Cooling system (and other) issues, with pics! 6v92T

philiptompkjns · May 08, 2010, 03:28:08 PM

After my last very short trip in the bus I noticed this hose clamp broken with a steady drip of coolant coming out.

The temp at the end of the last trip had climed up to about 220 on the gauge and I had attributed it to the sub-standard air filter that I am temporarily using... This theory made sense because after parking and idling the temp came back down, I had just noticed the leaking/broken hose clamp because my POS Ebay master relay gets stuck ON sometimes and I have to shut it down manually.
No big deal right? So I just changed the hose camp and begun to refill it.

So as I'm refilling it I notice a dripping from this:

That picture was shot through the left engine bay door where the air box is.
Looks like the water pump is pouring (I think thats the water pump anyway). I do not see how this is possible because last time it was running it was dripping from the radiator hose which it much higher in the system.
Did the water pump fail while it was parked? Or did the water level get low enough for it to suck air and burn up? Does that even make sense?

And it even gets better... As I was still trying to locate the exact location of that leak, I poured more water into it and the bottom of the drivers side radiator starts POURING.
Is it normal that one leak or running low on coolant causes many more? I'm confused and frustrated. If anyone needs a rust bucket 102a3, a allison auto, or a 6v92T non-DDEC, I'm about to try to dump this thing for half of what I paid for it.

After reading other threads on coolant I noticed that mine has a greenish tint, its not bright green probably because I poured a few gallons of straight water in it. Apparently the coolant is supposed to be pink, does this have anything to do with my coordinated failures?

One more: Would water pouring onto the engine control box on the drivers side of the engine bay cause the engine start circuit to fail? I tested the switch up front with an ohm meter and tried to start it with the switch in the rear. I did get it started by jumping the starter solenoid though and immediately shut it down because the hole in the back of the water pump started pouring more rapidly.

I really think I want to get rod of this bus now, I'm too close to the ocean to keep a bus outside. It had a bit of rust when I got it and since then 1. I've noticed more of it, and 2. It has seriously expanded.
Rust quantity is hard to measure except you can see it on the skin. There was one small spot of bubbling pain 5 months ago, it has at least quadrupled in size now.

Ace · May 08, 2010, 04:27:26 PM

220 degrees is pretty darn hot for a 2 stroke and even some 4 strokes would be getting on the edge!

I think you did more damage than you think by letting it get that high!

I have a ddec and mine got up to 205 and THAT had me on edge but it soon cooled down when I got off the hill I was climbing!

Chopper Scott · May 08, 2010, 04:44:15 PM

Any overheating has nothing to do with your air filter. All of our busses generally cool off quickly when we take our foot out of it or idle it as in your case. It sounds like you have quite a few issues to address. Hopefully you didn't get the engine to hot.

robertglines1 · May 08, 2010, 05:03:34 PM

datt sucks!! pump could be a gasket? prob PO put stop leak in system and when it leaked the coolant out it released all the holes it was pluging..If ya like the bus fix it..Good luck ! Bob

TomC · May 09, 2010, 08:24:31 AM

Since you got the engine hot, I'd run a gas test in the coolant to see if you have a cracked cylinder head that is leaking into the cooling system. 92 series are very fragile to overheating (71's also, but to a lesser degree). My hot water alarm sounds at 215 degrees-of which I've only heard once. Now I pull over when the temp gets to 200 degrees and take a 5 minute cool down break. Get the cooling system up to snuff-an engine rebuild is $$$. Good Luck, TomC

trapper · May 09, 2010, 01:00:09 PM

Some water pumps have a weep hole in them that will let the coolant out if the seal in the shaft fails. If that is the problem you will find a small diameter hole that the coolant is coming out of. If that is the source of the coolant leaking then it is time to replace or reseal the pump.

Van · May 09, 2010, 05:23:48 PM

Ouch! Phil! boy is this an all to familiar tale

210 max is what was beaten into my noggin when I got our bus,busted radiator, leaking coolant system and all

. you can do sample testing, check your air box(s) for traces of coolant. Now that the engine is cool again

, see if it will start up . It don't take much more than 210 to screw the 2-stroke up, but 220?, I do hope that your gauge was incorect. First time , it cost me a new set of heads and there was little hope at that point, the second time we got to ride with a very pleasant young man from Great West towing (Kingman,Az) and the cost of a replace ment engine, which is what was called for the first go round.

Good luck and keep us posted. Van

belfert · May 09, 2010, 05:34:13 PM

I have a Series 60 in my bus. I had cooling issues when I boght the bus. The DDEC shut it down on one grade because it got hot. Supposedly the DDEC shutdown is at 218 degrees. Luckily I had enough sense to restart the engine and let it cool down on the shoulder.

No harm done that I can tell, but it appears a 4 stroke handles heat better. I have since fixed the cooling problems and can climb any grade and the thermostat doesn't move.

Ace · May 09, 2010, 05:46:32 PM

Brian, that's exactly what the series 60 was designed to do, pull hills with no problems! They have more torque than the 2 strokes and I think the shut down on them is at 220!

Van · May 09, 2010, 06:00:20 PM

As it turns out the PO disconected the auto shut down and...well lets just say the PO wore out the idiot lights, causethe bulbs were toast.LOL

philiptompkjns · May 10, 2010, 02:37:35 PM

Quote from: trapper on May 09, 2010, 01:00:09 PM
Some water pumps have a weep hole in them that will let the coolant out if the seal in the shaft fails. If that is the problem you will find a small diameter hole that the coolant is coming out of. If that is the source of the coolant leaking then it is time to replace or reseal the pump.

That is why I posted pictures of this, is that the weep hole?

And I have no idea how accurate the gauge is, and besides the start circuit failure, it starts just fine.

I know it was hotter than normal, but the gauge never pegged and the water never boiled out (no steam and there was water still dripping from an upper hose after shutdown). Also, it did cool back down after idling for a few minutes before I shut it down.

philiptompkjns · May 12, 2010, 11:08:00 AM

Quote from: robertglines1 on May 08, 2010, 05:03:34 PM
datt sucks!! pump could be a gasket? prob PO put stop leak in system and when it leaked the coolant out it released all the holes it was pluging..If ya like the bus fix it..Good luck ! Bob

yeah this is kind of what dallas indicated and makes sense.

Well weather or not i decide to sell it at this point i need to get it running. If anyone had a spare radiator or water pump that they want to sell let me know. The PM system on here don't seem too hot so feel free to email me at philiptopkins@usa.com

JackConrad · May 12, 2010, 12:23:56 PM

HTR had a similar leak from his water pump when he arrived at our place last winter. We finally ended up replacing the water pump with a rebuilt unit. If it is leaking from the weep hole, the seal in the pump is worn out. Jack

busnut104 · May 12, 2010, 04:28:37 PM

Having a problem with my dump truck that I just had a inframe done. I replaced both head, they where cracked, my gauge never went over 200 but I replaced the gauge and added a second to the other head. there is around 6 degree different s between the two. How I think it is running hot, It has been cool here and it will run up around 190 to 200 even when not working it, just driving with out a load. So I took the radiator to the shop, They did a flow test and said that it seamed to be alright, but to really find out they would have to take it apart and rod it out. This is a old radiator so I really did not want to do this but, this is what had to be done. Well later on in the after noon a phone call. and yes the expected I have to buy a new core, in the tune of around 2000. I'm having them make a larger radiator, I guess more tubes. The shop said that they where not sure this is my problem. So off comes the water pump. The DD shop said the only thing that could be wrong with that is the seal or bearing, or the impeller moving on the shaft, None of the above so reinstalled. I will get the radiator back in q coupl of days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Oh we had just also installed new 170 thermostats. It did not make a lot of difference, it had 180 before. It has been one of those days.

JohnEd · May 12, 2010, 06:24:41 PM

Great move on installing two heat senders. I think you can toast a head and see normal temps on the single gauge system. I also intend to install a second "shut down" temp sender so that feature will be backed up. The shut down needs an audible and a bright red light.....like the race cars. I think the stock system gives you 20 seconds to find the side of the road before shutdown happens. Sounds like a good project.

Good luck,

John