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Replacing coolant in Generator
What is the correct way to put in coolant after changing radiator hoses on a Vantare Powertech Generator? The radiator is on the opposite side of the bus from the Generator. Just want to make sure I get all the air out.
Is there some kind of pump to use?
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12 Replies
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Jerry,
My radiator is also remotely located so when I change coolant in the generator on my Yanmar powered Kohler I fill first at the generator, and then since the radiator cap is slightly higher than the one on the engine, I top it off there.
The first time I changed coolant I had a bubble that I eventually burped by refilling at the engine radiator cap after running a few minutes, shutting down, refilling a 1/4 cup at a time for several cycles and then all was OK. The last several times I never had to purge air. I have the device to pull a vacuum on the coolant system now so no more issues.
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That’s what I was looking for Jon, a tool to speed up the process. Thanks!
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See how being lazy has its advantages? Jeff Rowe tipped me off to that many years ago.
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Interesting. I am wanting to change the coolant in my radiator but I have read all the horror stories about shops not getting it right. My fear has been how can I do it myself if they can’t get it right? The generator is one element of my bus that has performed flawlessly and I do not want that to change because of my lack of ability.
How does that gadget work, Jon?
Davy
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It is simple. After draining the existing coolant, put the rubber stopper in the filler portion (beneath where the radiator cap goes).
Hook up an air supply and the device will pull a vacuum on the enitre cooling system. You will see the radiator hoses collapse which looks scary but that’s what you want it to do. Then have your 50/50 coolant mix in a pail, insert the fill tube and open the valve. The vacuum in the system will suck the coolant into the generator or car engine or whatever gets the new coolant.
Jeff might want to add something to this, but it is simple. I think he has the same device.
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yea, Jeff told me he uses that tool. I have one on the way.
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OK. Great. Now I will take some pictures of my set up and let you all tell me what you think. I found the Airlift II on Amazon for $3 more but free shipping. A video demonstration came up when I Googled it too.
Davy
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I don’t want to steal business away from the professionals that support us, but there are things we all can do ourselves that can be done easily with the right tools. This is but one example of a simple task that pays for the tool purchase with the first time it is used.
The device is also used on our cars, or in Mark’s case his snow blowing equipment.
I have not used it on the coach cooling system because I have so far been able to use the circulating pump on the Websto combined with running the engine to burp the bus. To pull a vacuum on a 24 gallon system might take as long as an hour or more (anybody tried it??)
Among all of us we probably have enough of the right tools to get any job done. Some make sense to own personally, others are used rarely but when they are needed they are worth the cost. It would be nice to have some tool exchange set up but I wouldn’t know where to begin to insure tools are returned, or how we would know who has the right tool. Some of my most important tools are tools everyone should have, but my cooling system tool is used so rarely it is a valuable tool, but could be part of a loaner program.
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I have one of the gadgets ordered too.
My radiator is mounted in the same bay as the generator but outside the hushbox. There is an upper hose and lower hose that each go through the wall of the hushbox to the radiator. Both need to be replaced. Both look as if they are pre-formed. Would my best option on those be to take them off and carry them to a good parts store and match the best I can.
There is also a small preformed hose on the generator and I have the Yanmar part number for that.
There is a radiator cap which will be sort of difficult to reach.
There is also this..
This watchamacallit is in line on the upper radiator hose. The hose is coming from the radator on the right of the picture and then out the left side to the generator. It also has a radiator cap in the middle of it as you can see. Is this where I would fill it? Or would I need to some how fanagle a way to fill at the radiator? If it matters the cap in the above picture is physically higher that the radiator cap on the actual radiator.
Also what kind of coolant do you recommend? It is a 15K Martin powered by Yanmar.
Thanks,
Davy
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I have used the same Power Cool or Detroit spec coolant on my generators.
My generator rolls out so the fill cap on the generator is where I pill the vacuum. After filling I top off the radiator with a funnel and a long plastic hose because it is the only way to get coolant to the top of the radiator.
I then fill the plastic overflow to the cold level.
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I ordered this Wednesday at the link I posted above. It was $78.87 with free shipping. It arrive this morning, Friday. It will be a while before I have everything else in place to change the generator coolant but am excited to try.
Davy
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Davy, I got mine today, just like that. It works GREAT! I had mine filled in less than a minute!
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