Hey all... My bus is a true RV (ruined vacation). We drove 400 plus miles to the Oregon Coast and broke down upon arrival. My radiator fan exploded and took out the radiator with it. I've located a radiator but I am having a hard time finding a fan. It's a 9 blade 30" fan. The clutch seems to be fine. It looks like a rock went through the radiator and took the fan with it. I have about a 3/8" hole that goes into the radiator as far as I can see, and with the fan blades exploding, there is a bunch of other damage to the surface as well. I've contacted Sam Caylor but haven't heard back yet. I found a used radiator for $650 in Conneticut. They are also checking on a fan. Any ideas on locating a fan? It took me a while to get to a wi-fi connection and I don't recall my password so I am unable to get into the board on my phone. This is for my 2002 MCI D4500. It's the fan on the true radiator side (passenger). Now that I have a wi-fi connection, I'll try to obtain my password. Thanks everyone!
This is from Gary's list of bus contacts in OregonOregon
Bend Northwest Navigator Bus 62980 Boyd Acres Rd (503) 285-3000
Boring (Portland) Western Bus Sales 30355 OR-212 (503) 905-0002
Coburg (N of Eugene) Coach Glass 91302 N Coburg Industrial Way (541) 762-1873
Coburg (N of Eugene) Marathon Coach 91333 Coburg Industrial Way (514) 343-9991
Eugene Anderson Brothers Truck Repair 2640 Hwy 99 N (541) 688-8686
Eugene Bus Life Studios (541) 636-3172
Eugene Coach Pro 120 Cleveland St #5 (800) 918-7172
Eugene MTRWestern 235 Cap Court (541) 344-1403
Eugene Wrico International 86337 College View Rd (541) 744-4333
Grant's Pass Henderson's Line-Up 417 SW Henderson Lane (541) 326-4033
Hillsboro Hillsboro Diesel & Truck Services 2770 SE Tualatin Valley Hwy (503) 640-4669
Oregon City (Portland) Tim Miller RV Repair 19655 Meyers Rd Yes (503) 655-7967
Pendleton Woodpecker Truck & Equipment 40275 Clark Ln (888) 966-3732
Portland Blue Star Charters & Tours 8250 NE ML King Blvd (503) 249-1837
Portland Jubitz 10244 North Vancouver Way (503) 283-3270
Portland MTRWestern 8101 NE 11th Ave (503) 241-3778
Portland Northwest Navigator Bus 13940 N Rivergate Blvd (503) 285-3000
Roseburg Southern Oregon Diesel 7157 Old Hwy 99 N (541) 672-7400
Complete Coach
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FACILITY 2301 Monarch St Suite 100A
Alameda, CA 94501
MAP IT (https://goo.gl/maps/rmaD96MD7L22)
Phone: (510) 749-1398 (https://www.busconversionmagazine.com/forum/tel:+15107491938)
Fax: (510) 749-1498
These guys have a ton of D parts, give them a call.
https://www.fowlersautowrecking.com/
Order from MCI they will ship it to a place that does their Warranty work,they cost $159.00 before CV-19 no telling what they cost now
I might have one. It's new old stock and been in my inventory since about 2010 and I would like it gone. I will look today to see if it's 30" or 32" and take a pic of it. I am just north of Portland about 32 miles. Will post here after I dig it out.
Mark
Quote from: thomasinnv on October 03, 2023, 08:23:20 AM
These guys have a ton of D parts, give them a call.
https://www.fowlersautowrecking.com/
That's the people I'm ordering my radiator from! $650 plus shipping. They're working on getting me a fan too.
Quote from: Boomer on October 03, 2023, 09:45:52 AM
I might have one. It's new old stock and been in my inventory since about 2010 and I would like it gone. I will look today to see if it's 30" or 32" and take a pic of it. I am just north of Portland about 32 miles. Will post here after I dig it out.
Mark
Hey boomer... I have yet to secure a fan, so if yours is available, that would be great. I thought the radiator would be the hard find, but it turns out the be the fan! I'll check back again later. I have the fan assembly removed, the shroud is out, and the radiator is only lacking disconnecting the 2 radiator pipe connections to having it ready to replace. I only have about 4 hours into the disassembly, and I had all the tools with me. I'll have to go home and come back once I secure all the parts, as I have a friend coming down to pick us up on Thursday.
I'm concerned about your description of the damage. Are you sure it was a rock and not a bullet hole? I'm trying to wrap my mind around how a rock would get in there with enough force for that kind of damage.
Quote from: mqbus767 on October 04, 2023, 11:48:17 AM
I'm concerned about your description of the damage. Are you sure it was a rock and not a bullet hole? I'm trying to wrap my mind around how a rock would get in there with enough force for that kind of damage.
I was wondering the same thing.
Wait...not the bullet thought. The rock thought.
Sounds like a bullet to me. Scary if true but not shocking these days.
Those buses have plastic fans on both the inter cooler and radiator i doubt a rock or bullet caused the failure, the plastic fans break and fly apart on their own with age, MCI has a complex system with the idlers, clutches , belts and bearings on that system, the newer models have all electric fans across the rear now. I would replace the inter cooler fan to it is next in line to fail. You have to give him a thumbs up that radiator and fan can be a bitch to remove sometimes
Ok, so we're home, but the bus is still 450 miles away parked in a lot behind the Face Rock Creamery in Bandon Oregon. A friend came and picked us up and we drove the 10 hours home (including stops). I purchased an 8 month old radiator and a fan (don't know the age of the fan) from the Fowler outfit in Connecticut. The radiator was installed in a bus in June of 2021 and the bus was decommissioned 8 months later. The radiator still has the original date of manufacture on it of September, 2020. I was able to verify all the mounting hole locations as being the same. I'm having it delivered to my son's place of work and it should be here on the 12th. I decided to not have it delivered to the place where it's broke down (the Bandon Auto Repair next door said I could have it delivered to them, but I would hate to have it show up damaged or something, then I would be in a worse fix). My son and I will be leaving the next day (whenever it actually does show up) and we'll install it. I have the fan assembly removed, the radiator is all unbolted, shroud is out and is ready to finish draining, remove the hose connections and pull it out. Removing everything up to this point only took me about 3 hours total and that by myself. I disconnected the crossmember that goes from one clutch to the other and was able to remove the radiator fan clutch, crossmember and vertical member in one piece, but it was very heavy. That is now sitting in the front bay. My son will be helping put it all back together. Thank you everyone for advice and diesel repair locations.
Glad to hear it.
Ditto
Quote from: Glennman on October 06, 2023, 05:11:24 PM
Ok, so we're home, but the bus is still 450 miles away parked in a lot behind the Face Rock Creamery in Bandon Oregon. A friend came and picked us up and we drove the 10 hours home (including stops). I purchased an 8 month old radiator and a fan (don't know the age of the fan) from the Fowler outfit in Connecticut. The radiator was installed in a bus in June of 2021 and the bus was decommissioned 8 months later. The radiator still has the original date of manufacture on it of September, 2020. I was able to verify all the mounting hole locations as being the same. I'm having it delivered to my son's place of work and it should be here on the 12th. I decided to not have it delivered to the place where it's broke down (the Bandon Auto Repair next door said I could have it delivered to them, but I would hate to have it show up damaged or something, then I would be in a worse fix). My son and I will be leaving the next day (whenever it actually does show up) and we'll install it. I have the fan assembly removed, the radiator is all unbolted, shroud is out and is ready to finish draining, remove the hose connections and pull it out. Removing everything up to this point only took me about 3 hours total and that by myself. I disconnected the crossmember that goes from one clutch to the other and was able to remove the radiator fan clutch, crossmember and vertical member in one piece, but it was very heavy. That is now sitting in the front bay. My son will be helping put it all back together. Thank you everyone for advice and diesel repair locations.
Check the used fan close ,the plastic fans Prevost and MCI use are pretty much a P/M item, if has nicks , discolored and fells brittle I wouldn't use it ,I replaced the bearings, fan clutch and fan blade on my D,I didn't like the price of the Linning 3 speed fan clutch but don't like being broke down in La/La land either. The fan should never be full speed till the series 60 reaches 210F and asks for more cooling
Sorry, I meant to put the quote to luvrbus (above) in a reply, not a quote!
Boy, do I have my posts mixed up! Anyway, I don't think I mentioned in any of them that I found a steel rod about 1/4" across, 10 inches long and tapered to a point at one end. It was sitting upright in the fan shroud. It has to be what got stuck in the radiator, as it fits perfectly in the 2" deep hole in the upper right hand corner. How it got up there I have no idea. At first I thought that maybe it flew up off the road and got caught in the fan belt at the crank pully and got thrown upward into the radiator. Then I got to thinking that maybe it was left by someone on top of the radiator and it finally fell down into the fan. It's just crazy, but once it made the 2" hole, the blades would have hit it quite a few times before it finally dislodging and falling into the shroud. Who knows!
At any rate, I don't like the idea of putting an old fan back in, so unless I find a newer one, I'll put the one in that's coming from Fowler until I get it home, then I'll be searching for a new one.
Bummer misfortune! We run an old fan off a parts bus and it serves us well. Hope a fast recovery for you. Better than being in the line of fire (bullet) me thinks.
You always raise the tail gate on a D to check the radiators, intercooler and fans mounting there are a lot of parts back there that can go crazy and cost you a bundle to repair when a $10 bearing goes out,a intercooler fan breaking can cost you $1500.00 (before CV-19) for a new intercooler
I'm going to have to inspect my fan/radiator components.
Glen and basically have the same bus.
Ditto, but it all seems to be working and I hate to borrow trouble. What would be the important things to look at?
Jim
For me a better understanding of the fan clutch system would be in order!
That rod through the radiator is kinda weird. Any chance it could have been picked up by the fan and flung into the radiator? A screwdriver or ratchet extension or something left behind by accident
Jim
Sorry, I got busy and forgot to get back to you. My fan is a 9 blade 34". Sounds like you are covered now anyway.
Quote from: Boomer on October 11, 2023, 07:36:43 PM
Sorry, I got busy and forgot to get back to you. My fan is a 9 blade 34". Sounds like you are covered now anyway.
Thanks boomer! Mine is a 30" x 9 blade anyway. Take care...
So, I got my new to me radiator in. It looks like it will be a perfect fit.
However, the fan (came from the same place) is different. The plate in center where it fits against the clutch is flat and the one off my bus is concave. That will put the new fan blades 1" further away from the radiator, and so likewise 1" further towards the rear hatch. Since I don't have the bus with me, I can't tell if it will hit anything being further into the rear, and the best I can tell from my pictures is that it shouldn't conflict with the belts or clutch. I'm hoping it won't affect cooling, as the fan blades will still travel within the plane of the shroud.
That being said, I'm going to go down anyway, as I have outdone my welcome at Face Rock Creamery in Bandon OR. It's about 9 hours there and I will have my pickup with us too. If it doesn't work, I'll be having it towed to one of the truck repair outfits in Roseburg OR from the list provided earlier in this thread.
Wish me luck!