Hey everyone!
Like the headline says, my little bus is doing a weird thing at idle, but not all the time. Most of the time it starts up great if it the block heater's been plugged in, but if starting completely cold it will sort of chug (which is what I think people describe as surging) and / or throw out white smoke. It stalled twice, but I'm unclear if both times were the same issue or if that was an isolated thing. I'm in New England so cold actually means cold. It's a 91, I don't seem to be able to edit the headline to add that.
The day it stalled - and this doesn't seem like it could be related, but I'm putting it out there because it happened - I clipped the edge of a fairly large snowbank. It was only snow, nothing got damaged, but almost immediately it began to run rough and then stalled. I got it started right up again, then parked and did some business. When I came out, it started ok, but a few miles later stalled at a stop light. I was able to get it started again fairly quickly and I have to say the behavior seemed like something very familiar, that is, how it behaves with water in the fuel (something I saw a lot when I was having fuel pump problems). No more issues came up in a 45 minute drive, and then all was well for several days.
The next incident was that the engine sound changed - again, I guess you would call it surging - at a traffic light. Once I was moving again it seemed ok, though slightly noisier than normal, maybe - thought that could have been paranoia because it's always pretty damn loud.
That night, after it was parked for a few hours in serious cold, it started up ok but then started surging for maybe 30 seconds. The behavior eventually stopped and I had no issues driving home.
The other thing I have been observing is a loss of fuel economy, to the tune of about a mile per gallon, over the past month or so, and I often have to press the pedal to the floor to get 55 mph out of it. I initially attributed this to the fact that my throttle cable has never been the same since it was replaced, but even though it has required more pressure since then, that change (initially at least) IMPROVED my fuel economy - probably because I wasn't able to drive as fast I guess.
I don't know anything about anything but from what I have been googling, I'm thinking an injector issue? Does that sound likely? What else does it sound like? Do you typically replace ALL the injectors at once or if one is bad, do you just do that one?
I am not comfortable messing around with this myself, and the only mechanic I can find who can work on it where I won't have a three week wait (I live in this bus, which is converted to an RV, so being without it is problematic) is telling me he can't find anything wrong, that it hasn't misbehaved for him. He says he doesn't have any computer for a vehicle this old so he can only diagnose it if it happens while in his care. That doesn't sound right to me - isn't there some way to test injectors directly? This guy has done good work for me before but he generally needs to be pointed toward something and is not exactly a great detective for finding the problem. No one near me is experienced with these old vehicles (no one trustworthy, anyway - plenty of people who see a woman with a diesel truck coming and jack the price up or even charge for work they don't actually do). Well, there are a few places, but they're booking very far out and can pick and choose what they work on. I don't think a 1991 short bus is anyone's first choice.
What I am looking for is something to point the mechanic toward. I know it seems dumb to have to do that, but it's what I have.
There's no chance this could just be some kind of simple cold weather behavior, is there?
Sorry for writing a novel about this! I just want to give you everything I know. The big problem is I am scheduled to embark on a 3000 mile drive next week; I have to be in Arizona by the 18th (I am presenting a seminar) and want to leave as soon as possible so as to minimize the amount of miles I have to drive per day. But at the same time I don't want a breakdown halfway across the country. And yes, I have to drive, because the seminar pertains to my conversion.
I know someone is probably going to point out that driving a 30 year old truck cross country isn't that smart but again, it's what I have.
Like the headline says, my little bus is doing a weird thing at idle, but not all the time. Most of the time it starts up great if it the block heater's been plugged in, but if starting completely cold it will sort of chug (which is what I think people describe as surging) and / or throw out white smoke. It stalled twice, but I'm unclear if both times were the same issue or if that was an isolated thing. I'm in New England so cold actually means cold. It's a 91, I don't seem to be able to edit the headline to add that.
The day it stalled - and this doesn't seem like it could be related, but I'm putting it out there because it happened - I clipped the edge of a fairly large snowbank. It was only snow, nothing got damaged, but almost immediately it began to run rough and then stalled. I got it started right up again, then parked and did some business. When I came out, it started ok, but a few miles later stalled at a stop light. I was able to get it started again fairly quickly and I have to say the behavior seemed like something very familiar, that is, how it behaves with water in the fuel (something I saw a lot when I was having fuel pump problems). No more issues came up in a 45 minute drive, and then all was well for several days.
The next incident was that the engine sound changed - again, I guess you would call it surging - at a traffic light. Once I was moving again it seemed ok, though slightly noisier than normal, maybe - thought that could have been paranoia because it's always pretty damn loud.
That night, after it was parked for a few hours in serious cold, it started up ok but then started surging for maybe 30 seconds. The behavior eventually stopped and I had no issues driving home.
The other thing I have been observing is a loss of fuel economy, to the tune of about a mile per gallon, over the past month or so, and I often have to press the pedal to the floor to get 55 mph out of it. I initially attributed this to the fact that my throttle cable has never been the same since it was replaced, but even though it has required more pressure since then, that change (initially at least) IMPROVED my fuel economy - probably because I wasn't able to drive as fast I guess.
I don't know anything about anything but from what I have been googling, I'm thinking an injector issue? Does that sound likely? What else does it sound like? Do you typically replace ALL the injectors at once or if one is bad, do you just do that one?
I am not comfortable messing around with this myself, and the only mechanic I can find who can work on it where I won't have a three week wait (I live in this bus, which is converted to an RV, so being without it is problematic) is telling me he can't find anything wrong, that it hasn't misbehaved for him. He says he doesn't have any computer for a vehicle this old so he can only diagnose it if it happens while in his care. That doesn't sound right to me - isn't there some way to test injectors directly? This guy has done good work for me before but he generally needs to be pointed toward something and is not exactly a great detective for finding the problem. No one near me is experienced with these old vehicles (no one trustworthy, anyway - plenty of people who see a woman with a diesel truck coming and jack the price up or even charge for work they don't actually do). Well, there are a few places, but they're booking very far out and can pick and choose what they work on. I don't think a 1991 short bus is anyone's first choice.
What I am looking for is something to point the mechanic toward. I know it seems dumb to have to do that, but it's what I have.
There's no chance this could just be some kind of simple cold weather behavior, is there?
Sorry for writing a novel about this! I just want to give you everything I know. The big problem is I am scheduled to embark on a 3000 mile drive next week; I have to be in Arizona by the 18th (I am presenting a seminar) and want to leave as soon as possible so as to minimize the amount of miles I have to drive per day. But at the same time I don't want a breakdown halfway across the country. And yes, I have to drive, because the seminar pertains to my conversion.
I know someone is probably going to point out that driving a 30 year old truck cross country isn't that smart but again, it's what I have.