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HutchBus78
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Joined: September 19, 2021
Posts: 18
Location: Toronto
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 Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 4:41 pm Post subject: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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‘78 CEII, 2.0FI. Started up after winter storage. Gasoline smell, rough running, no power, lots of ticking and popping when pressing on the accelerator. Noise goes away immediately when I take my foot off. Vehicle drove for about 5 min then sputtered to a stop. Will now turn over but won’t run. Put it away in January and it was running perfect. Full tank of gas and stabilizer. Where should I start looking?? TIA!
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airschooled
Air-Schooled
Joined: April 04, 2012
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Location: West Coast, USA
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 4:44 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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Howdy. Can you post a top-down picture of the engine?
If I had to take a wild-ass guess, I would say the hydraulic lifters were clattering, causing a backfire that blew an air hose off. Now the engine won't run with the hose cracked/blown off.
Robbie
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HutchBus78
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Joined: September 19, 2021
Posts: 18
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 5:29 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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Away from the bus at the moment. Speaking of lifters, they do seem louder than when I put the bus away for the winter. I’ll take a good look at all the hoses tomorrow and report
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'78 Champagne Ed |
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SGKent 
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Joined: October 30, 2007
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Location: at the beach
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 5:33 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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gasoline smell might be bad gas. Normally it doesn't go bad that fast but it can. If it has ethanol in it, that can pull moisture out of the air. I've seen some small engine youtubes where the stabilizer turned to like a gel over winter and plugged every thing up. Look for mouse damage / nesting too.
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HutchBus78
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Joined: September 19, 2021
Posts: 18
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 5:45 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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Away from the bus at the moment. Speaking of lifters, they do seem louder than when I put the bus away for the winter. I’ll take a good look at all the hoses tomorrow and report
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'78 Champagne Ed |
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HutchBus78
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Joined: September 19, 2021
Posts: 18
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 6:00 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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I was thinking maybe bad gas too. If that’s the case, where the heck do I start cleaning it all out..
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timvw7476
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Joined: June 03, 2013
Posts: 2479
Location: seattle
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 6:22 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| HutchBus78 wrote: |
| I was thinking maybe bad gas too. If that’s the case, where the heck do I start cleaning it all out.. |
Oh, you won't have to worry about that. Nope. Gravity feed to the garage floor.
There's a fuel injection air control vane in the intake system, upper snorkel. Make sure a backfire didn't lodge that flapper/door & jammed into the intake body.
You should be able to just tap it with your finger & it should come back over & over again.
If that flapper is free. Time to collect the stale gas. : l |
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HutchBus78
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Joined: September 19, 2021
Posts: 18
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 7:08 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| timvw7476 wrote: |
| HutchBus78 wrote: |
| I was thinking maybe bad gas too. If that’s the case, where the heck do I start cleaning it all out.. |
Oh, you won't have to worry about that. Nope. Gravity feed to the garage floor.
There's a fuel injection air control vane in the intake system, upper snorkel. Make sure a backfire didn't lodge that flapper/door & jammed into the intake body.
You should be able to just tap it with your finger & it should come back over & over again.
If that flapper is free. Time to collect the stale gas. : l |
Will check this out tomorrow! Thanks
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SGKent
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Joined: October 30, 2007
Posts: 42404
Location: at the beach
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 7:00 am Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| lil-jinx wrote: |
| would gas go bad so quickly. only 5 months,i would not think so. |
yes. And stabilizers apparently can turn fuel to a gel if moisture gets pulled in. For the record, I had a tank that went bad in 3 months one time sitting. It can happen, normally not, but it can happen. If I were the OP, I would put a clamp on the fuel line, pull it loose and drain some off to see if it is clear, dark orange or rusty. If there is water present then drain until the water is gone. There is a reason these exist.
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airschooled
Air-Schooled
Joined: April 04, 2012
Posts: 13471
Location: West Coast, USA
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 7:56 am Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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Six months indoor storage, with a full tank AND stabilizer? Post a picture so we can show you the vacuum leak already…
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HutchBus78
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Joined: September 19, 2021
Posts: 18
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 1:16 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| airschooled wrote: |
| Six months indoor storage, with a full tank AND stabilizer? Post a picture so we can show you the vacuum leak already… |
Some pics of the engine. Everything looks tight except for the large hose it was a bit loose but not detached. Bus started up and ran, then died. Didn’t smell any gas.
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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 1:50 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| HutchBus78 wrote: |
| Away from the bus at the moment. Speaking of lifters, they do seem louder than when I put the bus away for the winter. I’ll take a good look at all the hoses tomorrow and report |
What can cause problems with the lifters is you fire the cold engine up and drive it into the garage and shut it off without ever letting the oil get up to operating temperature. For reasons I can not explain the lifters will leak down much faster with thick oil than thin oil and cold oil is thick oil. If they have all leaked down it can be very hard to get the engine to run as the valves are not opening much.
As for fuel, the winter fuel in Oregon goes bad very quickly. When I have let my brother in-law borrow my aging Dodge for the winter and he goes through maybe a tank of fuel a month, it will barely run at all when I get it back in the spring, whereas if I let is sit all winter with ethanol free fuel in it, it will start up and run fine come spring. |
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Wildthings
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 2:12 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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B-12 fuel treatment and the "ethanol" treatment sold by Lucas seem to help somewhat if you want to try and run the fuel through your engine. Adding a quart of 2 cycle oil to you fuel tank will help keep from getting deposits on the valve stems so the valves will not stick in their guides.
If rtank is full of varnish, it's a bitch. My 91 Vanagon with a Subaru conversion sat for three years with a full tank of ethanol laced fuel and it fired up fine but was missing badly after twenty of so miles of driving. I decided to see what would happen it I just used FI cleaner and some upper cylinder wall lube like 2-cycle oil to keep her going. It took something like 70 tanks of fuel for the symptoms of ethanol poisoning to all clear up, so as pig headed as I am I don't recommend this method.
We have been snowbirds for 15 years at this point so several of our cars are always sitting for months on end. Finding and using ethanol free fuel is my main defense against the gas getting rotten. The carbureted rigs pretty much only get ethanol free fuel even when driven daily while the fuel injected ones get ethanol free fuel if they are going to be allowed to sit for months on end. On startup after long periods of sitting they get a dose of FI cleaner and a quart or so of upper cylinder wall lube. |
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SGKent
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Joined: October 30, 2007
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Location: at the beach
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 2:13 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| Wildthings wrote: |
| HutchBus78 wrote: |
| Away from the bus at the moment. Speaking of lifters, they do seem louder than when I put the bus away for the winter. I’ll take a good look at all the hoses tomorrow and report |
What can cause problems with the lifters is you fire the cold engine up and drive it into the garage and shut it off without ever letting the oil get up to operating temperature. For reasons I can not explain the lifters will leak down much faster with thick oil than thin oil and cold oil is thick oil. If they have all leaked down it can be very hard to get the engine to run as the valves are not opening much.
As for fuel, the winter fuel in Oregon goes bad very quickly. When I have let my brother in-law borrow my aging Dodge for the winter and he goes through maybe a tank of fuel a month, it will barely run at all when I get it back in the spring, whereas if I let is sit all winter with ethanol free fuel in it, it will start up and run fine come spring. |
we watch James Condons generator and small engine channel on youtube. There are also a couple other small shops that also have channels. I was stunned by the number of small engines that fail to run after sitting from late October to mid-March. The amount of water that the ethanol pulls in then separates out is stunning. Then when people add stabilizers it gets worse in some cases. One shop had like 7 or 9 glass jars, each with a different fuel stabilizer in it, and they all went bad. I am not someone who is dead set against ethanol but it sure pulls moisture out of the air. Not saying that is the problem here but it could be. Could be stuck injectors too.
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lil-jinx
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Joined: August 14, 2013
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SGKent
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Joined: October 30, 2007
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Location: at the beach
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 3:37 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| lil-jinx wrote: |
| the hose on number 3 intake pipe looks out of place |
Eagle eyes saw that.
yes, even if it is not leaking there, put a little silicone grease or spray around it and slide if back up so it is firmly on. If it is barely on.
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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 52284
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 6:34 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| SGKent wrote: |
| Wildthings wrote: |
| HutchBus78 wrote: |
| Away from the bus at the moment. Speaking of lifters, they do seem louder than when I put the bus away for the winter. I’ll take a good look at all the hoses tomorrow and report |
What can cause problems with the lifters is you fire the cold engine up and drive it into the garage and shut it off without ever letting the oil get up to operating temperature. For reasons I can not explain the lifters will leak down much faster with thick oil than thin oil and cold oil is thick oil. If they have all leaked down it can be very hard to get the engine to run as the valves are not opening much.
As for fuel, the winter fuel in Oregon goes bad very quickly. When I have let my brother in-law borrow my aging Dodge for the winter and he goes through maybe a tank of fuel a month, it will barely run at all when I get it back in the spring, whereas if I let is sit all winter with ethanol free fuel in it, it will start up and run fine come spring. |
we watch James Condons generator and small engine channel on youtube. There are also a couple other small shops that also have channels. I was stunned by the number of small engines that fail to run after sitting from late October to mid-March. The amount of water that the ethanol pulls in then separates out is stunning. Then when people add stabilizers it gets worse in some cases. One shop had like 7 or 9 glass jars, each with a different fuel stabilizer in it, and they all went bad. I am not someone who is dead set against ethanol but it sure pulls moisture out of the air. Not saying that is the problem here but it could be. Could be stuck injectors too. |
The gum or whatever you want to call it the coats the tank as the ethanol fuel degrades if moved to the injectors as the engine runs causing them to stick, just like some of the gum ends up on the valves stems and cause them to stick in the guides. |
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HutchBus78
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Joined: September 19, 2021
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Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 8:08 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| lil-jinx wrote: |
| the hose on number 3 intake pipe looks out of place |
Did not see that! Nice grab will check that tomorrow
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HutchBus78
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| Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2025 1:06 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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Hose on number 3 tight
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Wildthings
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| Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2025 1:48 pm Post subject: Re: ‘78 CEII gas smell, rough running, no power…now dead |
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| HutchBus78 wrote: |
| Hose on number 3 tight |
Did it eliminate the symptoms? |
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