1982 Fleetwood Jamboree. 460/c6

Hey to all my fellow Explorers!
Well i just purchased my first RV today and it has a few issues and i thought that just maybe some of the fellow Explorer brothers might have some insite or answers to my Newbie MotorHome questions??
Like i said this is the first motorhome that i have ever owned, and unfortunatly ive never known anyone else that has owned one to help me out, so i figured what better place to get some good-ol advice than from the best forums in the world right here.
It is a 1982 Class C 32' Fleetwood Jamboree, with a 460/c6. On first glance it was stunning how good the condition was for this RV for being an 82. But upon further examination I have found some pretty serious flaws, some possibly dangerous ones as well.
The first problem that i noticed was that the Heater in the cab/dash does not come on/blow, just nothing. So i thought ok, it's probably a bad relay switch or somthing?
So i took the dash all apart and its the strangest heater ive ever seen. Right inside the dash, just behind the vents is some sort of radiator for dispersing the heat. There is two fan type blower motors connected directly on the back on either side of this radiator type unit thing, and two hoses that seem to run out the back of it and into the engine bay. .
Ive never seen anything like this before so i thought that just maybe someone reading this might have a clue, and or have previous experience with older Ford Class C motorhomes. The wireing terminal that connects to the heater on/off relay switch has power to it, but when i move the switch up to turn it on nothing happens?? I need to get this fixxed soon because i would like to be able to use the RV to do some camping this winter and i wont be able to defrost my windshield while driving.
Also, and this might sound silly to a seasoned RV'R person like the guy that i purchased the RV from, but jesus christ as my witness those brakes on there just dont feel right to me...... Im 35 years old, and have owned more than 20 vehicles in my life time rangeing from a 1967 Galaxie 500, 68 mustang fastback, 69 mustang fastback, 77 Ford truck, 79 Ford truck, all the way to a modern vehicle and never have a felt this (un-safe) (dangerous even) in the stopping capabilitys of a vehicle. The guy i bought it from said that all motorhomes , because of theyre size and weight dont stop on a dime like a normal vehicle and he kinda laughed at my panic as i came to a stop at the fist stop sign while on the testdrive.
I had the brake pedal mashed to the floor and still that thing was taking its time coming to a complete stop!!
When i complained more about the issue as the drive progressed, with further stop and go, he finaly told me that he had just had the brakes looked at by a mechanic right before he took it on a 2800 mile trip to Arizona, and that suposedly the mechanic replaced the rear brake shoes and did a new brake kit on the rear, and that the mechanic had told him that the front brakes looked fine. It's my guess that this guy or the mechanic is lying, but i cannot be for sure as the RV world is completely foriegn to me and for all i know, (much like the strange heater) the brakes too may be strange and that is just how they stop???
The previous owner said that he also took it to an RV mechanic and told the mechanic that he was going on a trip to Arizona and that he wanted the guy to do a complete phyisical examination of the RV and fix anything that he seen needed in order to get it prepped for his trip. He said that the RV guy took two weeks, and that he finaly got the call to go pick it up and they had a hefty $2000 dollar mechanics bill waiting on him. This was just October of this year by the way. Anyways, the mechanic ended up repairing a cracked exhaust manifold, put a new exhuast on from the manifold back, put 6 brand new tires on it/plus a brand new spare tire on the back-mount, plus he supposedly did a complete check of the engine and all the various systems throught the motorhome and gave everything the OK...
Well after i got the RV to my house (NOV 27th 2010), I started to wonder tear into it doing a more thurough exam only to find that mice has chewed thru several of the vac lines and also thru some wires. They made a nest in the air cleaner and there was even a dead one still in there. This made since now because i had noticed that the 460 engine seemed to be starving for air while under load on the interstate going up hill, pedal mashed to the floor and still only managed 55mph, strong odor of unburnt fuel comming from the exhaust, i knew somthing was cloggin the air supply. Also noticed a puncture in the radiator hose that was caused by a nearby "mystery part" that someone had taken the two bolts off of and not tightened them back down which it had worked its was loose and was missing a bolt and the vibration caused it to rub a hole in the radiator hose right next to it. Im not sure either on what this "mystery Part" does?? It sits on top of somthing that ive never seen before that is belt driven, and this sits just above the belt driven alternator. The "mystery part" has a vaccume hose that then leads directly into the intake manifold. Its a larger hose too, so im not sure, but all these vaccume leaks, clogged aircleaner, chewed wires, crappy brakes, no heater have got me pretty pissed off. Well that and all these unusual strange parts that ive never seen before too. Both of my other old Ford trucks have 460's in them too and ive worked on them just fine, but i dont know what in the hell all these tubes,wires,strange looking do-hickys are on this motor, not to mention the other basics of the RV that im trying to learn. Whats up with that strange heater? I took the realy switch off and im gonna tak it into autozone to see if they have it. Whats up with the brakes? Im gonna try and bleed them today to see if thats the deal?? Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Spdrcer34]

Pictures....

We need pictures....

My family and I have owned a few motorhomes, all Ford Chassis Class C's....our last one was a `94 Class C with an EFI 460....

Post up some pics, and we can help..

Ryan

 

[pony4896]

82 motorhome

I will try to post some pic's on here. Might take a little time as i have never posted pics before. And thank you so much for the reply. I wasnt sure how well the question of a motorhome would be recieved on an Explorer site.

 

[ExcelDominus]

I can help you some. My family owns a campground (which i live on). Before you take that thing out to go camping at all, either: Find a nearby RV dealer with a repair shop, A traveling rv repair person, or an electrician and have the electrical looked at. You could have bought your own death coffin if the electrical is shoddy/in bad condition. Next thing, get underneath and find all of your propane hoses and tank. Odds are since it is 28 years old the propane tank is almost rusted out or to the point that the pressure control valve(if equipped) has gone bad. While inspecting everything go through and check the water lines are clean and clear. Last thing you want is to find out he left the treatment in the pipes for winterization and never flushed it out. While the camper shouldn't, "stop on a dime" it shouldn't be to much different than a box truck or moving van. It will take you longer since it is heavier but it shouldn't feel like your fixing to be in the back seat of the car in front of you. PM me if you have more questions, I've got to back to work but I'll be more than happy to respond.

 

[zukman]

Does the large vaccum line go intothe back of the intake?? might be the vaccum boost lie for the BRAKES!

 

[TedJ]

:ttiwwp:

That said, I've never worked on RV's before either :but I will make a few comments anyways because its really just a bunch of car/truck/bus parts with some oddities added for your fun and pleasure.

In general, storage is hell for vehicles. Mice eat the wires, brakes rust, tires turn into rubber chips with metal in them, gas turns to something akin to varsol, things that should be kept rust free via constant use rust (like engine pullies) and on and on.

Now what vehicle is stored more and then used in a high-reliability fashion than a motorhome? I didn't think so.


So as to your problems:

The heater: It might be strange, but it's damn simple and easy. Its just those blowers attached to a heater core. Coolant goes through the heater core (if it doesn't get hot look for a manual valve to turn it on somewhere inline with the hoses to it) and then the fan blows the air through, making it warm. There is probably some flapus which can change from vents to defrost actuated by a mechanical cable.

Since you have +12 at the switch, work from the switch to the blower. If it is single speed only then there is probably only a relay (or just a really heavy duty switch in the dash). If there is two speeds it might run in a one blower or two blowers configuration to give you low/high. Either way with a test light or meter you should be able to trace the wires. Since there are two motors and neither works I'd suspect the wiring first since I'd think the chances of both motors failing/seizing at the same time are quite small. You can always attach +12 to the motor and see if it runs to rule it out. If there is only one terminal on the motor, its +12 and the ground path is through the metal of the casing.

The Brakes:
I don't believe the guy. Why would he only tell you later he had the brakes fixed and not upfront as a selling feature? Where's the receipt? Or ask what shop he took it to and go there and ask if they worked on it...

That said, if "mashed to the floor" means the pedal is actually at the floor, you have a problem. Maybe a rusted out brake line or something. The pedal should go down and stop at a certain point if you keep your foot pressure constant. If it sinks down to the floor you have some type of brake leakage.

If you mean you are pressing on it like a madman and its just hard and the brakes are not working well, compare the pedal feel with engine off to engine running. If there is not much difference you probably have no/little vacuum boost on the brakes which will obviously make it hard to stop. Those chewed hoses could very likely have something to do with this. Even if the big hose to the booster is intact a bunch of small leaks from the other hoses can compromise the engine's ability to build sufficient vacuum (as well as make it run like crap)

Hopefully there is a legible vacuum hose routing diagram somewhere you can use to check every hose. On older vehicles like this often the vac hoses are all turning to dust and some of them might even be connected improperly as a result of the last guy who worked on it. For vehicles of the 70s and 80s I keep a few rolls of vac hose around and as soon as I find a few suspect hoses I'll just change out all of them. You find a lot of problems this way and all the little leaks from the hoses being dried out adds up. Just do one at a time and check with the diagram to ensure it's actually going to the right place.

Also, if the brakes have gotten all rusty from sitting they tend to feel quite bad as well. Just a few months of sitting can make them very rusty depending on where it was parked. Driving it will help wear off the rust and they will work better, but if they are really bad they should probably be cut to remove the rust and pitting.

Tires:
There is a way to read the date codes off a tire and tell when it was made. Obviously if they are new then the date code should be reasonably recent. There is some info at the following link on how to read the codes:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11


Basically, if you don't feel that the brakes (or anything else) are safe have someone check them before you keep driving it. Having the rest checked is probably not a bad idea either as others have suggested. You don't want to have a fire or no brakes or similar.

Compared to the computerized and modularized components and electronics of modern vehicles it's usually pretty easy to see what the purpose of things on any of these older vehicles are. As long as there is not much rust and the body is in good shape you should be able to fix the issues it has and get an enjoyable vehicle out of it.