Well we set off for a tour thru Gippsland and Madam wanted to go to Mallacoota,
Took us two days to get there, Scenic trip on the way, Visiting various towns on the way, Was great,
From the highway to Mallacoota is 40 odd Kilometres of skinny winding road, (30 Miles approx)
I missed the turn and had to turn around in the RV Free Park on the other side of the river,
You cant turn around my coach on this highway, Hahahaha,
Just before I got into Mallacoota,, The big red light on the dash came on, Whats that light, Its not the air pressure light,
If I stop on this road, Nothing can get past me, I would block the road, So I drive into Mallacoota, Still very worried about this big red light, About 5 miles,
I pull up beside the waterfront, Hop out and walk around the coach, Nothing is coming out of the coach,
No steam coming out as in a radiator leak, I just dont know what it is,
I have dinner, Then I check the radiator level, It takes 3 gallons of water, Then I look under the coach, Its running out as fast as I put it in,
Its a hose at the bottom of the engine, near the back, So I start it up, wait for the air to come up and then drive it up on blocks, so I can get under the coach,
No wonder there was no water under the coach, The motor and radiator were empty, Long before I pulled up,
Im glad I didnt blow the motor,
I take the hose off and walk up to the Servo and thankfully he has a piece of 3/4 inch hose to repair the leak with, Its six inches long,
I replace the hose and we are right to go again,
I fill the radiator again with gallons of water, It was down the bottom so the radiator and engine would be empty,
So it would take a fair amount of water, But this amount seems excessive,
I look under the coach and its pissing out as fast as I pour it in, Bugga me, I have another leak under there,
This one is in the front of the engine, Duhhhh, Its one of those two pipes just behind the plate with all the Pulleys on it,
So I take most of the belts off, The Alternator, Then the bolt in the centre of the plate refuses to move,
Rounded head, Bugga, So I buys a battery 4 inch grinder and cut the head off it, $600 down the tube, I have four 4 inch grinders sitting on my bench at home, You think I am pissed off by now, GRRRRRRRRRR
I change out both the short hoses and there is nothing wrong with them,
The water is coming from some where above these two hoses, Up inside the motor, I have no idea,
The local mechanic drops in for a look and says that it might be the water pump leaking from behind the front plate,
Mallacoota is a tourist beach holiday area, It has no services what so ever, Its 500 kays from home,
Its 250 kays from the nearest anything to do with heavy vehicles,
The mechanic says Pambula is very expensive,
I dont know any one in Bairnsdale, the nearest heavy haulage tow trucks and mechanics, Its still 300 kays from my place in Melbourne,
So I decide I might as well get it towed to my local mechanic, , Close to home, Any problems fixing it, I am close at hand, Another $4500-00 for the tow down the tube,
3208 Cat is an old motor and no one works on them,
The mechanic has a look and he says its the plastic bit between the heads thats gone, Common problem with these old motors,
So I now have to remove the heads to get this plastic tube repaired or replaced,
Its too long to just push it in, It needs the heads to slide forwards to replace it,
Or I take the front plate off the motor to replace the plastic tube, And thats a big job,
My mechanic dont want to touch it, or wait 4 months before he does, Duhhhh
I am looking at getting a heavy haulage tow truck to bring it back to my place and I will do the work myself,
Top of my drive is a bit tricky with a tow truck and coach in tow,
But it will be easy to do on my ramps, I can get under the coach and in the back door easily,
Most of the work will be done inside with the bed up out of the way,
This all took four days parked on the side of the road at Mallacoota, Shot our holiday to hell, But it was a nice scenic spot to break down at, Even tho I spent the whole time working on the coach,
Now to buy a Full 1989, Catapillar, 3208 Turbo engine rebuild gasket set, It looks like that will come from the USA as well,
I cant find one here,
Sorry to hear of your problem Brian. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
Can the heads be removed from above in the bedroom? My '81 FTX and current '99 U320 can allow that. Also you still don't know if there is any other damage from the overheating that took place. Have the heads checked and look for cylinder cracks.
Fortunately I can get at the motor from above under the bed, Makes it very easy,
I dont think I have damaged the engine as I started it up to put it on the blocks to work under it,
And it wasnt making any expensive noises, Grinding, Hard to start, Etc, It flicked over instantly on the first press of the starter button,
And it was running normally while I put it up on the blocks, Even with no water in the motor,
You can run a motor with no water in the engine for a couple of minutes with no damage to the motor,
5 minutes with no water, Is really pushing it,
I was very worried with it idling to bring up the air pressure, Once it got air pressure I ran it up on the blocks and cut off the engine,
Plus it was running okay when I first stopped to check on the red light, I had turned the engine off,
I did let it cool down before I started it up again,
A few more miles and it would have been a throw away engine,
Its a very expensive process to replace a 3 inch long bit of plastic tube,
The problems from overheating don't show up until the engine is full of water running and pressurized. Had the issue on my 977 cat with the 3206 engine, small cracks around the injector area.
I will have a close inspection once I get the heads off, Hard to tell untill then,