Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Topic: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics (Read 5360 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #100 – May 05, 2014, 02:04:11 pm

Glad you got there safely, now what else can go wrong ?
Gary B

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #101 – May 05, 2014, 02:41:18 pm

Ken, looking forward to your post on the fix.
Would be nice if it was something simple.

Richard B

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #102 – May 05, 2014, 08:02:11 pm

It seems we hit Nac at exactly the right time. When I called for an appointment they said it would be June 23 before I could get in. Asked about show up and wait was told 7 ahead me at the moment. When we pulled into the parking lot this morning it was almost empty. I figure everything is in the shop and indeed every bay was full and coaches parked outside.

Go in talk to Josh. Lay out my issues and ask when we might be able to get in. He says if I had been there last week he had 12 coaches in line but they did a lot of working early and late to get the backlog down. Now there are only 4 coaches ahead of me and they are drop offs so since I'm staying with the coach I go to the head of the line.

Well Dori finds Dave Flanagan starts placing her order and the next thing I know Dave is in the office with Josh adding all the things Dori wants to the work order and says he can do it tomorrow pull over to the last bay at 7:30. Yikes! Josh says ok you're in.

Drive over to paint and talk to Biscuit about a small (3 foot x 3 inch) scratch I got after I tried to remove my big awning with a telephone pole in Washington. He says bring it over Wednesday he'll work it in!

So looks like it will be Thursday before I'll know anything about the hydraulics. Maybe my brain will have started working again by then. The last 4 days have been a blinding blur but looks like I'm in good hands now. The bad news is I may have to sell a kidney to pay for it all.

see ya
ken

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #103 – May 05, 2014, 08:10:00 pm

Glad you made it OK. Hope you can get some rest now that you are there.

Mark

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #104 – May 05, 2014, 08:12:44 pm

Ken, I bet you guys do feel 'wrung out'! What a trip! Rockey and I are glad you made it there ok and that you are not having to wait much. Rockey is curious about what Dori added.

Sure hope you radiator problems are minor.

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #105 – May 05, 2014, 08:17:50 pm

Quote from: kenhat – May 05, 2014, 08:02:11 pm

Well Dori finds Dave Flanagan starts placing her order and the next thing I know Dave is in the office with Josh adding all the things Dori wants to the work order and says he can do it tomorrow pull over to the last bay at 7:30.

Steve doesn't let me talk to David Flanagan unsupervised anymore

Like Rockey, I'm anxious to hear what Dori has planned.

Very glad you made it safely. Hopefully the hydraulic issue is something well under a coach buck.

BTW - David likes the chocolate filled donuts from Shipleys

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #106 – May 05, 2014, 08:19:38 pm

@Gary I'm a firm believer that things only get better after they get much, much worse!

@Richard I have mixed feeling on it being an easy fix. On one hand it would be great if they look at it and just say "Oh here just twist this!" and it works on the other if it's something I could have fixed with a $10 part or something in Tucson I may shed a tear or 2.

On the bright side beerslayer24 was here when we arrived. He came over and said he had been following my story and was glad I made it in safe. Talked for a while then I set up camp. Later he came back with a bottle of homemade wine for me to drown my sorrows in! Haven't tried it yet but full review to follow.

Foretravelers are the best people!

see ya
ken

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #107 – May 05, 2014, 08:50:05 pm

@Rockey @Michelle A couple of months ago I pulled the "Small Wonder" vac out leaving Dori with a gigantic storage area under the fridge. She promptly filled the entire area with staples. Only problem is that whenever she wants something invariably it's in the very back. Since we were planing to head up the west coast I thought I was safe and suggested that next time we are in Nac we can have Dave put in a heavy duty drawer.

She's also getting a small piece of trim to cover the gap over the new TV in the bedroom. The swivels on both of our Flexsteel chairs broke within a day of each other and my fix using bolts to turn them into no-Flex chairs broke about a week later so Dave is replacing the swivels. Oh and the plastic screen door latch finally gave up the ghost so Dave to the rescue for that too.

see ya
ken

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #108 – May 05, 2014, 10:08:03 pm

Ken and Dori, when you make it to west coast please come and visit. We have room and you will enjoy the wine region here and you can park over the pit so we can fix anything that needs it. There is a Guest house if you want a break from coach. We are 45 mins north of the Border at Oroville Washington.
JohnH

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #109 – May 06, 2014, 07:46:49 am

@John We would love that! All our plans are up in air at the moment. So don't know if it can be this year.

We love the PNW. Dori was born in Port Angeles and raised in Seattle. She gets all happy when it rains. Still don't understand that one...

That pit would have been great for working on my hydraulics. Had to use my "portable pit". Me on my back on a blue tarp with a moving blanket for a pad. Yours sounds much better.

If we get close we will give a shout.

see ya
ken

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #110 – May 06, 2014, 10:42:53 am

Rain, RAIN !!! we do not have that item here, we are in the Desert (tip of Sonoran). 5hrs NE of Seattle. Just took these pic now at 7.45am.
JohnH

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #111 – May 06, 2014, 11:08:30 am

John,

Back off on the invites!!! We asked Ken and Dori FIRST!!!

Actually, Dori's sister lives 20 minutes away from us so wishing them a rapid fix on the fan problem so they can watch the scenery, not the temp gauge. Has really got me thinking about the possibility of getting stranded out in the middle of nowhere. Think I will measure the outside face of the radiator and see what combination of electric fans I can mount there. Probably for emergency use but will be interesting to pull the belt off and see what the limitations as far as grades and outside temp will be.

Have widened the turn at the top so a 40 footer can probably get up without having to make several passes. Four speeds will still have to back up the whole way. Have gotten the ProLink 9000 working nicely for Detroits, now just need the cartridge for CATs and Cummins. Not sure if I should push the select button for the 525HP option.

Pierce

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #112 – May 06, 2014, 12:22:10 pm

Dave,

Actually, just learning what the 9000 can do as it didn't come with a user manual and Nexiq does not have any for this model any longer. Think I have about 75% of the possibilities down but trying to go carefully. Most intriguing is the duration and injector response. It can manually cut each injector and the ECU will compensate by adding more fuel to the remaining injectors or can set it to do it automatically in order. The reader will then figure the percentage of fuel increase and tell you which injector is not working correctly. What is nice is it reads the engine model, serial number, HP, Torque, ECU model, serial number and any firmware updates plus other stuff I haven't written down yet. It does have a lot of user configurable settings but when I go by these possibilities, I make sure not to change them.........yet.

Yes, would need a larger turbo for more HP. Boats use a pair of smaller turbos with the high horsepower 6V-92TAs but mostly to get more boost down low RPM as to get the boat up on plane quickly. Understand that the high HP Detroits used about 3 sets of turbos between engine overhauls. Probably lots of boost at low RPM meant overspeed on the turbo at high RPM. Did meet a fellow in Puerto Penasco with a twin turbo 500 plus HP CAT in his 36 foot Holiday Rambler. Said it was an optional engine. Only one slide so guess it was pretty quick.

I did a lot of turbo sizing with compressor maps but after hours of calculation, I never came up with the same turbo the German guy did at the shop so we always used what he said would work best.

Pierce

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #113 – May 06, 2014, 02:27:42 pm

Ken, best wishes for a successful resolution. Based on everything I've read on your current (mis)adventure with the fans, I'm guessing it's a bad pump. Even relatively new stuff can fail.

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #114 – May 07, 2014, 08:15:08 am

Quote from: Pierce & Gaylie Stewart – May 06, 2014, 12:22:10 pm

Dave,

Actually, just learning what the 9000 can do as it didn't come with a user manual and Nexiq does not have any for this model any longer. Think I have about 75% of the possibilities down but trying to go carefully. Most intriguing is the duration and injector response. It can manually cut each injector and the ECU will compensate by adding more fuel to the remaining injectors or can set it to do it automatically in order. The reader will then figure the percentage of fuel increase and tell you which injector is not working correctly. What is nice is it reads the engine model, serial number, HP, Torque, ECU model, serial number and any firmware updates plus other stuff I haven't written down yet. It does have a lot of user configurable settings but when I go by these possibilities, I make sure not to change them.........yet.

Yes, would need a larger turbo for more HP. Boats use a pair of smaller turbos with the high horsepower 6V-92TAs but mostly to get more boost down low RPM as to get the boat up on plane quickly. Understand that the high HP Detroits used about 3 sets of turbos between engine overhauls. Probably lots of boost at low RPM meant overspeed on the turbo at high RPM. Did meet a fellow in Puerto Penasco with a twin turbo 500 plus HP CAT in his 36 foot Holiday Rambler. Said it was an optional engine. Only one slide so guess it was pretty quick.

I did a lot of turbo sizing with compressor maps but after hours of calculation, I never came up with the same turbo the German guy did at the shop so we always used what he said would work best.

Pierce

If his cat was a 3208 twin turbo they were rated at 375 hp. Ran across a Texas 85' ftx ored owner that had bolted the setup onto his 250hp cat. Had 100k miles on it since the change.

He mentioned the trans limitation and only used it hard locked up in fourth gear on the 643 Allison. No issues.

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #115 – May 07, 2014, 10:08:10 am

No, it was a CAT Asert C15 twin turbo engine. Looks like 500 to 625 HP stock depending on the turbo and configuration. Think he said his was 550 or 625 HP. Heard they had a lot of turbo problems (twin turbo models) but not researched in detail. Nice looking engine though. See at: c15 cat twin turbo engine - Google Search

He was a pretty well to do guy and said his only faster motorhome was an Eagle with a 8V-92 turbo. When he ordered the optional engine, he asked for the biggest engine they could put in the coach. Now that I'm thinking about it, it may have been a Country Coach and not a HR. All the SOBs look almost the same.

Pierce

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #116 – May 07, 2014, 11:03:04 am

Cat has not enjoyed a happy history with the C15 twin turbo arrangement, not as good as the 3412 and that was not a great set up for highway either.
While Cat has had many great engines dor the dirt digger world, fewer great engines for the highway.
The D343 or 1693TA is very capable of unbeiveable hp, way above the printed spec limits, not fuel efficent, light nor low cost, just a great get it done sweetie.
Dave M

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #117 – May 07, 2014, 08:24:51 pm

Glad you guys are safe in Nac. Our week in Capitol Reef in the Fruita Campground was quite nice. No phone or internet or servicew but we made it and am back following your woes. Hope all goes well....

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #118 – May 08, 2014, 08:36:42 am

Thanks Scott! Josh wasn't sure if we would get into service today but we are hopeful. I'm dying to get my hydraulics resolved!

Glad you survived dry camping. Bet you learned a lot! Our plans are in flux at the moment so not sure if we will make it to the PNW this year. If we do we'll look you up.

see ya
ken

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #119 – May 08, 2014, 10:04:54 am

Great - have a great day.

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #120 – May 08, 2014, 07:13:29 pm

Got into service a little after 10:00am today. Alton and Mark Harvey both worked on my hydraulics for the rest of the day. They actually came to the same conclusion I did. It's the hydraulic pump. We don't really know that for sure yet but they plan to replace it in the morning. Then we'll know for sure.

Stay tuned!

see ya
ken

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #121 – May 08, 2014, 07:26:18 pm

Glad they got you in so quickly - Staying Tuned.

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #122 – May 09, 2014, 11:59:59 am

I only know if a pump is bad by putting a flow meter on the outlet of the pump and run engine to rpm and if it produces Spec flow then it is good if not bad. A pump also has to produce pressure to move what ever device your case a motor. I consider parts changing until it works is very expensive. Flow meter is a fraction of the cost of a pump. I hope that really is the problem. Good luck.

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #123 – May 09, 2014, 08:25:11 pm

Before they replaced the pump this morning Mark had the engineer from the factory come over and review the work Alton and Mark did yesterday. He concurred with their findings and FOT replaced my hydraulics pump this morning. Fan speed doubled right away. They tweaked the pressure relief setting and got it up to 1900rpm. When the pressure came up they found one of the hydraulic hoses was leaking out the back of the fitting. They sent it out to a hydraulics shop to make a new one. By they time they got it back we didn't have time to do a test drive. We'll do a test drive tomorrow if the weather is accommodating.

I'm pretty confident my overheating problems are behind me but won't know for sure until we do a test drive. Yahoo!

Dori and I are both pretty worn out. It's been a rough week. At least we get to sleep in tomorrow! Yay!

see ya
ken

Re: Need help understanding my radiator hydraulics

Reply #124 – May 09, 2014, 08:29:58 pm

We are so glad to hear that you have (probably) gotten this thing licked. Have a great nights sleep. I always sleep better when I am not worried about our Ol' Girl. If fixed - what direction will you go?

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