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Water Separator
I’ve been reviewing the “Routine Chassis Inspection” in the Article’s Section.
A couple Questions:
1.) Where is the Water Separator located? I’m assuming the drain plug would be attached somewhere around it. 2.) Where exactly is the “sight glass” to check your wheel bearing level?
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37 Replies
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Tim,
I believe what your looking for is the water separator/ fuel filter and it’s located on the passenger side of the motor. You are able to see it from the passenger side engine door, it is the one further to the front on my engine of the two filters. The site glass is normally a clear plastic bowl that is screwed onto the bottom of the filter. At the bottom of yhe bowl there is a black pet cock that unscrews and allows drainage of debris or water. The bowl portion of the filter is normally reused with a filter change.
The axle seal sight glass if I’m correct can be seen by popping off the center portion of your front rims. It normally a stainless steel cover (like a minature hubcap) that pops off and the seal should be behind that. On your front axle
Jim
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Don’t forget the tag and don’t overfill.
The wheel hub cap will look similar to this.
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Tim,
Not all conversions have a water separator, or one with a bowl for viewing.
This would be a commonly used one, but there are other types. My current coach has only a pair of spin on cartridges for fuel filters and I have no way of detecting anything that might be in my fuel.
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Does it have a Racor Separator?
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I found what I think is the water separator but I shot a picture just to make sure. When I turn the black drain cock it seemed like fuel came out the bottom, or at least it certainly smelled a lot like fuel. If this is the water separator, how much do you actually drain? Till it stops or just a few seconds?
Picture is horizontal but it should be vertical.
Also, while I was back there, I noticed that two (out of three) of my AX37 belts were completed off the pulley. One was severly cracked and the other one was moderately cracked. Fortuanately, I had three new ones on-board and it was an easy change-out since they are the belts that are removed by releasing the belt tensioner switch.
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Your pic is the fuel/water filter drain. I always drain about a cup or until it is pure fuel.
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How often?
And is this different than a “water separator”?
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Tim,
That’s why I always charge the Prevost aux air side with the yellow valve prior to starting.
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I never heard that before Tom,
So, everytime you start your bus, you go under the driver’s seat compartment, turn the yellow Marathon valve to blend the air with the Prevost Aux Air, then you turn on your bus? Or do you just do it when your Prevost Aux Air has no air pressure in the system?
Just want to ensure I need to put this in my “RV Departure Checklist” now.
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If your Prevost aux air is up, you don’t have to worry about it. If not, that charges the Prevost side and the belt tensioners are then tight prior to start. We have had this conversation many times, I lost a belt once on start up, so I always assure the bellows are aired up.
Jon could give a rats ass, he never had a belt jump off, but then again, his flip phone is giving him trouble receiving texts. Oh wait, sorry, he doesn’t have it turned on.
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Thx Tom!
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Tim,
Ignore Tom. He believes everything he reads on his smart phone, including some old wive’s tales about belt tightening.
First the water / fuel separator. When you get a chance take it apart and clean it so you know you have a clean filter and a bowl you can see through. If the bowl is so damaged by age that you cannot see through it replace it. My Racor bowl is such that I can monitor the filter and separator condition between filter changes. If I see the separation line between fuel and water I know I have an issue and drain the water. I can also see if I have excess foreign material because if I see dirt or algae in the bowl I know the filter is getting blocked because I picked up some stuff likely bad fuel.
You do not have to do any more than replace filters at normal intervals if you do not see water in the bottom of the bowl. I never drain it unless or until I see the presence of something.
Then there is this belt thing that Tom likes to deal with. First try to understand there are literally thousands of seated coaches out in the real world. They have the same types of belts and tensioners we all have. What they do not have is an auxiliary compressor to air up the accessory system, so when those coaches are started the belt tensioners have not air pressure to them if the accessory system has leaks. (Likely)
So except for Tom those thousands of Prevost drivers don’t air up the system prior to engine start. To make this Marathon specific, if you isolate the Marathon aux air from the Prevost accessory air system, your compressor runs less. But if you want the belts tight, you have to merge the two systems prior to a start. So if you do that, you will join Tom in opening the valve between the two systems, or leaving it open at all times so you aren’t farting around with that valve every time you park.
The fact your belts got screwed up is likely because you have another issue. If they are perfectly lined up they aren’t going to jump off the pulleys. The clue is after a long run look carefully to see if you have black rubber dust under the belt path. That is an indicator something is rubbing the sides of the belts, like a misaligned pulley or maybe a bad idler not rotating freely.
I am not sure how Prevost set up your pneumatic system on your model year of coach, but my belt tensioners are only aired up with the key on. So if you do plan to air up the tensioners prior to start you have to leave the key on for enough time prior to engaging the starter to get the belts tight. You may have to measure the time that takes.
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Yours
will tighten with the key off Tim and don’t leave the yellow valve
open, just use it to charge the Prevost aux.Keep
in mind, Jon just told you your belt wasn’t really off and that can
never happen because thousands of seated coaches never have this
problem. So you and I are victims of the belt fairy.
Anyone else been visited by the belt fairy?
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A couple things:
First, I don’t think I have any water in the fuel system because Parliment tested my fuel at Lakeland.
Second, My belts were literally laying there when I opened the back. My thought is that when I started the bus up, with no air in the Precost Aux for a week, somehow the belts slipped off but did not break.
Jon may be right that my pulley or something else is not exactly lined up, but it also reminds me to conduct a thorough Pre-Depature checklist “everytime”!
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The only time I have seen an issue with loose belts at start up is, IF you have Prevost over the road air, and you turn the A/C compressor on before the aux pressure gets to around 50, it may cause extra wear on the belts, and flop around.
The seated coach drivers are probably trained to wait till the air builds up.
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