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Radiator Leak
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Hi Liam,
Thanks for posting the pictures. I have not done anything about my leak but I can see now how the sides are bolted to the main core.
Why did you have to replace the radiator?
Gerald
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Liam,
Seeing your photo my eye was drawn to the fan mount and how it pivots. Later model coaches have a limit to how far the fan can travel towards the radiator. I cannot remember when or how Prevost modified the design so if the belts broke the fan travel was limited and the fan would not travel through the radiator.
If yours is of the vintage where belt failure allows the fan to hit the radiator consider some type of limiting that travel such as a chain or cable.
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Thanks Jon, I will definitely look into that. Couldn’t stand buying another because of a belt!
Started overheating and nothing including aggressive cleaning would solve it. 25 years of buildup.
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I may be completely wrong, but having 50% of my bus ownership being a 2 stroke engine it appeared to me that silicone drop out and the plugging of the radiator was a problem with 2 stroke engines.
I ended up having the radiator recored after about 13 years of age despite absolute adherance to the coolant maintenance schedule.
When the radiator is clean and working efficiently I could attack the longest, steepest hill and the engine temp would get up to 195 but never higher despite the ambient temperature, But over time 195 became 198, then 200 and when it would hit 205 the radiator was replaced.
The Series 60 engines never showed that tendency.
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Just to follow up on my issue. When we washed our bus coming back from the winter desert trip, I noticed a small puddle of pink coolant in the barn. The bus had only been running for 10 minutes, moving in and out of the barn. I looked at the bottom of radiator from inside the engine bay and it looked like it was leaking where the radiator sides are bolted to the core.
There is no way to tighten these bolts with the radiator in the bus. You can get to some of the bolts but not the nuts on the back side. So I was procrastinating…. but a few months later it was time to get the bus ready for next year’s trip.
So, just in case I loaded up with 10 gallons of distilled water and 2 gallons of coolant concentrate and went for a 20 mile test run. Expecting the engine to shut down as it triggers the low coolant alarm. Never happened. No leaks.
I figured, I needed to climb a few hills to get things truly warm, so we went over the coast range to the beach for a few days. 250 miles total. No leaks coming or going. Temperatures were fine as usual.
Without being able to reproduce the leak, I’m hesitant to remove the CAC and the radiator. Of course, this may bite me in the rear should we get stranded 1000 miles from home.
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It is not unusual for leaks in both coolant and air systems to show in colder temps, but not at the radiator. Usually tightening a fitting or clamp ios all that is needed to stop the leak.
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Threegreens: How is your radiator performing?
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No issues during the last year. My guess is the coolant was pushed out the overflow hose when I overfilled during the coolant change. Some of the coolant ended up at the bottom of the radiator causing the concern.
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When refilling coolant it is best to limit the amount in the expansion tank to the level of the sight glass. If it is overfilled and then the engine heats up the coolant that excess will be purged through the pressure relief cap.
Some coaches have two caps, one for overflow, one usually not a vented one for filling. Look or feel on top of the tank for the second cap and just make sure the rubber hose is attached to the neck of the tank so excess coolant gets dumped below the floor pan under the radiator.
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I wish it were the overflow.
I put five gallons in this morning to get mine to 40% of the sight glass. So I don’t think my problem is the overflow.
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I’m amazed you did not shut down. Once the level drops below the sensor in the expansion tank you should have gotten an SEL.
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Damn, I’m so glad to know that when I get to Jon’s age I will know all these kinds of things.
Now all I need to do is buy another Bus so I can practice all these tricks I’ve learned from Jon.
Tom, are you getting there yet, I’ll catch up.
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Buddy,
Quit picking on me. Even Tom is starting to feel sorry for me. He said he might pay me some dues money……….tomorrow.
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Jon: We arrived in Fredricksburg on Tuesday without a check engine light. I now suspect the problem occurred on the trip from New Braunfels to Fredericksburg, there was enough coolant to get parked in Fredericksburg, and then while we were in Fredericksburg the coolant went drip, drip, drip into the gravel. The first two gallons Friday morning weren’t enough to get to the CEL probe, let alone to the sight glass. Three more gallons got me to about 40% of the sight glass. Then we headed to Kerrville about 32 miles away (I was just about finished with an update on my own thread when I musta timed out and got kicked out. Back to the keyboard.)
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DICK: I agree with Jon; you should have gotten a low coolant warning. Have it checked.
When I owned my 1990, I got stuck on the road with a low coolant light caused by a defective low coolant light module. Took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to rewire to bypass the warning to get going. Fixed later but someone may have done that to your coach previously or your system is bad.
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