96 coach house

[Cthomas265]

Looking at buying a 96 coach house but can't find what the mpg are. Any ideas?

[Bruceper]

Without knowing the make and model of the chassis, I'd say in the range of 12-14mpg.

[Cthomas265]

It's a 192TB with a dodge chassis, but the motor was replaced with a V8 jasper motor so I'm not sure how big of a difference what would make

[Bruceper]

Unsure what the rebuilt engine will offer, but I can find fueleconomy.com lists a 1996 dodge van as 13mpg city and 16mpg highway for a 1500 with a three speed to 12 mpg city and 16mpg highway for a 3500 with a four speed.

Those are for a stock chassis, add in all the motorhome weight and you could be looking at 10mpg ish. That's a pure guess.

Don't get hung up on mileage though. Enjoy the freedom the van gives you and the money you would save if you went away and stayed in hotels instead of in the van.

[Cthomas265]

The vehicle with be for living not vacation. It's hard narrowing down the best choice for either. Thank you for the help.

[mkguitar]

if it's for living- then mpg doesn;t much matter.

however, the motor will be early EFI and less efficient than a 99 or 2000 +. and a 3 spd or maybe 3 spd with OD tranny, the rear axle ratio will also have a huge effect on the mpg.
I would guess at 65 mph you might see 10~12

for living, take the time to check the rv systems and roof. interior for signs of leaks

I think I saw the ad for this rv- I'd take the mounting of the stereo in the dash as an indicator of how it's been taken care of and the standard of work the owner is willing to accept- nice artwork too!

mike

[Pot of gold]

1994 Coach House 192SD, Dodge V8 360.
Around town 9.6, Highway 15.4
I use a fuel additive because the use of 10% ethanol can ruin the fuel system of early pre-2000 units. The additive might positively affect fuel mileage.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Pot of gold

1994 Coach House 192SD, Dodge V8 360.
Around town 9.6, Highway 15.4
I use a fuel additive because the use of 10% ethanol can ruin the fuel system of early pre-2000 units. The additive might positively affect fuel mileage.

I have a 96 Buick Roadmaster that I got about 10 years. I don't know what gas it had in it for it's entire life in Texas and Idaho mostly with a couple of years in St Louis. It had ethanol fuel in it when I picked it up in St Louis and drove in home to the Minneapolis are.


It ran fine bringing it home, but I did soon switch to no ethanol premium which is available for classic cars here. Expensive but probably worth it.


I did a complete rebuild of the entire drivetrain and fuel system of couple of years ago, including cleaning out the fuel rails and injectors plus I replaced the fuel pump, sending unit and fuel pressure regulator. None of it was severely corroded at all which was a big surprise as I heard all vehicles pre 2002 would be affected. The only bad part I found was the worn and slightly corroded brass sending unit float reostat.


I do know that E10 is a killer for all small engines so I run the non ethanol gas in them also and some are 30 years old without being touched at this point. I routinely here of folks having continual issues with their small engines and they are too cheap to buy the good gas for them and spend more getting them fixed.


As to the fuel stabilizers for E10 damage prevention, there seems to be some mixed messaging between the multiple "test" I have seen run by online people. The manufacturers of the products insist it is great, most reviews that actually tested reasonably well say the preservatives don't do much of anything except prevent some gas gelling. Here is one Utube sample of the testing type I have seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvS_D4_lF5U

I have to assume my Buick didn't see a lot of E10 over it's like due to how it all looked, but have no proof of that.


I really don't know what to recommend for the older vehicles if you can't get non ethanol blended gas if the additives don't work.

[Pot of gold]

I too had a 1996 Buick Roadmaster (blue) with 56k miles when I sold it. No problem with fuel system corrosion issues.
I also had a 1994 Ford Tempo and a 1996 Ford Contour both of which were just over 100k and each one suffered from fuel starvation which showed up under load, not idle, when over 100k. Fuel starvation was the problem.
I now have a 1994 Dodge Ram with 56k and no issues.
As mentioned, I use a fuel stabilizer because the Dodge is driven few miles each month and I know that fuel degrades after as little as one month.