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Warning Lights Question
Ok I have a Question about the Dash warning lights. There is a Rocker Switch on the lower left of the Dash that is Red and says ” Override ” And there are some warning lights on the upper Right side of the Dash that Have the same Simbol as the Override Switch. One Amber and says Check , The othe is Red and says Stop. What do these warning lights indicate ? Mine will come on and go off .
Thanks in Advance !
Rocky
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7 Replies
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Rocky,
There are two warning lights that are activated by your DDEC. The CEL or check engine light is telling you something is wrong and the DDEC has thrown a code which can be read either by flashing the codes or by hooking up a reader.
The second warning light is more serious and that one is the SEL or stop engine light. When that comes on the DDEC is seeing one of three conditions. High coolant temp, low oil pressure, or low coolant level. Those three conditions are the only three that will cause DDEC to shut the engine down. They may be real or it may be simply a bad sensor, but regardless you need to get off the highway NOW. There is a delay before the system will shut the bus down, but if you are unable to immediately get on the shoulder or off the highway you can use the momentary rocker switch to provide you with a few more seconds to get to safety. Once safe you can determine if the issue is real or is a defective sensor.
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The purpose of the rocker switch is to allow you move the bus if the stop engine has shut you down. It doesn’t give you much time, but could get you off the road.
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It is most likely a Low Coolant issue. I remember having to add some to get them to go off when I first purchased the Coach. Had a Brain Fart !
Thanks for the Info.
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Adding collent should not be needed on a regular basic ,, you need to find were it is going.
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David is correct, but sometimes new owners fill the coolant reservoir. Then after driving for a while, letting it cool they check the coolant level and find that it is down a few inches. So they refill the reservoir.
What is happening is the large volume of coolant in our coaches is expanding when it gets hot, and with a full reservoir the excess coolant is released overboard through the overflow. We have two caps on our reservoirs usually. One just seals it and is usually where we fill the reservoir. The other is on the top of the reservoir and has a spring that allows pressure to build to a point and then the excess is vented out. That is where the coolant might be going.
Filling the tank to just the halfway point (above the sight glass) is just about right.
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GoneCrazy,
I can’t tell from the posting or your signature what series Detroit Diesel you have in your coach. I think you might have an 8V92 if your chassis was built in 1994, or an early Series 60 if the chassis and conversion were built in 1995.
One area that coolant could be lost on the 8v92 is at the seals on the Cylinder sleeve and the block casting. I know this from experience. In May of 2012 we took a trip to Nashville to visit our daughter. Got to the RV Park, let things cool down and then checked all fluids, belts, tires, etc. Well the Surge Tank sight glass was empty. In the five years of ownership it had steadfastly remained at the mid point of the sight glass. Looked all over for a leak, loose clamps, any thing that might have allowed coolant to exit the system. I found nothing. Now maybe this was foolish, but I topped off with distilled water and headed back to home base.
Got there and the sight glass was empty again. I had been focused on my temp gauge and it showed normal ranges. I took it to a heavy equipment shop north of home base for further analysis. They pulled an oil sample and found minerals that are normally associated with antifreeze and NOT with motor oil. So now we have to find the leak point. To do this the oil was drained and pressure applied to the cooling system. Yep, one cylinder was weeping a small amount of water when cool. The amount would only increase at higher temps/pressure.
So off with the top end, manifold, cylinder head in order to get at the leaker. Once we had the head off we noticed some anomolies in the Cylinder Sleeve. The honing markers were still visible, indicating a rebuild in the not too distant past, and a scour mark vertically on the sleeve. So off came the other head and similar patterns were showing on a couple more sleeves. Decision made to have an in chassis rebuild, with a three week time deadline.
Let’s get to the chase. We found and fixed the leak. Engine ran fine for a total of 245 miles before it threw a rod and broke the block. Grandson looked at me after opening the side engine access door and said, “How we going to fix that Papa?” Ah the optimisim of youth!
So depending on which engine you have this is eight more possible leak points on the 8V92.
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Will, the engine ran 245 miles after rebuild and puked? Sounds like somebody didn’t do something right. This is coming from somebody that quit building our drag engines years ago late at night with large amounts of Budweisher throw in to equation.
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