quote:

Originally posted by Duane88:
Thanks for info Steve. Did get it to the shop and they are g0ing to give the ole college try. Take the muriatic acid back to the home depot if they will let me return it!!

Did not get a completion date or cost but waiting on parts anyway.

Now you sound like your on the right track! Fuel is the lifeblood to make you go. Get it right

Not able to work on the ******* fuel tank, decided to take those ******* AIR pumps off. Bad decision!

Four hours later, I was able to remove 2 (yes two) bolts! Chevrolet should be ashamed of this design getting at the bolts, cut and bruised both of my arms. They were also very corroded and the location made it difficult to get any leverage. Still have to remove some of the brackets, and 1 ( yes one) pump will hit the bin. It was not connected to a belt and froze-up. The second pump should be about half the problem this one was. It is connected and has been pumping into space, no connections to the manifold it has plugs. EGR is long gone too! When it is in the bin will need to resize the serpentine belt.

No word from the Radiator shop on the tank, give them another day or so, then will call and check. No hurry, still waiting on parts being shipped.

Might rain tomorrow perhaps get another day off!

Rain today, thought I would look at the engine through the doghouse and keep dry. The vacuum hoses are really a mess, must be 5 breaks in the lines open to atmosphere. Just wiped it all away going to replumb like it did not have a vacuum canister, or AIR pumps. Do not think there was any vacuum to the heater box or the transmission, the fitting is completely broken.

Still do not comprehend what on earth someone was doing with the alternator wiring, for a one wire alternator there are like 7 wires going to it. Even the two wires going to the dash volt meter and battery have extra stuff.

No word from the tank cleaner yet, no new parts either.

Oh well it is a rain day!!!

So another day in 88-land!! Called the radiator shop, they say pick it up tomorrow, no price yet, guess they want to surprise me.

The sending unit arrived and with a bit of revision it will defiantly work out. It was suppose to come with a new locking flange and seal, the seal was missing. Called the company, they said return it and order another one. Guess could have just ordered one and returned the other, but did not want to wait for it to be shipped, had already started modifications on this one. Found a seal at Oreilly's, 10 bucks, oh well worth the time. Take it to a welder tomorrow have an extension put on one tube and hopefully a bend straightened on another.

Was under the coach looking for a place to mount the fuel filter and tie in the replacement rubber fuel lines. Believe I have a plan. While under there noticed the passenger side muffler exit stem is rusted through, loose. The only muffler game in town is Midas, they will want a fortune and to replace the system, oh well!

Saw that one of the rear shocks was damaged, pretty sure it is not functionable, was thinking about changing them anyway.

Does anyone have any extra money? Got the bill from the tank cleaner, think they coated it in gold! It does look like new inside, he wanted to paint the exterior, but did not want to wait on that, like to install it this weekend.

Also got all my parts, already complained about the missing part from the sending unit, now the filter housing is a bit out of line not 100% happy with it might make future filter replacement difficult, can not make up my mind if it should be returned, again it would set my time line back more than a week. What's going on with online vendors, can not remember ever having a problem and now two in row!!

Fabricating a mounting bracket for the filter and electric pump. Need to put the fuel sending unit in the tank, wire it up and install the tank, go for a test ride!! Might go over 60 mph!!! Well if there is any money left to put fresh gasoline it the tank!!

Just think of this. From now on, all you ever do is: fill the tank, start the engine and drive. Repeat.

Now and then change the big filter. Fill the tank, start the engine, drive...

What do you mean, vapor lock? Fuel starvation? tank sock plugged? carb filter plugged? What's that?

Fill the tank, start the engine, drive... repeat.

I believe you have invested in a great deal of long term satisfaction and reliable service. If you want the job done right...

Enjoy using your project for a long time!

quote:

Got the bill from the tank cleaner, think they coated it in gold! It does look like new inside

An Investment in your sanity and health. The aggravation would have worn you down over time. Well it would have worn me down!!! Looking forward to your road report when you get everything running.

Because you're doing things the right way, that Barth will outlast you. And while you have it, peace of mind is priceless.

Jim

Another 88 Saturday! Did get the fuel pump and filter mounted, and plumbed to the mechanical fuel pump. The sending unit is installed in the tank, checked the level control works fine just need to fill it up with gas to find if it is accurate. The recirculating line and fuel to the generator need to be hooked up. Then the fill tube and vent. raise the tank, 4 nuts and 4 bolts later tank is in place!

Still a bit concerned about the circuit that feeds the fuel pump, the in-tank pump was kaput, so do not know if it was getting fed power and if the prime circuit is functionable. Need oil pressure to make a check.

Raise the tank tomorrow. If the second AIR pump does not take a long time to remove, might get in a test drive..

Thanks for the support, and you are correct, ole Nose still plugs up filters pretty rapidly, this one should go for quite awhile before it needs new filters.

Thought this would be an easy day, what a fool!

Did get the all the fuel lines hooked up and the electrical to fuel tank wired. Decided it would be a good idea to see what the dash had to say about this new stuff, before raising the tank and losing access. Fuel tank level said empty and even has a flashing fuel pump symbol. Checked for power to the new fuel pump, none!!! Do not have a wiring diagram for an 88 model, checked the the one here for a 86, it does not seem to run through an oil pressure sensor, but thought maybe this one did. Cranked the starter and got a reading on the dash oil pressure sensor, but still no power to the pump.

Started chasing the wires, followed them to the front drivers side, surprise, surprise the colored wires were spliced to an entire package of only blue wires!! A pack of 6 wires. The one to the fuel level control seems to be right. If the wire to the pump proves to be to difficult to track down, will probably just wire in a prime button circuit, put in a oil pressure sensor and wire all back to the point the wires change to blue. Leave the level sensor as is.

It is understandable not having a bunch of colored wire available to make repairs, but to make it impossible to trouble shoot, is really not sound thinking.

This is really a strange coach, the things like A/C, Fridge seem ok but whoever modified the wiring and there is lots of it, did some weird stuff!

Still have to check out the furnace, fresh water system, and water heater. Wonder what cuteness they have in store for me.

In a post about a Melted Connection a fuse box is shown, can anyone tell me where that is located, all I seem to find in this coach is a simple 7 wire glass fuse box.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane88:
Thought this would be an easy day, what a fool!
In a post about a Melted Connection a fuse box is shown, can anyone tell me where that is located, all I seem to find in this coach is a simple 7 wire glass fuse box.

On my Regal the fuse block was located on the firewall in front by the steering column.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane88:
Started chasing the wires, followed them to the front drivers side, surprise, surprise the colored wires were spliced to an entire package of only blue wires!! ok but whoever modified the wiring and there is lots of it, did some weird stuff!

Still have to check out the furnace, fresh water system, and water heater. Wonder what cuteness they have in store for me.

Modifier was only able to steal one coil of wire.

quote:

Started chasing the wires,

Duane, it sounds like there is a good chance that a prior service provider on this rig failed to understand the principle of operation of the electric pump circuit. Not only is it intended to power the pump, it is intended to remove power from the pump after a certain amount of time. This involves a relay that is mounted near the front of the engine. I think there is a branch to the circuit so that as long as the oil pressure is present, that the electric pump also gets power. The idea is that you don't want power to the pump if the engine is off, but the key is still in the "run" position. It could be a fire hazard, or drain the battery, or flood the engine if the carburetor had issues.

Check your P30 Chassis Manual, page 7-102 and that area.

You will nail this!
Matt

Did not spend a lot of time on the 88 today, but did do a thorough search for that fuel pump relay. It is not on the drivers side firewall or in front of the fire wall. The blue wire guy used those blue wires for about 2 foot then spliced back into the existing colored wires. So traced the brown/white wire that is supposed to be the fuel pump power source, it goes up into the abyss that is behind the dash board from in front of the firewall. I wonder if the area of blue wire was once the location of the fuel relay, from the manual it is about that area.

Matt, Jim or Tere, and Steve along with various others have been through this, any advice??

Pretty sure if there is a relay it is behind the dash, Just do not know what the blue wire guy has done, maybe a tomorrow job!!!

quote:

any advice??

what you are facing is the remnants of work from someone who either did not know the situation, or was hurried and had to "make due" in an urgent situation.

Was the AIR injection system removed from the 88? You see on that diagram that an AIR module is there, next to the fuel pump control relay. Maybe the person who took out the the AIR system also took out the relay for fuel. And then when the rig didn't start, took a set of actions to wire the fuel pump to some other circuit.

Are all the fuses in place? See any "cut" harness connections in the area of the relays? When did this fuel pump run last? Tracing the wires is tough with how the Barth was built upon the P30 chassis.

My wiring investigation today is simple in comparison. The light blue wire for the electric choke is spliced to a brown alternator wire. Why? I don't know. On the other side of the engine, a light blue wire from the wire harness is spliced to a red wire going to a temperature sensor in the cylinder head. Fascinating, evaluating work done by others many years ago!

Matt