I've had a 2007 Coachman Freelander class C RV with E-450 for about 8 months now. We have been on 7 camping trips to the same location this summer, and the engine has sputtered in exactly the same place on 6 of these trips. It's pretty freaky, like the road has bad mojo there.

We have to come down a steep incline for about 2 miles, dropping about 500' vertical at about 6500' elevation. Then we drive for 2 miles on the flat before hitting a big mountain climb up to 7500'. About 30 seconds into the climb, the engine will sputter, and kick out smoke from the tailpipe. The first time I pulled over, and it idled fine. I took off and climbed the hill just fine. Now I just drive through the sputter, and it goes away after a minute.

So what's happening? Is the fuel tank sloshing crud around? I never get a water-in-fuel alarm, although the E450 doesn't have much of a message center. It doesn't happen on other sections of mountain road. This rig has about 38,000 miles, and is bone stock. I put new oil and fuel filters in before the summer. This rig is the same size as my old '82 RV E350 w/ 460, and boy is the 6.0L an improvement!

 

It doesn't do the sputter on any of the other climbs you encounter?

Josh

 

f 450 and F 550 Had fuel tank delamination problems

so if truck starts to cut out at a really steep part in the road might have something to do with that feel pick up tube be getting clogged

 

No, it grunts right up other hills like a champ.

It happens when the tank is full or when it's half full too.

 

How are you on the pedal? Are you nice and steady or are you mashing it like a gasser when it stumbles??


What color smoke are you seeing out of the tailpipe?

 

It's an RV. Much like a Harley, mashing the throttle only makes things louder, not faster.

The downhill before the uphill is the only place where I'll downshift a couple of gears and engine brake significantly. Most of the other hills I can just coast down, maybe tap the brake a little.

I think the smoke is black, but it's just in spurts. Not like its a big cloud.

 

Have you pulled your EGR Valve and cleaned it?

Do you have a SG 2 or any other data monitor hooked up ?

You need to see what the DATA is when this happens

 

on another post in the 6.0L forum. I've been looking at Edge Insights & various Bullydogs, but they don't seem to be geared to the vans, only the trucks. I even called the Edge folks, they said naw, don't put the Insight on your E450. The ScangaugeII looks like it might do what I need, with the exception perhaps of the exhaust gas temp and some cooling system delta T's.

 

A guy I work with has an edge insight. I was having issues with the EX and he hooked his Insight up to the Ex. It is a lot nicer looking then the SG 2 and has a few features that the SG 2 does not. The main one was the EGT monitoring.

The down side to the Insight is cost. If you shop around on Amazon and fleabay you might find a deal.

As far as the EGT probes you need to research the various types of probes. My cow worker wired his up a way i never saw before. But then again I have only seen 2 trucks with EGT monitoring.

The Delta T's are just the spread between the EOT and ECT.

 

I wouldn't run a tune on an RV.

DashBoss would be a good monitoring tool as you can record as you drive and log what is going on and really get into detail T what was causing the sputtering.

Josh

 

I have no intention of running a tune on this. I've got so many other things that can go wrong on this rig (generator, furnace, water pump, holding tanks, etc) that I try to keep it simple. Quite happy with the amount of grunt; the mileage I'm getting (~10 mpg) is a pleasant surprise too.

 

This is true and you should check fuel pressure and put the Blue spring in to make sure.

 

got a metal fuel tank in it?

 

One odd question.
Did that rig have an OBD2 port or the other type?
When you go to ScanGauge - Trip Computer + Digitial Gauges + ScanTools
There is mention about this
ScanGaugeD works with J1939 & J1708 Protocol
Perfect for Diesel pusher RV’s and over the road, long-haul trucks.
and that could be a problem and is why I asked the question.

All that said it would be good to see some live data when it sputtering.
It would also be a good idea to have a look inside the tank.

Sean

 

It's got an OBDII port. I plugged in my old reader when I was test driving it before purchase and didn't get any codes.

Not sure what the tank material of construction is. I do know that it takes forever to top it off due to foam (don't want to bayonet it).