1987 Mh died
 

Sage advice, thanks Russ

Bingo, like is said earlier diagnosis

As many have noted, there may be numerous possibilities. Couple things to consider:
1. backfire is generally caused by unburned fuel in the hot exhaust, thus my first thought it is not lack of fuel.
2. Fuel problems would show up going there and coming back, use starting fluid in the intake to completely rule this out by spraying when loosing power. Do not do this if you have no experience, very bad things can happen
3. Put a spark tester on a spark wire, if no spark when cranking, that may be your problem.

Former Motorhome Owner
 

We owned a 1987 345 Motorhome for a few years. Finally, after spending way too much money and never deriving much pleasure, we sold it. We now own a 2019 Airstream Flying Cloud 27FB. At least I don't have to worry about an underpowered engine in my trailer.

So the $100,000 trailer solved your "spending way too much money" problem? :lol:

You forgot the 60k Diesel to tow the $100 000 Trailer;)
Don't you love it when people jump in with comments like that.

LMAO ! Well said!

Not sure I understand the reason for your post? Maybe you just need to learn to be a better mechanic.

“Oh, the farmer and the rancher should be friends...”
Be nice, jtblakley has a point which may be the best solution for OP in the long run. He did pay his dues in the moho world.
And, we are all Airstreamers here...

Yes we are all Airstreamers here but if I understand you correctly you're saying it's ok for trailer folk to talk down to moho owners but not the other way around. I find that rather interesting especially considering which side of the fence you're on.

The better option would have been jtblakley hadn't commented at all. There was no need for his comment anymore than there was need for your comment.

Wow, Mr Bkahler, 8240 Posts since you joined in Jan 2003. You are a truly valuable member of the Airstream Forum. I know of many, including myself, you have helped out over the years with your sage advice and experience.
You are what I call a true asset to this community!!
Thanks!

Thank you all for the sarcastic responses. My point was that sometimes it is better to move on and cut your losses. The Airstream 454 Chevy gasoline engines were underpowered and expensive to maintain. And those rv’s were never that reliable even 30 years ago. Once you fix one thing it just leads to another. As to what my new trailer cost, I guess I got a much better deal than any of you. Now I have a reasonable amount of reliability and can go wherever I want without fear of breaking down or not being able to climb a hill.

And the reason for your post is....?

Well, I know I could never surpass the contributions by Brad, but Mike is at 246,183 views and I'm at 238,588 views, so I think I need to post some more to see if I can catch up! LOL. (for those with no sense of humor, I'm just doing a little teasing here).



I have to say that I truly admire many here on this forum for their advice, contributions and awesome work they have done on their Airstream motor homes. These include, Tony, Mike, Peter, Brad, Steve, and many others. I'm sure I'm forgetting some names, but bear with me, I'm sitting in the MH at the ranch and it's 12:17am and I'm a bottle of wine in.



My mom and dad started with a small Mallard trailer, then two Airstream trailers and finally the Airstream 280 motor home. They were members of a local Airstream club, in Eugene OR. They had mentioned many, many times that they were treated as the black sheep in the family because they had an Airstream motor home instead of a trailer. They ignored the bullshit and had themselves a lot of fun with the club. This fun was due to some of the wonderful friends they had in the club that actually had Airstream trailers.



Those of us that own Airstream motor homes do so for many reasons, which usually have nothing to do with the financial burden that we shoulder to keep these awesome classics alive!

It's an unfortunate side consequence of the internet generation.....

Everyone has a view point (trailer guys have trailers because in their view trailers are better, motorhome guys have motorhomes because in their view motorhomes are better - go figure!), but in too many cases, that doesn't stop either side feeling the need to reconfirm their own belief's on others.

There used to be a saying that went "if you can't say something constructive, don't say anything at all".....I wish this was a requirement for all internet forum!

I am not certain, if your reply is in reference to my post about bkahler's valuable contributions to this great forum over the last 17 years.

Just in case it is, let me explain something to you: Respect and reputation is earned by contribution and by helping others. You have made 6 posts since you joined in 2017, 1 was helpful, 2 were for sale advertisements (free to you) and 3 had absolutely no value to most of us and were borderline offensive.

Now, if you have something of value and substance to add to the conversation, please do so!

Interesting solutions and experiences provided by many knowledgeable folks...here is my 2 cents:

Experienced similar issues and systematically replaced fuel and ignition components from least costly to higher priced components. I was fortunate as many of the parts looked to be original and I planned to replace anyway. An added bonus the PO had many of the items in the “fly-away” kit.

Replaced the first component and test drive the component until repeat of failure, then moved on to the next item.

* In line fuel filter (from fly away kit)

* Fuel Filter in carb (fly away kit)

* Wrapped Fuel line from manual fuel pump (fly away kit)

* Electric fuel pump at tank (fly away kit)

* spark plugs (from kit)

* spark plug wires (from kit)

* rotor and button (from kit)

* ignition coil (from kit)

Several months of component replacement and test drives until failure repeat...then finally

* ignition module (from kit)

Bingo! Ignition Module test driving with no repeat of failure!

I guess I'm not really surprised by this. When I was first starting up the 454 for my Argosy on the test stand it had a weird hesitation around 1800 rpm or so. Since it's a TBI system I was able graph the response and after replacing various components I replaced the brand new ignition module inside the distributor and the problem went away.

Unfortunately even new parts can be bad :(

Brad

I don't own one of these fine motorhomes, but it's amazing what dead, or near dead batteries can do to engine operation.

Your original post comments on electrical, continuity, etc.

I've read all posts thus far, and if it were me, I'd start with three new batteries, then the coil, then the fuel pump.

My opinion only.

Sounds familiar
 

I have a 79 Excella and continue to experience something similar when the motor overheats and creates a fuel lock. This happens most frequently after a long stretch up-hill, use of A/C or after stopping long enough for the motor to "heat-soak". Thermometer never indicates a problem. Symptoms are loss of power, gagging, back-firing. Won't start after stopping until engine has cooled down. Still working on solutions.