black smoke after up to temp on expredway

[Jriddle]

You are running your bus with no air filters in?  That's a fast way to dust the engine and trash your linings in a hurry from what I've been told.   I would not reccomend that at all. 

Looks like he got good advise on this in a eairlier post.

John

[Scott Crosby]

Well I'll be a grease monkeys uncle, he did get told to run it with no air filters 2x.  I still wouldn't do that.  They said not for long, but didnt say  5min, 1hr, 100 miles, 1000 miles.  Changing air filters is a better diagnosis tool than no air filter to see if the problem goes away.  Especially if they look dirty and look to be in need of a change. Every auto parts store I use can usually have filters in one day if not same day if it's not in stock.   Sort of ironic that this is next to a post on the board right now about did an air filter failure ruin my engine?

But that's just my opinion and I'm not an expert.  If had to throw caution to the wind, I'd still like wind to be filtered that goes down the throat of my engine.   Just me. 

[luvrbus]

I only had 2 recommendations for him Scott 1st was remove the filter connection the other I didn't post but it was to change to the Baldwin PA 2721 filter

[Scott Crosby]

That is the funniest post ever made on this board!   Epic Luvrbus! 

[Dlsnow]

Well I was able to round up 4 air filters from a combination of Napa, O'Reily and Autozone.  So I have a from, two wix and a Napa.  I will let you all know how it goes today.

I got a little scared last night after reading technomadia recent experience with improper air filtration. 

[muldoonman]

Don't know how yours is set up with 4 filters, are they stacked?  Do you have room for one big un  like my 91 prevost has? Sure would be a lot easier to change.

[Ed Hackenbruch]

The PO of my bus rebuilt the engine twice during the 20 years that he had it. The first time was because he wasn't paying attention one time and lugged it and overheated it. He did a quick cheap rebuild on it. The second time was because he had cut a hole in the air channel between the filters and the blower for a project he was working on, and took it out for a short drive before patching the hole. He went thru a construction area that had a lot of fine white powder on the road and it ate the engine. He told me that he did a major rebuild that time. This happened about 12-13 thousand miles before i got it so it should last me for a while.  

[Dlsnow]

The air filters are very easy to change.

On the left side of the engine directly above the left engine bay door there are 4 canisters that are about 8 inch diameter and just over 1 foot tall with a wing nut style release. 

You just loosen the wing Nut, pull out the old element and replace.  All told it is a fifteen minute job.

The engine definitely runs a bit hotter (just below the 180) mark with filters.  It was around 170 without them. So far so good no black smoke.

[TomC]

You should be able to have air filters that present very little restriction. If yours are still oil bath, I would consider changing to paper elements. Or just plainly change out the 4 filters for one big one. Donaldson makes many filters and filter cans of different configurations.

Running an engine without the air filter for a few miles won't hurt it. The bus was driven enough without the filters to know that the problem was the air filters. Good Luck, TomC

[bevans6]

They are probably the old oil-bath filters with a dry filter conversion.  At least, they sound like it.  I had the oil bath filter setup, and I removed it when I installed my new turbo'd engine.  The PO of my bus carefully cleaned the wire mesh filters and ran them dry, and the engine was ruined.  The gritty oil sludge was caked 1/4" thick on the inside of the air box, a whole new meaning to the term "dusted".  I have heard different things about just putting a dry filter in the oil bath housing but really don't know.  My advice on removing the air filter connection (I actually said to pull the top off the blower and check inside) was kind of run it till you get an answer, 5 or 10 miles maybe.  It's kind of a toss-up which is worse, running with faulty clogged up filters or running with no filter for a few dozen miles.  If it were me, what I'd do is what I did do - rip out the stock air filter setup complete and install the biggest Donaldson ECO that would fit.  Mine kind of sits on the muffler cover and takes up the whole space beside the engine on the driver's side.  But I am glad the problem has found a solution!

Brian

[Dlsnow]

Ran great with the new air filters...right up till I blew the inside drive Axel tire.

Who knew a 12r 22.5 was a $600+ tire?

Waiting to get the new tire on now.

[bevans6]

It's not raining where you are, is it?  If it is, it's gonna start to pour...  Talk about a string of bad luck.

Brian

[luvrbus]

That is a big tire they have always been expensive compared to other sizes believe it not tires are sold by the weight to distributors

[TexasBorderDude]

When I left Cliffords and headed East in August, l left my IR thermometer gun and hadn't been checking the tires even by touching by hand.  Sure enough I blew the right front.  Age?  Low air?  Heat?  Who knows?

Has anyone ever blown a tire that they had checked and was running at normal temps?  Has anyone ever blown a tire that they had not been checking?

[Fredward]

Last Spring I found 12R-22.5 load range H for around $320.00. Hankook Tires. I know not the best but for my 6,000 miles a year they seem fine.

Of course sitting on the side of the road with a blowout is a hard time to go tire shopping. BTDT.