Losing power, Pinging bad under acceleration.

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tcohee

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Marysville, Washington
Our 2002 bounder motorhome was running fine before a fuel up, 20 minutes later it lost power and was pinging badly under acceleration or trying to maintain freeway speeds it would take a nosedive. Like it was going into limp mode (no check engine light) As long as I didn't give it more fuel it was ok. Just couldn't go freeway speeds and going up hills was nearly impossible. We added 2 cans of heet. (No octain boost available) Also added 20 gallons of super unleaded to the tank of regular unleaded. Just not sure what direction to go. Fuel filter, knock sensor, or? weather conditions were as follows: warm 80 degrees, blue skies traffic was moving at freeway speeds.
 
Our 2002 bounder motorhome was running fine before a fuel up, 20 minutes later it lost power and was pinging badly under acceleration or trying to maintain freeway speeds it would take a nosedive. Like it was going into limp mode (no check engine light) As long as I didn't give it more fuel it was ok. Just couldn't go freeway speeds and going up hills was nearly impossible. We added 2 cans of heet. (No octain boost available) Also added 20 gallons of super unleaded to the tank of regular unleaded. Just not sure what direction to go. Fuel filter, knock sensor, or? weather conditions were as follows: warm 80 degrees, blue skies traffic was moving at freeway speeds.
You got bad fuel. Perhaps even water in it. I have even heard of gas stations illegally doing that when the gas price is sky high so they can make a few more bucks per gallon. A gas station owner in Marin County, CA got busted from doing such many years ago, the last time the gas prices went sky high to around $4.17 per gallon in CA (Seems cheap for these days).

-Don- Reno, NV
 
Yup sounds like bad gas since you just filled up. Depending on how much yuk is in it MAY be able to drive it out which sux. Yellow or red heet? The red will absorb some water but yellow I don't believe does. If you are at home may be able to drain it and separate.

Had it happen once years ago in my F150 but it had dual tanks and had just filled one. Switched over to other tank to get home and siphoned other let settle and siphoned gas off.
 
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I was thinking it is the gas also. We also fueled our tow vehicle, No problems with that one. I know there is a huge difference between the RV and the tow vehicle. I have dumped in 2 bottles of red heet, and topped the tank with super unleaded. The bummer is I filled the tank up and have no where to drain it. I will dump some octain boost in tonight. I hope that its just bad fuel. anyone think octain boost will even the mixture out?
 
I was thinking it is the gas also. We also fueled our tow vehicle, No problems with that one.
Means little. Some engines are much more sensitive to bad fuel than others. Usually most noticed with heavier loads. And also, the amount of contaminants each vehicle got from the same pump can vary greatly.

-Don- Davis Creek Park, NV (electric motorcycle ride)
 
Well. from your post I gather you suspect a bad tank of fuel.. So do I.
Several things can cause symptoms like you describe but if you have a low-altitude gas station selling high-altitude gas ... Here is the issue (And the one time I had not quite as bad an issue (Ran rough but ran) I'd gassed up at high altitude. noticed the pump said OCTANE was less than 87 (Forget if 85 or 82) 87 is spec for that engine.
The Engine Control Computer SHOULD adjust timing to compensate (mine did as much as it could which is why mine kept running.... but then Mine was a Chevy engine).

Some auto stores (Speed shops) sell octane enhancer.. Might try some .. Not all that expensive, See if it helps.
Dirty/Contaminated/Watered fuel (had that happen once too but not with the RV) also can cause issues..
 
I'd have the fuel pressure checked or at least change the fuel filter. Running too lean from low fuel pressure can cause all those symptoms. But you would think it should throw a check engine light.
 
"Bad fuel" covers a lot of differing contaminations. I'd start with a change of the inline fuel filter, which will often resolve many of them. Often the filter is clogged with whatever it filtered from that bad fuel, literally starving the engine of fuel..
 
Often the filter is clogged with whatever it
When the gas station is being filled by their tank trucks is when you do NOT want to fill up your car. What happens is all the crap in their tank gets mixed in from the bottom of the tank into the fresh gasoline. Should wait long enough for all that stuff to settle back down again. That stuff can clog up fuel filters in a hurry.

-Don- Reno, NV
 

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