Reviving a 1983 Toyota Motorhome - No power, and suggestions wanted! (1 Viewer)

[geocrasher]

Hey everyone,

My best friend is getting married next month, and his wife to be and he are going to do a road trip in a 1983 Toyota motorhome that his Dad gave him. It's got a stock 22R and a 5 speed. It's been sitting for about a decade, and hasn't been started/ran in probably 7 or 8 years.

The fluids are all good (obviously the gas isn't...) and I've confirmed that the engine moves at least a little- but we know first hand that it ran without problems, so I'm not worried about mechanical issues. I've disconnected the fuel from the carb, shot some wd-40 down the spark plug holes, and got ready to turn it over with the starter. But, the truck isn't getting any power at all. We only have the starting battery on the drivers side... and it just occurred to me that this thing probably needs the starting battery AND the "house" battery in order to complete the circuit, and we didn't have that installed.

If anybody has any tips beyond "put the other battery in" please do let me know

Also if you have any suggestions for getting this thing back on the road, I'm all ears. We'll be checking the brakes, putting brand new tires in it, and probably a Weber carb that a mechanic friend of his insists will make it run better and have more power. Given that that also means de-smogging it, I don't doubt it. But, any suggestions for making it better are quite welcome.

 

[RevISK]

No pictures?
Boo.

I’ve rebuilt a couple motor homes and would find it odd that the starting battery would be dependent on a house battery but I’m sure stranger things have happened.

I’d put marvel mystery oil down the holes.
WD40 was designed as a Water Displacement fluid not so much a lubricant.

Check your grounds.

Post pics. Sounds cool.

 

[cruzinfj1]

When you say no power at all, are you getting any dash lights with the key on? Do the headlights turn on? If not, there should be a fusible link between the battery and the fuse box under the hood.

 

[Beams37]

As stated above, I doubt the house battery is needed to start, but who knows. I would look at the ground, the fuse box, and look for any chewed up wiring. If its been sitting for a while, animals could have chewed some wiring causing issues. I'm also going to ask the million dollar question, but is the battery charged? Maybe a new battery?

 

[pappy]

... is the battery charged?

Ya, gotta start there. Pull the connections off the battery and clean the battery post and cable terminals real good. As in shiny good. Remove the negative end from where ever it goes and clean. Pull the cable off the starter and clean both the terminal and the post on the starter. Pull each fuse and make sure they are good.

Your old truck will have a fuse link wire from the battery to the fuse block, but not to the starter. In a pinch you can bypass with some 10g wire, but this is not the fix. Either replace the fuse link wire, or install a Mega or Midi Fuse. An 80A fuse should be just right. There should also be some ground cables from the truck frame to the engine block. Make sure they are present, and clean. At the back of the engine there should be a ground cable from the firewall to the engine (I think). Pull the little wire off the starter and make sure you have 12V when somebody turns the key to start.

The house battery should have nothing to do with starting the truck.

 

[geocrasher]

Thanks for all the replies. I also think I simply may have the starting battery in the house battery position. We were pretty tired when working on it, and I may not have thought that through. The battery positive cable goes to a solenoid/relay on the fender, not the starter, so I'm pretty sure that's the case.

I'll be heading back out there this afternoon. I'll get some pics to share for sure. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[geocrasher]

It was the dumbest thing ever: My buddy bought batteries at a shop who told him where to put each battery- the house and the car battery- and they'd never even seen it. And they were wrong.

I moved the battery over to the proper side, and everything came alive as usual. The engine turned over easily. We're going to throw cap/rotor/plugs/wires/coil at it just to refresh the ignition after we hear it bark off with some fuel down the carb. Then we'll figure out what we're going to do with the fuel system. The fuel's been sitting for a very long time, and an inline fuel filter is very clearly varnished. I'm hoping we can just siphon the gas out of it, fill it with some fresh, and run it after replacing filters.

Pic as promised:

 

[pappy]

I'm hoping we can just siphon the gas out of it, fill it with some fresh, and run it after replacing filters.

The tank should have a drain plug. You will need to remove the skid plate.

 

[geocrasher]

Oh, thanks for that pappy! Much appreciated. That'll make life a lot, a LOT easier.

 

[Birk]

Great looking camper!!! FYI-I just pulled a tank from an 86 PU, the fuel/varnish was easily removed but there was a lot of rust in the bottom. I ended up replacing the tank to make sure none of the solids caused problems later. You might be able to inspect it with a camera from the fill tube, in lieu of dropping the entire tank??

 

[Mudder]

I would inspect the tank. My 84 sat from 17-23 and the fuel tank was awful. Full of rust and it ruined my intake pump, holder and sending unit. It has also ate my fuel pump sock. Last thing you’d want is for the fuel tank to plug filters again and again on a long road trip imo.

 

[trainbufftony]

I'd advise against the webber carb and de-smog. You want to travel worry free, leave it stock. It never had any power, it's a small 4 banger pushing an enormous brick. You're lucky if it does 60.
Short of a small block Chevy, nothing that you're going to bolt on or take off is going to make it climb hills faster than about 40.
Enjoy it for what it is.

 

[geocrasher]

Thanks guys. I do have a friend with an inspection camera so I'll enlist his help for the fuel tank. Definitely don't want issues!

As for the weber carb swap, a dude has convinced my friend it'll add lots of power and is trouble free, says he's done lots of them ¯\(º_o)/¯ . I'll show him your comment. Right now less is more. It's already needing a lot of work, and their wedding/honeymoon is 4 weeks away.

 

[Mudder]

If you do end up doing the Weber swap, a fuel pressure regulator is mandatory. The stock pump puts out too much fuel for the Weber. Factory is 6-8 and Weber recommends around 3 psi IIRC. The reason it gives better power is cuz the stock one probably needs to be rebuilt and tuned by someone who knows them. The Weber is just easier to tune than stock from what I remember from my last 22R.

 

[geocrasher]

Thanks @Mudder and @trainbufftony. After talking with my friend, we're leaving the stock carb. I think we'll have it running this weekend. Hopefully the biggest hurdle is going to be cleaning the fuel system. But we'll get it. Some of the pressure is off though, a friend of his has offered to remodel the interior as a wedding gift, which will take a couple months at least, so we have time to get this thing running for a 5 hour drive, then it'll get parked again, then the remodel, then another drive back. Should be a good shake down.

 

[Mudder]

When it’s parked for the remodel make sure to use a fuel stabilizer or fill it with ethanol free fuel. I’ve gone to using ethanol free fuel in all the yard equipment and my motorcycle and have not needed to rebuild a carb again after they’ve been sitting for 5-8 months.

 

[gnob]

When it’s parked for the remodel make sure to use a fuel stabilizer or fill it with ethanol free fuel. I’ve gone to using ethical free fuel in all the yard equipment and my motorcycle and have her o need to rebuild a carb again after they’ve been sitting for 5-8 months.

most real small equipment mechanics will not warranty if you use ethanol fuel.
it is garbage and just kills stuff quickly.

 

[geocrasher]

Yep we can get Ethanol free fuel nearby, will try to put some of that in it for sure.

 

[dohcdelsol93]

Even ethanol free gas lacks stabilizers and will start going bad in as little as a month.

Also willing to bet most of the so called ethanol free fuel you're buying will test positive for ethanol.

Add stabilizer every time you buy fuel unless it's an item that gets used daily