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Coolant Leak
I have a couple of issues and the first is concerning my generator. My generator has been very close to problem free for nearly 8 years and I like it that way. I changed the coolant, hoses and belt back in June and all has been well since then. I have about 240 hours on it since then and about 55 since an oil change.
I ran it quite a bit on a quick trip in mid December but it had not been ran since then until the other night. I try to run it 3-4 hours each month whether I need it or not but I knew I had a couple nights of travel approaching so it had been about 5 weeks.
We cranked it about 10:30 PM to warm up the coach and probably would have let it run all night since the temps were going down to 30 or slightly below. I noticed that the coolant temp was rising quickly and much above where it normally runs. It usually goes to 160-170 and stays there. It was a little over 200 in a few minutes.
First thing I checked was the level in the overflow bottle and it was a little low. I do mean a little low but that is the first time it was ever low in nearly 8 years. I put maybe 4-6 ounces in and as I suspected it made no difference.
I then took the guard off and made sure the belt was tight and that made no difference either.
There was no coolant on the ground, so about 12:30 I gave up and we all covered up and went to bed.
The overflow bottle being a little low bothered me all night and I had a nagging suspicion there was coolant in the oil. I checked at first light and I was thrilled to see no evidence of that.
It was cool enough to check the actual coolant level and it was very low. Still no coolant on the ground but in closer inspection in the daylight I could see where coolant had been dripping off the bottom corner of the radiator. I am assuming it is a very slow radiator leak and it had finally reached the level where it showed itself in the operating temperature.
Once the coolant was full, I cranked it up and ran it several hours with perfect operating temperatures and no visible leaks.
The radiator is outside the quiet box, mounted on the side wall in the same bay and I am pretty sure it is leaking. It could be the upper radiator hose but it does not appear to be leaking at all. Since the leak is slow and after running several hours, the level is still good then that bodes well for me fixing this on my time rather than on the side of the road in a hurry.
This may be a wrong assumption but I am assuming Vantare pieced all this together as part of the conversion process and that the radiator did not come from Martin or Yanmar with the generator.
First, Is that correct?
Secondly, Does anyone know if Vantare had a prefered radiator in that vintage or a standard size they adhered too?
Third, if there was no standard, how can I identify this radiator? I would like to know what radiator I need so I can source one before taking this one out and determining its future. Any ideas or information would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Davy
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