I have an 1984 e350 body on my class c camper and it has the 460 motor. Today we were cruising along and it backfired and shut off. We pulled over and it immediately restarted then drove for 40 miles or so and it just shut off again. I put it in neutral and shut off the key then started it right back up. It didn't crank over but a second. Any ideas? Ignition? Fuel ?

 

Hi Larry:
Distributor cap/rotar or an ignition wire that is loose or near broken, has caused me the same grief on various vehicles. I had also experienced the same from a dirty fuel filter but no backfire. The "backfire" appears to be the former. A loss of ignition then re-ignition.

Barney

 

I had worked on one of these years ago. Same year. Same type of van. Same problem.The distributor roll pin that drives the distributor sheared.It would catch and drive fine.Then slip and backfire or not start.It may be your problem may not but shure sounds like it.To check it remove the doghouse cover then the distributor cap. Then try to turn to distributor rotor by hand if it turns more than a half inch or half or whole turn this is the problem.If not i would suspect the distributor pick up.