Cooling issues solved, finally

[Strider]

Hi all,

I've been around on the old board (2000-2005) as then was when I was building my Neoplan but in 2002 I had to put in a new engine (Cummins, C series8.3TCA) and lost most of my power steering and never really had sufficient cooling with my new hydraulic fan drive.

To get to the point, the hydraulic solution is excellent once it is debugged and operating properly but we drove our bus over 40,000 miles with this problem. This winter I tore the system apart and replace all elements with newer Dan Foss hardware with a really novel control system called a thermovalve.

Theh Dan Foss motor has pilot control valve with is controlled by the thermovlave (located in the coolant line from the engine to the radiator which controls the pilot flow tot he main motor. Bottom line is that the thermo valve does not use much HP when the engine is cold but as it warms it starts cutting the pilot flow and pushes more to the motor and away from the bypass. It also has a top speed for the fan set by the pressure relieve valve which then linits the massive amount of HP needed to spin the fan a max engine RPM.

I got the motor from Surplus supply ($800 motor for $200). The Thermo valve I got from the local Dan Foss reps ($300) but I could have gotten it from Whitehouse for about $150.

Right now I've experimented with my but pulling 5000 lb SUV going up hills, full power and the engine temp never gets above 195 F ever (so far).  Now we are planning to head west from Austin TX to the great SW and see if we can break this system.  Note that I've survived with an extermal radiator mister set at 210 F.   FYI, the issue I had with the original hydraulic system was a defective pressure relief valve. Now I have great cooling and also great power steering again!!

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Strider,

Welcome back!

We have undergone alot of changer here... Hay, maybe you can post a picture of that Thormovalve, and your bus.

Thanks
Nick-

[kwidd]

Do you have a part number for the thermo valve? Thanks Kent