Our Maiden Voyage

FastGlassman69 · March 11, 2015, 10:35 PM

Well folks, this has been fun! Finally got to use our '88 Cheiftain we bought iin Dec '14. We made it to Florida from NY in 22 hours, sitting in her now at my SO SIL's house enjoying the A/C which works fine, listening to some country on the radio and typing on here. Besides a rusted thru fuel line to the Gennie and some leaking front airbags the ride was great, got average of like 8.5 mpg even with a bad tank of gas in NC. Started pinging on the worst hills a little, then I discovered the cruise still worked after I ripped out the A.I.R. system, pumps and vacumm crap. Only disturbing thing is the fridge doesn't work, oh well , I think we still got a deal, paying $2000 and all parts and insurance and plates ,all in for $5000 total! Time to use her and have fun fixing anything else that comes along. Thanks for having us and your guidance in our journey! Bobby,Sally and our 4 legged children Freddy,Benny and Micki

Rickf1985 · March 12, 2015, 07:05 AM

The pinging is going to be a result of disconnecting the EGR in the emissions system. You will have to run higher grade gas or get the distributor reworked to eliminate that. At the mileage we get with these the distributor rework will be much cheaper in the long run! Does the refrigerator light on gas? If not there may be a gas spider in the jet, clean it out and you may have a fridge. Also check the chimney to make sure it is not clogged with a bee hive (hopefully the bees are gone if it is).

eXodus · March 12, 2015, 07:22 AM

maybe you have only to change the ignition timing. Common problem after removing A.I.R.

refrigerators from this time are bad. I looked at a couple of RVs out of the late 80s early 90s and all had a dead fridge. Maybe the older ones where better built ?
Or just replaced down the road.

Where are you in Florida ?

MotorPro · March 12, 2015, 07:23 AM

if you goggle the model of your fridge you will find the repair manual. Mine needed the igniter board replaced. $90 from Dinasaur boards and it works great (keeps my ice cream frozen on 95 degree days)

FastGlassman69 · March 12, 2015, 09:35 AM

Quote from: eXodus on March 12, 2015, 07:22 AM
maybe you have only to change the ignition timing. Common problem after removing A.I.R.

refrigerators from this time are bad. I looked at a couple of RVs out of the late 80s early 90s and all had a dead fridge. Maybe the older ones where better built ?
Or just replaced down the road.

Where are you in Florida ?

We are in IndianLakes right now at my SO's SIL's house, gonna be here a while . They have a honeydew list for me and the hookup is cheap. Going to work on fixing a few things on the MH and check the fridge out. Have to get some propane in her and leak test everything.Yes, I know about the ignition timing, before we took off I had to replace the vacumm advance as the one that was on their didn't move at all, had no pinging till I bought that load of fuel in NC, will check it out! Bobby

FastGlassman69 · March 12, 2015, 09:37 AM

Quote from: MotorPro on March 12, 2015, 07:23 AM
if you goggle the model of your fridge you will find the repair manual. Mine needed the igniter board replaced. $90 from Dinasaur boards and it works great (keeps my ice cream frozen on 95 degree days)

Ran the gennie most of the way down and had the fridge on ac, didn't work. Bobby

Rickf1985 · March 12, 2015, 09:39 AM

I have seen a lot of fridges that did not work on AC but worked great on propane, including the one in mine.

FastGlassman69 · March 12, 2015, 09:42 AM

Good to know Rick I will check it out when I get the tank filled! By the way I have learned a lot reading a bunch of your posts, thanks. Bobby

Rickf1985 · March 12, 2015, 12:06 PM

Once you do you might want to open a new thread for the fridge in the appliances section.