Chevy 454 Motorhome engine problems

sd455dan · May 27, 2017

Post deleted ,

was thinking this Motor home was old enough to have an HEI, but by 1999 they are completely computer controlled and have individual coil packs, There aren't any Q- Jets involved either this should be a sequentially injected engine...

Listen for the fuel pumps 2 second priming time and then continual run when the engine is running.
If you can't hear it when everything is working, troubleshooting will be tough, without test equipment available when the engine quits.

The fuel pump relay is a cheap thing to try , or at least have a spare...

they can reek havoc with many systems (everything from the fuel pump, horn , auto trans shifting to air conditioner) problems.. ask me how I know:laughing:

at least with Grand Cherokees 3 relays on different systems in 3 months...

zimy · May 28, 2017

We had an ignition module go out in our pickup and it sort of did the same thing. It was fairly inexpensive and is inside the distributor.

REDEYE50 · Oct 15, 2018

Buggs67 said:
This might be off topic but my motor home has a Chevy 454. Twice now we've been running along fine for a couple hours and it just dies.

Plenty of fresh fuel and it cranks over well.

Towed to a shop ($$$$$) each time and then after sitting overnight or a couple days it starts and runs fine. The first shop was Chevy experts and changed the fuel filter and checked the pressure. They couldn't find any problem. We've logged about 400 miles since then and it happened again.
Sounds to me like vapor lock or intermittent fuel pump failure. Any help??

I know many here are very knowledgeable in all things mechanical.

I know this is an older thread but I did some searching and found this forum. I am having the same problem that you had in your motor home. I have posted on IrV2 forum and received some ideas. I have a 1992 Winnebago with a chevy 454 only 16000 miles. When going down the road runs great, after about 1-2 hrs pull off on a exit it dies. Put it nuetral starts right up go a little farther may die again. No power steering and very little brakes! Not Good. Put new fuel pump, fuel filter and ICV . Any ideas? Did You get yours fixed? Thanks

Stimw · Oct 15, 2018

REDEYE50 said:
I know this is an older thread but I did some searching and found this forum. I am having the same problem that you had in your motor home. I have posted on IrV2 forum and received some ideas. I have a 1992 Winnebago with a chevy 454 only 16000 miles. When going down the road runs great, after about 1-2 hrs pull off on a exit it dies. Put it nuetral starts right up go a little farther may die again. No power steering and very little brakes! Not Good. Put new fuel pump, fuel filter and ICV . Any ideas? Did You get yours fixed? Thanks

Could be an emissions problem not venting the fuel tank. ??
Next time it happens take the gas cap loose and listen for a vacuum sound. Then see if it runs again.

REDEYE50 · Oct 16, 2018

still waiting on Buggs67 to respond

REDEYE50 · Oct 16, 2018

tried that no results. Thanks

RPW · Oct 16, 2018

Possible ignition coil failing after it gets hot. If it sputters then dies I'd suppect a fuel issue maybe a collapsed fuel line (rubber). If dies all of a sudden then I would suspect ignition related.

Buggs67 · Oct 16, 2018

REDEYE50 said:
still waiting on Buggs67 to respond

Sorry; off line a few days.

It ended up being the crank position sensor. The connectors were old and partly corroded so it worked for awhile then would quit.

My regular mechanic found the problem/solution after it left me stranded twice.

REDEYE50 · Oct 17, 2018

thanks, never heard of that before. I will talk to my mechanic about that.

REDEYE50 · Oct 18, 2018

Buggs67 said:
Sorry; off line a few days.

It ended up being the crank position sensor. The connectors were old and partly corroded so it worked for awhile then would quit.

My regular mechanic found the problem/solution after it left me stranded twice.

my mechanic says my engine (1992) does not have a crank postion sensor. thanks

Bird · Oct 18, 2018

I don't know how I missed this thread in the past, but we used to live in a 1992 Bounder motorhome with the 454 gas engine. We were on our way from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to the Odessa/Midland area on the Interstate Highway with little traffic when it just died and would not restart. So I unhooked the little car we were towing, when to the nearest town, found an old timer mechanic who suspected a clogged fuel filter, so he went with me, changed the fuel filter, and it started just fine. So we took off, made another few miles and it died again. That time I coasted off the first exit and stopped in a safe place. So we fixed sandwiches for our supper and ate, and then the motorhome started just fine. We made it on to the RV park where we were going to be staying a week or so while I did a gas leakage survey for the local gas company. So while we were there, I decided to change the spark plugs to see if that would help.

And when I got in the wheel well to where I could see that engine, I found a 6 wire wiring harness running just inside the frame rail, which made those wires too close to the exhaust manifold. The insulation on those 6 wires was all melted together.

I went and bought some wire, cut out about 3 feet of all the existing wires, spliced in new wire, and routed away from the exhaust manifold, and never had another problem.

REDEYE50 · Oct 18, 2018

Bird said:
I don't know how I missed this thread in the past, but we used to live in a 1992 Bounder motorhome with the 454 gas engine. We were on our way from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to the Odessa/Midland area on the Interstate Highway with little traffic when it just died and would not restart. So I unhooked the little car we were towing, when to the nearest town, found an old timer mechanic who suspected a clogged fuel filter, so he went with me, changed the fuel filter, and it started just fine. So we took off, made another few miles and it died again. That time I coasted off the first exit and stopped in a safe place. So we fixed sandwiches for our supper and ate, and then the motorhome started just fine. We made it on to the RV park where we were going to be staying a week or so while I did a gas leakage survey for the local gas company. So while we were there, I decided to change the spark plugs to see if that would help.

And when I got in the wheel well to where I could see that engine, I found a 6 wire wiring harness running just inside the frame rail, which made those wires too close to the exhaust manifold. The insulation on those 6 wires was all melted together. I went and bought some wire, cut out about 3 feet of all the existing wires, spliced in new wire, and routed away from the exhaust manifold, and never had another problem.

Thanks I will check

Bird · Oct 18, 2018

I decided to look at some old records and find that episode started on 3/6/94 a dozen of so miles west of Tye, TX on I-20. After replacing the fuel filter, I made 48 miles before it died again. And once we got to Midland/Odessa, I had to do a job that kept us there for awhile, so it was 4/1/94 before I found the problem and fixed it before moving on.

REDEYE50 · Oct 19, 2018

Bird said:
I decided to look at some old records and find that episode started on 3/6/94 a dozen of so miles west of Tye, TX on I-20. After replacing the fuel filter, I made 48 miles before it died again. And once we got to Midland/Odessa, I had to do a job that kept us there for awhile, so it was 4/1/94 before I found the problem and fixed it before moving on.

THANKS

kc5dlo · Oct 20, 2018

If the engine dies and wont immediately restart until it cools down, I would suspect a coil. If always restarts immediately, I would suspect the ignition switch.