Road Trip and MC8 not gen lite

[Melbo]

Well I took the bus out for a road trip today.

Albuquerque NM to Santa Fe NM to Taos NM and back in the afternoon Lots of mountains and high altitude,

I haven't read the hubometer yet but will tomorrow when I refuel so I can tell what my mileage was. Everything went well even up the steep grades. The morning trip up was cool and the temps on the bus stayed about 180 to 190 no matter how hard I pushed or how much I lugged the motor. On the way home the temps were near 80 and on one or two up hill climbs I had temps approaching 210 to 220 so I know that while I am doing the plumbing I will have to add the misters for the radiators. This is the first long road trip since I had the radiators recored. I will also have my sheetmetal guy bend me up some stainless steel scoops to help keep the air going into the radiators. I did have an intermittent and perplexing problem. The NOT GEN lite would blink on and then go out. I did not stay on and it did not blink in any consistent pattern. When I was in traffic in Espanola on the way back home I let the engine lug down once or twice and I that was the first time I saw it blink but then it kind of became an irregular habit. The second or third thing I did after I got home was to look at the belts on the alternator and they all looked good I did not check the air pressure at the tensioning cylinder but I cannot believe that it would change enough to make that big a difference. There is a "wiring block" that seems to be just hanging loose in the door at the drivers side kind of by the alternator and I could not see where it should be attached or secured. That side is a very tight fit with the air cleaner right there. I also found where some of my oil leaks are so I will have to fix them myself or get them fixed and clean the engine once again. But all things considered it was a VERY good trip. Any hints about the not gen lite and what the "wiring block" is would be most helpful.

Melbo

[ChuckMC8]

Melbo, sometimes when the not charging light blinks occasionaly, you remedy it by turning on your ID and marker lamps. It needs a small load. On the MCI website there is a great article on testing your voltage regulator., much better than the manual.
    HTH Chuck

[Tom Y]

Melbo, I had a earth mover with a Detroit engine in it. I was told never lug the motor and it will run forever. So I always kept it wound up and never had a problem.  Just a thought.  Tom Y

[Melbo]

Tom Y

Thank you for the info

I have the 4 speed manual and we are getting used to each other

I will try to remember to keep it wound up but at 35 mph and 55 mph it is in the " dead" ZONE for keeping the r's up but the bus will keep moving -- the down shift will take me to 30 or 50 and I am approaching the top of the hill.

Melbo

[tekebird]

Melbo, Luggin will kill your engine.......better to slow down 5 and downshift......

[DrivingMissLazy]

Melbo, Luggin will kill your engine.......better to slow down 5 and downshift......

And letting the temperature get up to 220 degrees is sure death for your engine! In fact you could have possibly already cracked a head.
Richard

[Melbo]

Tom Teke and Richard

Thanks for the heads up.

I will take your tips to heart.

I took the coach out today to the truck stop for lunch and to fuel it up and check the mileage and it ran great. Just like it did yesterday. Before starting it I checked the coolant and the oil and power steering fluid and the tranny fluid. Everything was fine. I didn't use much oil but I'm sure it is down some because all the oil ON the motor.

I got somewhere over 6.1 miles per gallon. I'm not really sure because I put 3.9 hours on the generator which also runs off the diesel. If I figure that the generator ( four cylinder Kubota ) uses about 1/2 gallon per hour I would have gotten 6.3 mpg. I figure that is not bad running from 5000 ft to 8000 feet of elevation and back down. If I understand this correctly the non turbo 8V71 should get better fuel mileage when I drive it in the low elevation flat land. I am amazed that the guy that I bought this bus from could drive it over the Raton Pass to deliver it to me with the radiators in the condition they were in. When I took them in to have them checked I was told that one was running at 30 percent and the other was at 50 percent. The seals around the radiators was all broken up however the door seal at the blowers was new and sealed pretty good. I had to replace the "divirter cones" at the fans. Any way to tell for sure what the temp is at the motor I replaced the temp gauge and sending unit. When I said that I was between 210 and 220 that is an interpolation not an accurate number. I usually park and check with my infrared thermometer if I think that the temp is running up too high. Had it moved up beyond my comfort zone I would have stopped and checked the temp and worked my way out from there.

Melbo

[Tony LEE]

Some MCIs had direct reading oil and temperature gauges in the engine compartment that should have been more accurate than the sender units on the dash.

Efficiency of radiators is very dependent on there not being any leaks around the radiators and around the blower compartment door, but it sounds as if you have renewed all those as part of your refurbishment.