1979 winnebago chieftain dies after running for a bit

[pvoth1111]

is the battery fully charged??

[scubieman]

Not 100% sure, I do have electrically issues with power. However the motorhome did run like a champ then one day she just stopped liking me. So I am not 100% sure. I need to redo a lot of wiring.


The battery charger has been on it for about 5 hours so I guess I can check

[TerryH]

Hey a couple of good shots of Jack Danial's and you'll never feel a thing.

Try a couple of shots of JD down the carb. Engines are human too.

[gpw9552]

So I replaced the cap the rotor the coil. It's very cold here. It appears no spark at all. I have about 4-5 volts going to the coil. The positive small wire. I see 10 volts going into the ballast resistor. The engine will barely turn with battery charger connected. I am thinking I have something somewhere else causing bigger issues. Any ideas?

At -13, I'm not at all surprised.  You need a fully charged battery.

[scubieman]

Battery charger on since 9 this morning. No go. I'll maybe try tomorrow. It should at least act like it's firing which its not. So I'm confused.

[pvoth1111]

power.......timing........air...........fuel.........

[scubieman]

nothing should have changed besides power with the weather. But even then it should act like it wants to start but can;t.


So I assume it has to be power.

[M & J]

Whiskey.... pfft. Use good old Kentucky bourbon.

[brians1969]

Perhaps when you changed the parts, something happened? Did you get the firing order correct? Is the cap on correctly? The rotor is on? No wires backwards?

[Old Toolmaker]

Hi!  New member here but some time under my belt.

You might do yourself a favor and block off the engine area and heat it up with an electric heater.

Rare, but you can ice over the spark plugs at low temperatures if the engine fires but doesn't stay running.

To prove out the ignition system, why not take a spare sparkplug, hook one lead to it lay it on the engine where you can see it and start the engine.  The engine should run on 7 cylinders and with any luck you'll be able to see if the spark is still there when if engine stops running.

[Rickf1985]

You are saying the engine will barely turn with the battery charger and your voltage is low at the coil. I am guessing you have electronic ignition which needs 10.5 volts minimum to work and I am also guessing you have a bad battery since you have a charger on it. This may have been your problem all along. You have to have a good battery that is capable of maintaining at least 10.5 volts while cranking at bare minimum. A battery charger will not do it. especially in that kind of cold. Also if your alternator is bad that could explain why it is stalling out, you are losing voltage.  Seems there is more to this story than we have been told.

[scubieman]

I have not had it running long enough to test the alternator lately. In the past about 2 months ago, I have tested it and get a solid 14.5 volts. The voltmeter when not connect to battery charger only reads like 10 - 11 volts. If it's running I get a solid 14 volts or so.


I show lots of slices in the wiring. I also plan to replace most of the wiring for the main feed from battery, I also plan to put a ground right on the engine. Right now with it cold and me getting sick there has been a stand still.


If I do get it running I may bring it to the shop a few blocks down to polish off the issues that I may not be able to fix.

[LJ-TJ]

I grin only because everyone of us have been exactly where you are now. We know what it took to fix our rigs and are interested in finding out what was wrong with yours. Hm? N:(

[M & J]

I think Rick is on to somethimg with the low battery voltage.

[Rickf1985]

I have not had it running long enough to test the alternator lately. In the past about 2 months ago, I have tested it and get a solid 14.5 volts. The voltmeter when not connect to battery charger only reads like 10 - 11 volts. If it's running I get a solid 14 volts or so.

You need a new battery. That is a sign of a dead cell. You will never get it started on that battery no matter how long you leave the charger on there. That dead cell is not coming back to life and you could very well burn up your charger trying.

[Froggy1936]

A good verification is to check with a good hydrometer This will tell you the condition of ea cell 1 bad one will make the battery junk A tip might be the water will be dirty also ! The colors on the float will tell you . Frank

[Rickf1985]

That is IF you have a battery that has removable caps. Most maintenance free ones don't anymore.

[scubieman]

I think I have bad wiring on to the volt meter. If I remember right I tested the battery and it checks out fine. I had 2 batteries. The one I took out tested fine and I believe this one did also. That is if I remember right. This was about a month ago and I have done lots of troubleshooting in the mean time. I plan to get all new wiring from battery to engine. From battery to starter. Also to correct junk wire on the alternator and also check all connections to the starter relay.

[Rickf1985]

If the batteries are not a matched set then they will drag each other down pretty quickly. If you continue to have problems and the batteries are not the same it is best to buy to new batteries that are both the same.

[scubieman]

Sorry Rick, Motorhome only has 1 starter battery in it, So therefore I had one battery in at a time. Maybe when it's show time I may put 2 but I doubt it

[scubieman]

So I did some testing. I understand this was not load testing. It is 22 degrees out when tested. Battery voltage at battery was 12.45.

I tested the starter relay at 12.45. I tested the wire from alternator to starter relay and that was at 12.45.

I went into the motorhome and tested the "Batt" 12v fuse. That was at 12.45. I tried turning over engine and it spun very good. I had no gas in carb due to fuel tank issue so it didn't start.

Temp solution for gas is run out of a gas can. Both my fuel tanks have large deposits of something and need cleaning.

So onto Thursday since tomorrow will be colder. I will try to put some gas in her and hope she runs. If she does I know it's weather related.

[Rickf1985]

Ok, Those readings are very good, as in just off the charger good. You need to take a reading after spinning the motor once and also take a reading while the motor is cranking. Those are the most important readings that will tell if the battery is good or not.

[LJ-TJ]

So recap...... You now  have a new Coil
                   You now  have a new Ballast Resistor
                   You now  have a new Electronic Ignition Control Unit
                   and finally a new Voltage Regulator
                   You've changed the fuel filter
                   You've blown air through the fuel line back to the gas
                   tank
                   You've pulled the fuel line at the intake of the fuel
                   fuel pump,hooked another line to the fuel pump so
                   you can get the fuel pump to draw clean fuel out of
                   a gas can and it won't start and run. Right. Hm?               

[Rickf1985]

I don't think he has hooked up the portable tank yet, he said the carb was empty due to tank issues and was going to use a can. I would think that now that the battery is up it should start and run with all of those new parts. LJ, you mentioned a ECU but I did not see that being replaced looking through the threads, The symptoms could possibly support that as a problem. Anything electronic can heat up and go open circuit and then go back to good when it cools.

[scubieman]

I'll update u guys tonight. At work.