Fuel system

[Michael A. Glenn]

Hello everyone ! As Im in this thing longer , more and more issues are starting to unfold. Its been running awesome and Ive driven it across town several times so far with no issues.I went to leave Friday and it kept stalling on me and acting like the battery was dead ( would barely crank then catch briefly) My 1st thought was the starter since the battery was supposed to be new. I crawled up under and went to remove the starter after letting it cool for an hour. I was so hot it burned my hand through the gloves I was wearing ! After removing it I saw a major issue, someone had installed it with the wires crammed in between the starter and the exhaust pipe. The wires (or whats left of them) were burned, melted and open. The fuseable links were melted globs and Im really surprised it worked at all. I popped open the hood and found that the wing nuts were loose as all get out and burned my finger when I touched them. It had melted the lead from the wingnut exposing the bolt thats normally in the lead. I got a new starter, water proof inline fuses the correct gauge wire and cut /replaced what had been sandwiched in between starter and exhaust pipe. I added a foot more wire and re-routed the wires zip tying them away from the exhaust,looks pretty good and I added 20 amp fuses as well.For the battery, I took it to local car parts store, had it tested and its still good (surprisingly) bought a marine battery clamp with the wing nut on it and reinstalled the battery, fired right up ! But died a few minutes later. So I went to the fuel system and found the electric helper pump as well as the filter, filter was clogged pretty good so I bought a new one and will put it in tomorrow (its 1:30 A.M). I was curious and while it was at idle I removed the gas cap and it stopped chugging and ran just fine, when I put the cap back on it stuttered and died again. Do I have more than just a filter issue?? Again this is a 85 Pace Arrow with the 454 in it.

[Rich Thomas]

My guess (and it is exactly that) it is old school and the vent is plugged in the cap or your fuel pump is to week to pull the fuel with the cap on even with an open vent hole in the cap. Un-related but sorta the same my old Gravely Tractor was doing the same thing and it was several things but I cleaned the vent and it started right up and ran good until the next gremlin showed up. The last thing I found was the negative lead had corroded inside the jacket to the point it disintegrated into a brown powder when I went to remove the connection all I had was a hollow plastic tube the last 2 inches of the battery cable so maybe you could take a close look at your power supply and make sure all your battery connections are tight and clean. good luck with it.

[Michael A. Glenn]

THanks Rich, I just went through the batteries and all connections are 100%. The thing will start when fuel is in the bowl, but dies when it empties.I had a 70 Camaro do what yours did with the battery cable and it just died and wouldnt restart. Im getting ready to remove the helper fuel pump and bypass it until I can find a adequate replacement and wont be traveling too much so it doesnt put too much strain on the mechanical pump. After replacing the fuel filter it has the issue with or with out the fuel cap being on.

[Richard W. Cobbs]

Could it be possible that your fuel pumps are creating so much suction that they are collapsing a deteriorated fuel line?

[Michael A. Glenn]

Ive gone under the entire coach and the only place there is rubber hose is coming out of the tank, and between the filter and the electric pump, both at the rear of the vehicle, the rest is all what looks like aluminium lines the rest of the way, I too thought this hence the reason I looked. I will say that the there is a section of the vent hose thats dry rotted ( 5 inches) that will need replaced. At this time Im unsure of what model or make of a new electric pump to use as I have only found marine pumps that look like the one I have and I have no clue as to GPH or PSI, any help would be awesome. 

[Richard W. Cobbs]

Years ago, I bought a truck for less than 1'2 what it was worth because nobody could figure out what was wrong with it.  It would run for awhile and then stop.  I dropped the fuel tank and found that someone had not cut the fuel line to fit (there was around two extra feet of line sitting on top of the tank). Depending on conditions, the line would crimp and not allow fuel to flow.  New line, cut to fit solved the problem. Before shelling out for another pump, make sure that it is needed.