I guess ole turd fairy has struck again.

Took the Barth out for it's monthly drive around town to keep it in shape. Half way through the drive on the way back home, she shut down as I approached a traffic light. Got it restarted and as I made my left turn she stalled again. A big struggle to turn the wheel, slide it into N and restart. Don't know how I managed that but I did.
Next time she started to stall and I slid it into N and pumped the pedal many times to keep it running, however by that time I was nearing another traffic light and she shut down again as I came to a stop. This happen another time as I made a left turn and then a right turn. Slowing down for the right turn she stalled.
I managed to get it home and stopped in front of the house. This time she did not stall and idled just fine. I let it run for five - ten minutes and it did not quit. Tapped the pedal several times and she took the fuel and idled back with no problems.
Next I pulled foward and then backed into the drive way. As I parked and went to put it into N she stalled.

Does anyone have any ideas what the ole turd fairy has done this time?

1985 Regency 35 ft side entrance
225hp Detroit with Ally.4 speed tranny.

Clogged fuel filter, fuel pump or as it happened to us on the CAT a fuel solenoid. The solenoid spittersputtered on the Interstate, shut down, came back tp live, shut down. Cranked again, got slooow, sputtered and died.

quote:

Originally posted by Marvin+Doris:
...a fuel solenoid.

...or the wiring to the fuel shutdown solenoid. This is where I would start.

I had the wiring come loose from the solenoid while on a narrow two lane in the Redwoods in Northern California about two years ago. Drifted to the side, hopped out and found the wiring setting there with the little brass screw barely hanging on the wire. Reattached it and was off without holding up too much traffic. Very lucky.

I checked the wiring and it appears to be intact with the exception where the two wires go into the solenoid. They seem to be very loose here.

I decided to order a new solenoid and hope this will fix my problem. I noticed a warning on installing the new unit, requires certain size wiring and certain lengths of wire. Looks like I may put in some new wiring in addition to adding a in line fuse which they say is important to protect the solenoid.

There seems to be a lot of warnings on installing this. I may just get a mechanic to come over and do it.

I do know I have to loosing my air compressor and move it out of the way in order to replace the solenoid.

I'll keep you posted on the progress and if this fixes the problem.

Jim

I'd also go into your fuse panel/circuit box and tighten up all the connections at the relays, fuses, circuit breakers and ground connections.

I agree with Bill NY; this kind of intermittent issue begs for a complete circuit intervention.

I ran into some problems installing my new fuel solenoid.
First thing I noticed was the fuel shut off pivot pin seized and the bolt in it was cross threaded.
I managed to free it up and oil it. I also re-tapped the threads and put in a different bolt.
With that pin seized it would not have worked in an emergency.
Put in new wiring & plug with the solenoid and relocated a better ground for it.
I then noticed that a wire was broken off a sending unit and fixed that.











Now off for a test drive. She started right up and away I went. Drove all the my neighborhood - no problems. As I approached my street and making my right hand turn she shut down. I was able to restart and got it to the driveway and backed in and as I did she shut down again. When I grabbed the key it started running again. So I tapped it and she shut down and when I tapped around the key it started running again.

I then unscrewed that section of the dash and pulled it out as far as I could. Bingo- there is the problem, one of the screws holding one of the wires on the ignition was almost off.
Retighten the screws and put everything back in place. I restarted the Barth and she purred great. Tapped on the ignition key and around it and it stayed running.

Now the not so good news.
Today I went out for another test drive and she purred great drove all around, up & down the highway and back to the house. She was running better then ever. As I started to back into the driveway there was a loud "BANG" noise and the Barth would not go forward or reverse.
I called for a tow service and they manged to get it from blocking the street into the driveway. They will be back tomorrow afternoon or Monday morning with a larger flat bed tow truck.
I think a stub axel broke, however won't know for sure until the mechanics check it out.

I am not a very happy camper at this point.

Jim

Bill-NY and Rusty were right on about a short, however I am glad I replaced the solenoid because I found those other problems.
I am very happy this happen in front of the house and not while on a journey.

Yeah, the joys of old machinery! The good news is that none of those electrical snakes can come back to bite you.

I guess if I had to break an axle, the driveway would be my first choice...

We pulled the axles on the big truck right in front of our house with help of our mechanic neighbor. You should be able to find a roadside mech that can do it for you.
Maybe the county garage has someone wanting to do extra work on Saturday.

Marvin,

Great idea about just fixing it in the driveway.

The tow truck driver showed up this morning and certainly agreed with you after evaluating how get it out of the driveway.
The driver would not be able to pull it out without causing damage to a neighbors yard as the Barth could not turn short enough.

He did crawl under it and confirm the axel on the right side was broken.

He told me to take a close look at it and I should be able to remove it fairly easy. I may or may not attempt this myself.

Hope all had a great memorial week end.

Jim

Inspect your wheel seal and bearings too while you got it apart stay safe

Just an update on reference to my Barth.
I have asked Bill-NY to post some photos I sent and some info.

The axle that broke was not the stub axle, however it was the universal shaft that broke.

I sent pictures to Jim Black, WWW.RVSREPAIR.COM in California. He did an extensive search for a new part, last week he called and advised he found a used one. I am still waiting for it to arrive.

I'll post more later.

Jim

Holy Mackerel!