoughts out there?
 
If you can give us some clue as to the model and brand of chassis of the coach we might be able to make suggestions.
 
If it won’t start, the basics are fuel, air and spark (ignition).
Check all fuses.
Are you out of fuel?
Not out of fuel, what would make it just die, out of nowhere, no indications of anything to go wrong at all...
 
Not out of fuel, what would make it just die, out of nowhere, no indications of anything to go wrong at all...
Ill check fuses right now. Its kind of unsafe being on side of freeway, but i have to check ....
 
Fuel filter or quite possibly a fuel pump. Lost the fuel pump in one tank on my 87 Ford E350 van once. Ended up dropping the tank, deleting the fuel pump, and installed an external pump and filter for that tank.
 
- does engine crank over?
- does it try to fire?
- if nothing is happening, likely a major fuse somewhere as no electric power for engine/engine circuit
 
By Cabin do you mean house lights? They may have a different battery.. But I see the basics are covered.. My daughter called me one day with an exotic. I responded. Along with AAA.. I got there and spread the breakdown triangles (By the way I highly recommend you get a set of break down triangles and a book like .. well in Michigan it's called "What every Commercial driver must know" One chapter talks about how to spread the triangles along the road... I've seen commercial drivers who seriously need to read that chapter I mean SERIOUSLY. and one (At least) who had it explained to him by one of my motor carrier officers... and a judge,... in that order).

Her wiring harness had fried.. they had to rewire her car.. Insurance paid (Thank Insurance). .
 
Not out of fuel, what would make it just die, out of nowhere, no indications of anything to go wrong at all...
Fuel related (clogged line or filter or failed fuel pump) behave like this.
Also, any electrical part within the ignition circuits generally fail instantly.
 
I do believe she was here a couple days ago with a battery problem. this may have something to do with electrical, maybe altenator. Sounds strange it was running with 1/2 a tank of fuel and just stopped. Sounds electrical to me.
 
Sounds electrical to me as well to shut down like that. If it was fuel I'd expect it to lurch and sputter and cough before dying. I'd guess alternator or engine battery.
 
It is not uncommon for fuel pumps to die as you're driving. That would be my first guess.

I was lucky. When mine crapped out, I could not start from the rest stop in the morning where I boondocked overnight. See here.

But the list of possibilities are almost endless. How many miles on the vehicle?

A bad CPS (Crankshaft Position Sensor) can also cause such.

I would say those are the most common issues at just above 100,000 miles, based on my own experiences with my many vehicles. I would recommend changing the CPS and fuel pump and fuel filter at just under 100K miles in any vehicle.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
I hope the OP got help from AAA and was able to get back on the road...It isn't fun to breakdown on a freeway.
And I hope the OP will mention what the problem turned out to be.

IMO, way too many we never hear from again after the problem is fixed.

-Don- Reno, NV
 

Forum statistics

Threads
131,753
Posts
1,384,362
Members
137,524
Latest member
freetoroam
Back
Top Bottom