Engine won't start - almost no fuel to carburetor

[crenninger]

pictures of the RV here
https://picasaweb.google.com/christian.renninger/March102013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL7Ww_i_g8Og4AE&feat=directlink

[DonD]

Sorry Christian. Best to you.

[LJ-TJ]

Remember your always welcome. Hope this won't discourage you from trying to get another rig.

[bluebird]

That's a pretty nice coach. The engine is very clean inside. I'll bet the valves can be freed up without disassembling too far. I'd take off the rocker arm off and use a block of hardwood and a hammer and tap the valve down a few times. If it pops back up, then it's not stuck too bad. You'd probably have to pull the intake to get the push rod out though. If it's an intake valve  you can spray it with the intake off. Good luck what ever you decide.

[Lefty]

Sure hate to hear that.
The 454 is a pretty stout piece, and a broken pushrod shouldn't do any terminal damage to the engine. If it was me, I would remove the head and send it to a machine shop for two new valves and guides, buy two rocker arms, pushrods, and lifters (soak the lifters in a container of oil till they quit bubbling & pump them with a pushrod a few times while soaking), buy a single head gasket, an intake and exhaust manifold set, and stick it back together. The other end of the rod is most likely laying in the bottom of the oil pan and shouldn't hurt anything, or it might even be laying under the intake in the valley. Be sure to inspect the cam lobes to see if they got damaged, it is possible that the lobe was flattened before the pushrod gave, but it's not likely... the cam steel is a lot stronger than the pushrods are.
Total cost for this shouldn't be too bad either, and can be done in a weekend easily... I've pulled and replaced a head in less than 4hrs before (but I've done them dozens of times) .
Don't know what a machine shop would charge these days, but I would guess less than $50 labor if you supplied the parts. Have them replace the two guides,valves, and install the new springs. Then you can install the rockers,lifters and pushrods at home.

Costs (Napa Online pricing)
Note: You didn't say whether it was two Intake valves, two Exhaust Valves, or one each that were damaged.. so I've listed them both.

Internal Parts:
Intake valve: $7.69 ea.  SEP V1912
Exhaust valve: $32.99 ea. SEP V1989X
Intake valve guide: $3.69 ea  SEP VG689
Exhaust valve guide: $3.99 ea. SEP VG1321
Valve stem seal: $1.49 ea. SEP MV1912
Rocker Arm kit (arm,ball & nut): $7.99 ea. SEP R851
Exhaust Pushrod: $2.99 ea. SEP RP3254
Intake Pushrod: $2.49 ea.  8.28" length SEP RP3182, 8.227" length SEP RP3255 (both are same price, but different lengths, take good one and have it measured with a micrometer prior to buying)
Valve lifter: $4.69 ea. SEP HT817B
Valve Spring: $2.49 ea. SEP VS617B
Valve Spring Keeper: $0.49 ea. SEP VK138

Gaskets: Fel-Pro
Intake set: $13.99ea. FPG MS90240
Single Head Gasket: $19.69ea. FPG 8523PT1
Exhaust Manifold Set: $19.49ea FPG MS90502
Valve Cover Set: $12.99ea FPG VS3055R

And.. if you just want to drop the pan enough to reach in & fish out that pushrod...
Oil Pan Gasket Set: $12.99ea FPG OS30061C1  ( Cork- multi piece set )
Oil Pan Gasket: $46.49ea FPG 1884R  (1 piece molded rubber style with non-crushable bolthole inserts (can't over torque them) pricey, but much easier to install without any leaks...

I know it SOUNDS like a daunting repair, but it actually isn't. There's nothing technical about the job, just basic unbolting,cleaning and rebolting. Just be sure to use a torque wrench when re-installing everything so you can torque everything to the proper torque (and follow the head bolt tightening sequence).
Heads are tightened in three stages, ex: 30lbs, then 60lbs, then the final torque of 90lbs (just an example, look up the correct torque stages and final torque).
Intakes and exhaust are also tightened from the center out, I usually do them in two stages... halve the final torque figure and tighten them, then tighten them to the final figure.
Good rule of thumb for oil pan gaskets... hand tight, then 1/2 turn with a ratchet... no more or you'll over compress the gasket & it will leak.

[crenninger]

thank you all for the support and help.

I will not get into this - no time and energy.

That said, I will surely pass on this information to the next owner - all the homework as been done.

I do agree that it's not hard or too expensive to fix, just time consuming

[doylexl]

Well thanks Mr Crenninger for taking us on the journey. One thing that might come from this is if one of us tries to wake up a sleeping motorhome in the future it might be a good idea to check compression on all 8 cylinders before moving to far forward and it might save us some headaches an $.

The guy I bought my winnebago from 6 weeks ago told me that it had some bent valves so I had it towed to my house and after running a compression test I knew that the valves were all ok because it had good even compression on all cylinders, and luckily the problem was the starter.

I'm sure the valves are stuck, on this engine are probabaly bent. And thats why it destroyed the pushrods, but I might take a small handheld propane torch and heat the valve stem then spray it with penetrating oil and tap on it, it might possibly free up and if so you could check compression to see if it any which would tell if the valves are bent. It sure looks like it is worth fixing and some ambitious guy will hopefully get her going.

[crenninger]

your welcome - I do like to get things back on the road - usually motorcycle - but this one is just too big and time consuming for me to work on.