Hot engine

[Fred Mc]

It's a hot day here and as I'm sitting looking at my bus I thought about those buses that overheat and I was wondering if replacing the solid engine cover with a mesh screen would help to alleviate the problem. In my case it would simply be a matter of removing the fibrrglass sheet and putting on mesh.

Regards

Fred

[chessie4905]

what type of vehicle are we talking about? You dont have it listed in your bio.

[Scott & Heather]

Some people have done this with some success. Fred Hobe is a well respected bus converter who swore it helped. I'd like to try it sometime. It probably won't make a huge difference but every little bit helps.


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[Templar52]

Oh no ! You have to fix the overheating at the source. There is not mutch to do else.

[Fred Mc]

My bus is GMPD4106. I don't have an overheating problem.I was just wondering out loud if it would be beneficial.It seems to me I have seen an MCI with the back doors open though. In the case of the Gm's the engine cover is the full width of the bus so it would almost be like the engine is sitting out in the open air- so to speak.

[bevans6]

I think a lot of it depends on the airflow in the engine compartment.  On MCI's the air flow is down from the blowers, across the engine and out the bottom of the engine bay - a major low pressure area created by air flow under the bus and the rubber flaps behind the tires.  Opening the doors out - either with mesh or with simple open doors, lets air out into the space at the rear of the bus - another major low pressure area.  It reduces any helpful cooling of the block itself in favor of sucking the air out directly.  And dumping any oil, dust, debris directly onto whatever is following the bus, plus it exposes the engine compartment to the weather a bit more, and you can see the ugly bits.  In a commercial environment keeping a clean, neat, secure appearance is pretty important.  At the end of the day getting hot air out of the engine compartment is probably a net benefit as long as you keep the negative pressure behind the radiator and cooling fan.

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

My previous bus, an MC-9 with a 6v92 would frequently overheat when driving thru 95+ degree temps especially when climbing long grades.  So I would open the engine doors and run with them open until I hit cooler temps. I learned this from a Greyhound driver who ran the Vegas route who said this will help and it does drop the engine temperature significantly.

This of course created a new problem with everyone who passed me rolling down their car windows and shouting at me that my back doors are open (apparently they thought the engine would fall out  ) so I had to send them all a Thumbs Up to let them know it is okay.  So bottom line, anything you can do to get your engine more ambient air will help including using mesh in the doors.

But as others have said, this is a band aid.  You may want to look into having your radiator(s) fins cleaned out or have the radiator(s) rodded out or first replace your coolant with the exact proper mix for the temps you want to drive in as that helps too.  Every little bit helps.  If that does not work, you can always install a mister system as some folks here in the hot dry southwest do and mist some water on the radiators when climbing hills and that will drop the temps almost instantly.  But then you may have to deal with dirty fins again but that is better than overheating the engine.

[brmax]

I remember someone made custom replacement engine doors that had louvers.


Good day

Floyd

[buswarrior]

IBP industries in Florida will make up matching custom panels for all our coaches.

Fluting in the stainless matches.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[TomC]

After turboing my 8V-71, I installed two louver vents on the door from McMaster. Also when I installed the Jakes, removed the valve cover door cover exposing the valve cover. Also installed an auxiliary transmission cooler, larger air cleaner with additional air intake vent. Good Luck, TomC

[Oonrahnjay]

After turboing my 8V-71, I installed two louver vents on the door from McMaster. Also when I installed the Jakes, removed the valve cover door cover exposing the valve cover. Also installed an auxiliary transmission cooler, larger air cleaner with additional air intake vent. Good Luck, TomC

      Is the aux. transmission cooler to reduce the heat load on the oil in your bus/engine, Tom?

[Iceni John]

     Is the aux. transmission cooler to reduce the heat load on the oil in your bus/engine, Tom?

I did the same as TomC, and for the same reason.   I have a Thermal Dynamics DB-00341DC remote cooler between the torque converter's output and the engine's heat exchanger, and the transmission fluid now is always the same temperature as the coolant.   This means I'm not dumping extra heat into the coolant.   In hot weather I run the cooler's electric fan all the time, and when it's cooler outside it runs according to a 195F temperature switch.

John

[Branderson]

Excuse my ignorance but if the engine is overheating, doesn't that mean something is mechanically wrong?  I understand doing things to mitigate it but aren't they built to run in all temps day and night? 

[windtrader]

What's the setup for measuring transmission fluid temp?

[Iceni John]

For an HT740, the sender is high up on the driver's side of the TC housing.   Because my old Teleflex gauge was possessed (it used to gradually increase all the way up to over 300F over several days when parked, with the ignition and even the batteries turned off!), I replaced it with a Speedhut.   Accurate, good resolution, easy to read, made in USA.   Well worth it.

John