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Topic: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! (Read 4185 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #40 –
How do you turn down the charger amperage? Are you referring to "power sharing" setting? If you have this setting, change it to 15 amps, which will keep the charger from overloading the shore power. Fully charged batteries will only use a few amps from the battery charger to keep 12-volt items powered.

The only way to manage your amp draw is to control your appliances and not run too much at one time. Only high wattage heating items like microwave, water heater, floor heater, hair dryer can cause a problem. TV, computer etc only draw very little current so they will not be a problem. And learn where the church circuit breaker is located, in case you trip it.

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #41 –
20 Amps at 120V is approx 190 amps at 12 Volts after subtracting for conversion factors. Should be no problem. Don't run the air conditioner, etc.

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #42 –
Apparently there's no power to the electric outlet on the light pole near where I'm parked, so it's irrelevant, but thanks for the information.

Today a couple of guys from the church where I'm stranded helped me attempt to remove the radiator. We ran out of time but they'll come back on Monday I think. There's no way we were gonna get that big honkin radiator out the back door, so we attempted to slide it out the bottom of the coach. Currently the fan shroud won't go down past the fan clutch shaft. I was attempting to remove the fan clutch when the guys ran out of time and had to leave. What are the two small hoses that pass beneath the radiator and go into the frame of the coach in the very back, down near the trailer hitch? The radiator was hanging by those two hoses so I had to cut them off. I'll replace them later but I don't even know what they are or what's inside the frame back there. Is it a hydraulic fluid reservoir or a coolant reservoir or something like that?

Tennessee Towing came back today after hauling another commercial truck that had a fiberglass fan explosion. He had another one the other day since mine too. He said it blew the whole front of the truck off. Mine was a minor fan failure I guess... You guys, check your fan and if it's fiberglass get rid of it now, before it fails catastrophically. Don't wait because you'll be stranded here in a place where nobody will work on it. It's a very difficult job to replace a radiator yourself, even with helpers and a hydraulic jack. This is the biggest, heaviest radiator I've ever seen in any vehicle... and the most expensive.

I found the fan, a Flex-a-Lite 8681, at Parts River on the internet for half the price Foretravel charges. I called Flex-a-Lite and spoke to their engineering tech support about my fiberglass fan failure and was told they switched to nylon with fiberglass reinforcement about ten years ago and have had no fan failures since then except for collisions with foreign objects... I hope that's true cuz I NEVER wanna take this radiator out again as long as I live! (laugh)... which won't be long if I drop it on myself.

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #43 –
Scott,
Those two hoses are air box drains.  This is something unique to 2 cycle Detroits.  A very small amount of oil drains out of these and Foretravel uses the frame cross member as a capture reservoir.  You'll find a drain valve somewhere in the middle of the cross member that you are supposed to drain at every oil change.  When ever I open it it hardly a drop comes out.  I suppose with higher HP versions and other applications where it's pushed harder there would be more oil coming out of these drains.  At 300 hp these engines are just not having to work very hard.  Now the cooling system is another story - on a hot day going up a grade it's pushed to it's limits.  Once you get your new radiator you should be all set for sometime as long as you periodically clean it.  It will get dirty on the fan side where it hardest to see and reach.

Attached is a commentary on DD 2 strokes that I save from the internet sometime ago that talks about the air box drains and other things.  Some of the info refers to mechanical injection where ours is the electronic DDEC II.  BTW, the DDEC computer is mounted on the engine between the two cylinder head thermostats.  Surprisingly they run the fuel through the housing to keep it cool.

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #44 –
Very good advice about the Detroit Engines.

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #45 –
John,
Enjoyed reading the comments on the Detroit Engines, Having enjoyed many versions of the 2 strokes, I find the article very good info.  My last was the 8V-92  with over 600+ hp and never had any issues with it, however I learned earlier to run only the SAE 50 oil, to protect the rear main from spinning, seems only the hard core DD boys get that comment.  Always felt that one day I would bring it home on a wrecker due to engine fatigue, but It is still running strong with the new owner who stays amazed at the big power on tap.
I do miss the 2 strokers but must admit the ISM series Cummins are great engines, great power, torque, fuel and long mileage engines, with very little need for wrenches.
Joy to have owned a real power RV bus conversion, much more that my puny ISM500 in the 36' Foretravel, it does real good but not a real biggie engine. Good mileage, but I always felt the diesel fuel was the cheapest part of a RV.
FWIW
Dave M

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #46 –
Yes, excellent article. Besides the injector follower, the use of multi-grade oil causes accelerated wear on the pistons with a couple good photo examples on line.

They do use a lot more air so clog air cleaners faster and need the big 5 inch exhaust pipe they have on our U300s. Since the EGT is lower they have the unique "Greyhound" exhaust smell and also have the advantage of almost never burning valves.

Quite correct as the Detroit 2 cycles were difficult to smog. They could have been modified but the entire cylinder head would have had to have been redesigned to take the common rail injection found in today's smog engines. The Detroits have no external fuel lines with all the fuel in internal passages. That along with the fact that the camshaft driven injection pump/injectors (about 3,000 psi) can't come anywhere close to the 30,000 to 40,000 lbs. pressure needed for the super fine spray particles needed to get emissions down to current standards.

More modern 2-cycle diesels do meet all the latest EPA standards and are found in all of the latest Union Pacific locomotives (the largest railroad engine order ever) as well as the world's largest, most efficient diesel engine found in ships. It is the only diesel engine in the world to exceed 50% fuel efficiency. This means it converts more than half of the 155,000 btu/gallon bunker fuel into power for propulsion.

Pierce

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #47 –
The radiator would not come out through the bottom so we had to take it out through the back door. We took it to Chan's Frame & Body Shop here in Crossville because they have a radiator shop and they do truck radiators. Chan's shipped the radiator to Knoxville and quoted me $1385 plus tax to recore it. Knoxville called back and said they'd never seen a radiator like that so they shipped it to Detroit and now the bill is up to $1800 to recore the radiator. I'm not sure if there will be taxes and extra charges added onto it. That's more money than I can come up with unfortunately, so I'll be stranded here a while longer. I hope to escape this place next month.

I've been here so long that I ran out of LP gas. In keeping with the spirit of this town, none of the LP gas companies here would fill my tank for me. They all gave a different lame excuse for not helping me. I had to call A&C Propane from Cookeville 30 miles away to come way over here and fill my tank. It's winter so it's pretty cold here for Tennessee with temperatures getting down to freezing at night. Other than John Lang, the only help I've gotten in this town is from Cumberland Worship Center. They've sent guys over to help with the radiator, to fill my fresh water tank before it ran out, gave me an LP gas bottle, took me out to eat multiple times, jump started my generator just now because I ran the batteries down too low I guess (?) and they offered a couple of times to let me plug into their electricity, but I'd need about 500' of cable to reach the building. I think there would be quite a voltage drop over that distance. They also took up a collection for me one night. I tried to give the cash back but they really wanted me to keep it. That was so nice of them. They want me to stay here permanently! I've made a lot of nice friends in this church. I've been trying to help them get on my friend's TV network, get some of my Nashville bands to play here, get their internet TV stream on iTunes as a video podcast, and other things... but so far none of the things I've tried to do for them has worked out.

The new fan arrived today and it appears to be much higher quality than the original fiberglass fan. The blades have a steeper pitch to them, so I presume it will push more air. There is no visible fiberglass in the new fan. It looks like it's nylon with aluminum reinforcements. The manufacturer said it was fiberglass reinforced nylon though... I was glad I didn't see any fiberglass in it.

Sorry to be silent for so long. I was gonna wait until I had my facts straight before writing about it.

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #48 –
Call me at Six three oh, 240 nine one three nine in am

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #49 –
Where did they send it in Knoxville?  Tennessee RV maybe or somewhere else?  Tennessee RV should have known where to get it taken care of considering that they are a Foretravel Service Center, I would have thought.

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #50 –
They didn't say where it went in Knoxville but it's at Detroit Radiator now.

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #51 –
RRadio,
I have been reading about your predicament and am truly sorry for your misfortune. I live in Knoxville...If I could be of help to you in any way please feel free to contact me.

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #52 –
Thanks so much for your kind offer of assistance James, I really appreciate that.

Here's an update on the challenges of sitting in a parking lot for several weeks. The black water and gray water tanks were full and someone from the church sent a septic tank truck over here to pump it out for me, and they even paid for it, which was unbelievably nice of them. I've been walking over to the truck stop to use their restrooms since my black water tank filled up. The pastor told me I could dump the gray water tank on the church lawn but I didn't because the temperature went down to 21 degrees for a couple of nights and I thought full water tanks would be less likely to freeze. The cold weather has created a huge amount of condensation, even inside the walls of the coach. It has shorted out at least one light, which I don't need so I removed it, and is apparently draining the coach batteries every day. I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of the condensation. How do people camp in RVs in cold climates anyway? I think I'm going to pull out all the fuses and see if I can determine which circuit(s) are shorted. I think the cause of the whole problem is the condensation, so if I could get rid of that the short circuit(s) would probably go away... Anybody have experience with cold weather RVing and condensation problems?

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #53 –
We have camped in cold weather for a few days each year for the last three years. We are parked up to five days in temperatures of 0 to 40F. We've had no problems with condensation.

In the coach are two adults and a large dog. We cook very little in the coach. We generally spend a lot of time away from the coach during the day. However, we do shower, shave, brush, etc., inside the coach. I leave the vent over the kitchen open a bit and leave a small window near the passenger seat open about one to two inches. We use the coach's two propane furnaces to keep the inside and the bays warm.

We have had good results by allowing some fresh air to flow through the coach via windows and vents, avoiding using the propane stove, and avoiding using anything that burns fuel inside the coach (candles, catalytic heaters, gas appliances).

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #54 –
JD has said it all. You need to have air passing thru (cold air is good for you) just put extra sweaters on and open windows and do not cook with out that window open. Bathroom vent should allways be open. Maybe you should get a tow truck to drag you next to the church so you can hook up to it for power and pay them a few bucks for the use. Brett will be able to say if just a short tow will do any damage. I do not know but if you turn ign on and select N on trans maybe that will allow the short move to happen. It would be good to know from others whether this last comment of mine is correct or not. 27 deg is not cold but "fresh"
John H

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #56 –
A small dehumidifier (we set ours under the kitchen table) will dry out the coach overnight.
No more wet windows or walls. Much more comfortable with less heat.
But you do need to have 120 volt power.
 

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #57 –
if you lived in Canada you would have to be used to a lot of things like fighting off Bears and Wolves to get to the car, and treck thru 10ft of snow to put the garbage out!! We sleep at night in the same clothes as we wear during the day, but pull lots of sacking around us and the dog too. At least that is what you Americans think of life "up north"  correct??

ps  we do not have a dog now so we steal next doors pet when it gets real cold.

This is a joke, guys.
John H

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #58 –
Easy on the wolf jokes, John. I know of one that opens oven doors to get at the pizza but not people.

Might think you guys are "loonie".

Pierce

Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!

Reply #59 –
I cleaned the mud dauber nests out of the front furnace so it runs fairly well now. I don't dare use it without the generator running because I think it will be too much for my coach batteries until I get the short circuits figured out. I've been running a propane powered radiant heater all night long with the ceiling cabinets open to dry out the condensation. I noticed an amazing improvement, to the point that I got a nosebleed this morning! (laugh) The windows still have condensation in the morning though. I guess motor homes aren't a good place to conserve energy by leaving the heat off in the winter. I connected the dashboard voltmeter to the coach batteries instead of the cranking battery so I can monitor my voltage at all times without turning on the backup monitor. I will reconnect it back to the cranking battery after I get the radiator reinstalled and start driving it again. I took out all the fuses from the circuits powered by the coach batteries and connected an ammeter inline and found shorts in several of them. I think I found about 1 ampere of short circuits or more all total. I left all those fuses out and replaced the fuses in the circuits with no amperage draw on them. Fortunately the circuits I actually use didn't have shorts in them. I will test this one more night to see if the coach batteries lose voltage with nothing running. I discovered that my boost solenoid doesn't work when I needed to jumpstart myself after the coach batteries discharged too low to crank the generator. For some reason the wires going to the boost solenoid switch had been disconnected upstream of the switch. There appears to be a couple of fusible links or something in those wires and that's where they were disconnected. The drawings I have show diodes but they appear to be fusible links... so I don't know... I cut off the fusible links and put disconnects on them to test it. I got the boost switch to light up and the voltmeter moved slightly but the generator still wouldn't crank. I left the wires to the boost switch disconnected just in case those really were fusible links and they melted apart or something (?) I temporarily connected a 10 gauge wire across the boost solenoid and it was enough to crank the generator and recharge the cranking battery. I removed the wire afterward so all three batteries wouldn't discharge through the short circuits... and that's about all I know for now... no news on the radiator coming back from Detroit at this time.