Camper Van as Tow Vehicle

[avenger79]

my uncle is running one of the small sprinter vans as his camper. actually put in a window unit A/C and hooks up to elec sites. works great for him. still small enough to use as his daily driver when needed. big enough to be a bit more comfy than a van.

I have owned a couple of Ford vans over the years, never had any out of the ordinary issues with them. I didn't do full on camper conversions on them but they had beds and coolers. all we needed when we were younger. Now days I pull a 30ft Travel trailer with lots of bells and whistles LOL

I would also look at 18-20 class C motorhomes. they go really cheap when a bit older. not a big market for them. perfect to consider as an option instead of a van, and they have all the comforts of home.

 

[Pusher]

A motorhome is about $4,000-$6,000 around here (we're cursed as the highest minimum wage state) and vans are about $6,000 for a furnished model with the roof extension.... I started looking at the sprinters but they are close to $10k around here.

I really just need something with AC. I'll probably be off the lakes until we drop out of the 100? temps again :-/

I even considered making my truck canopy into a camper by building a verticle bed extension of sorts.... I'm just not sure.

avenger79 could you upload a phito of his AC setup? I could really use some ideas for this. I think it'll be my biggest cost if I go with an RV roof unit

 

[avenger79]

I don't have any pics of the AC set up. it is my uncles and he is currently in FL. it truly is just a small window unit AC installed in the rear window area. I believe he popped out a rear window and fabbed up a light gauge metal panel with an opening for the AC.

setting up your truck topper could be a great option as well. do a google search there are lots of great set ups including elec, beds, lights and AC.

stinks about pricing there but you could go elsewhere to save money just consider the price of fuel in your pricing.

 

[Pusher]

I took the plunge. I bought a 1993 Ford Econoline E150. It needs a tuneup and Hitch installed. I couldn't find a date on the wheel wells so that has me worried but it was a 170 mile drive home and they held up through that. I'll probably have them checked once It's ready to tow.

Hopefully I didn't make a mistake here, but the tuneup is needed because it pings under acceleration. I'm hoping it's the exhaust but have read it might be the valves, could be spark plugs about to blow out, might be the lower case goig bad, or might just be fan blades ticking on the fan housing.

These motors are kind of burrried down low so sticking a screw driver in there as a stethoscope probably won't work.

Any diagnostic steps? What is the easiest thing to try first?

I noticed my Tundra ticks when the wrong weight oil is used. I've heard that seafoam for no more than 100 miles in the crank can help to some degree.

I guess, what's the first easiest steps?

 

[MTboatguy]

Actually if it is pinging that is normally a symptom of lower octane gas, you need to have it timed to meet the expectations of the gas and the elevation you will be running in most of the time. What motor does it have in it?

 

[aspeck]

^^^^ what MT said ... pinging is caused by early detonation of the fuel, usually when lower octane is used. That beast might have a "high octane" engine, meaning you will have to pay the price of a better grade of gas to get it to stop. Too much pinging and you will burn the valves. Fill 'er up with Super or Premium and see if it makes a difference. The good side is you will probably get slightly better fuel mileage with the higher octane gasoline in the tank.

 

[avenger79]

yep agree with the two above. get a tank full of premium in it and see if it lessens the pinging.
the engine isn't too bad to get to through the doghouse. (the cover in the middle of the van) I bet you could swing a set of plugs yourself, and save some $$$

what size engine did you get? 351 I hope. how many miles? I wouldn't stress too much over the age of the tires, if they have good tread and are not dry rotted (cracking) you can probably get some miles out of them.

have fun with the setting it up for camping project, should be a great time.

we are actually in the process of looking at options as well. better half wants to go to FL in Jan without me. she can't pull the 30 ft trailer in the winter so she might be looking at a small rv or large van. looked at a 24 ft class A over the weekend. wasn't bad but had a few issues. problem for us is our trailer is a 2011, going older than that is tough.

 

[Pusher]

Well shoot, I was a dork and thought it best to get fresh gas in it so I topped it off after adding a bottle of fuel treatment. I also topped it off after the 150 mile drive to check fuel consumption it's a pretty loud sound but it doesn't really increase in timing when I increase RPM.

Forgive this ...novice... question but can I buy octane additive and mix based on a full tank?

The motor is a 5.0L V8 .... I'm not sure if it's a 351. Now I'm curious what makes that engine desireable?

If I upload a video on youtube do you think you guys could get an idea of the issue?

 

[avenger79]

cool at least it is V8, the 5.0 is a 302 engine. considered a small V8. the 351 is more desirable due to it's larger displacement, more horsepower and more torque. the 302 will do just fine for pulling a boat though.

rear end gear ratio comes into play more than HP anyway for towing.

You could try a bottle of octane boost but probably better to just drive the fuel out you have and than replace with Premium.

BTW does it ping all the time or only after warming up? it isn't overheating is it? does it have gauges or idiot lights?

 

[blomo]

Cool car, really! We do not have cars like this in Europe - I mean it is totally not popular (unfortunately). I would love to travel through my continent in car like this.

 

[aspeck]

Avengers questions plus these:
- Does it ping more on acceleration/load than just idle or cruise/coasting?
- Is it a ping or a knock? There is a difference.
- Is there any hesitation along with the ping?

The 302 has been a reliable engine (for a Ford ... forgive me, but I always let my GM bias show through. Years in the business will do that to you). There should be a lot of miles in that engine.

 

[MTboatguy]

The 302 is a good engine, durable and they can pull a pretty good load and still get decent mileage, with a few inexpensive mods you can get more power out of it and increase the fuel mileage as well. One of the best mods, is in the exhaust system dept, have a good quality exhaust system on it with a modern muffler and you will be amazed how much power it will pick up with more fuel mileage.

One thing to have check in the catalytic converter, if it is partially plugged it can also create a situation the causes the problem with pinging.

 

[Pusher]

Hey thanks avenger! I'll grab the gear ratio for you on Sunday to get your opinion. At least I'll know how to run the van.

The ping is on acceleration at all times. It's light on a flat and almost gone on a down hill, but pretty noticeable on an uphill and accellerating

 

[Pusher]

Aspeck, I didn't notice a hesitation or knock per say. It might be between a ping and a knock to be fair.

On a less important note, I'm thinking if the electric bench doesn't sleep well I'll try something like this.


with a slight modification (sorry the drawing is turned sideways)



The center of the backrest would be double folding because it would extend out twice the length of the seat sides. The seat sides would pull straight out. I don't think I explained that well.

 

[Pusher]

I went through all the paperwork and it looks like it has a 3.55 ratio regular axle..... No clue whether that's a good thing or not.
MTboatguy is the exhaust system something that I could search truck forums for to find a good combination or is it something learned woth experience?

 

[aspeck]

I was just trying to clarify/make sure it was fuel pre-detonation (ping) and not something else. Has the premium fuel made a difference?

 

[avenger79]

3.55 is the best ratio (for towing) you could get in a Ford 1/2 ton, so you definitely have that in your favor.

the 302 with that gear ratio should do very well towing the boat for you. one other thing you might look for is a trans cooler. if it has one great, if not you might consider adding it.

now just have to figure out the pinging, have you tried a tank of premium yet?
it could just have the A/F ratio set way out of whack as well.

 

[Pusher]

Thanks for the responses guys. I will look into the transmission cooler

I couldn't find anything to indicate it was a premium engine so I thought I'd hold off.

If I have the timing set I don't want it done using premium and then switch to regular after the tanks empty (I guess this could work the other way also though). I also read on a forum (who knows if it's true) that if you have a motor intended for regular, and premium gas takes the ping away, then you have carbon build up causing higher compression.... which will only get worse when using premium.

Is there a way to tell if you're motor takes one or the other? I tried googling ford 302 e150 premium or regular.... But just found forums with people debting performance gains.

Also, should I run a tank of seafoam through the tank? I have doubts of its ability to do actual cleaning, but I also have no experience.

 

[avenger79]

the motor was originally built to run regular fuel.
yes over time may have carbon build up or ???

many times engines seem to respond better to premium fuel.

 

[Pusher]

I was waiting to update once the local shop diagnosted my tick. You guys all nailed it... exhaust
front left exhaust manifold. I'll be honest, I was starting to sweat bullets thinking about what else it could be

So I went down to the auto store for a DIY tune up. I also called my brother's muffler guy. Would you guys agree with him when he said it didn't really matter what muffler you put on a vehicle as long as it was a new muffler it would improve the vehicles mileage? Or better put, would you guys know if one muffler over another would do better?

MTboatguy what other upgrades were you thinking that would improve fuel consumption?

I'm hoping to have the van up and running smoothly by next month and get a picture of it towing my boat. The two are going to look good together
After that I'll probably update this thread for my camper setup.

Thanks for the help thus far guys!