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Topic: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87 (Read 3370 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #50 –
...trust me, just take that new thermostat out and see if that fixes it instead of spending tons of time and money on stuff that may not need to be replaced ...removing the thermostat is the first step every mechanic I know takes if he can't find anything obviously wrong ...if that doesn't work start going through this list
Scott Cook
1991 U300 36' 6V92TA
Old Town Penobscot 16
1984 Honda VF1100C (V65 Magna)

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #51 –
Quote from: RRadio –
...trust me, just take that new thermostat out and see if that fixes it instead of spending tons of time and money on stuff that may not need to be replaced ...removing the thermostat is the first step every mechanic I know takes if he can't find anything obviously wrong ...if that doesn't work start going through this list
I'm more than happy to try this, I'm curious though... what is taking the thermostat out going to do? Will that make the Cooling system run all the time? Or will the radiator flow constantly. I get that it may be bad... Will anything else break by not having it in there?
Husband & Wife Team. 3 Kids. 8 yo boy, 4 yo girl, 19 mth girl. Mostly Finished Renovating 1986 Grand Villa 3300 GVF SBI for a multi year trip around the country with the kids.

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #52 –
Quote from: RRadio –
Whenever I have a thermostat fail I remove it and don't replace it until winter....
NM found your answer... Lol. :)
Husband & Wife Team. 3 Kids. 8 yo boy, 4 yo girl, 19 mth girl. Mostly Finished Renovating 1986 Grand Villa 3300 GVF SBI for a multi year trip around the country with the kids.

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #53 –
Quote from: gootie –
Install an intake manifold vacuum guage.
Check for timing chain stretch.
The vacuum guage will help with any diagnoss of timing / fueling issues.

Is this a carbureted or throttle body engine?

carbureted
Husband & Wife Team. 3 Kids. 8 yo boy, 4 yo girl, 19 mth girl. Mostly Finished Renovating 1986 Grand Villa 3300 GVF SBI for a multi year trip around the country with the kids.

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #54 –
Quote from: bbeane –
Do we know if this is an all of a sudden issue, or a long term problem? Makes a difference in where to start looking.
Bought the coach in Texas... drove it all the way to Vegas and it didn't overheat.. cause we hit no real hills. Went out of vegas and up the first big hill there and that was the first time it went over the Too Hot side of the meter. Started discovereing issues.. like not having a return pipe on the radiator tank. So it's likely a long term issue.
Husband & Wife Team. 3 Kids. 8 yo boy, 4 yo girl, 19 mth girl. Mostly Finished Renovating 1986 Grand Villa 3300 GVF SBI for a multi year trip around the country with the kids.

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #55 –
Quote from: bbeane –
Seems as the OP is missing.
We were just out of Cell service area for a few days. Not missing totally. :D

And the suggestions are awesome. I have a whole list and I'm taking them back to my brother (who's a hobby mechanic) this next week.

We are definitely adding the radiator tank return line. Gonna test the Thermostat as suggested. Then I'll have to take the rest of the suggestion and run them by him to see what I should check next.
Husband & Wife Team. 3 Kids. 8 yo boy, 4 yo girl, 19 mth girl. Mostly Finished Renovating 1986 Grand Villa 3300 GVF SBI for a multi year trip around the country with the kids.

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #56 –
@All - Thank you all for the amazing suggestions. This is a killer community. I don't know what buys of SOB's do when their coaches have problems, lol.

Anyways, I've got a lot of stuff to look at and looks like I have an excuse to add some new tools to my tool kit... and I never complain about that.

Also, another Foretraveler has offered my the fully functional radiator out of his p-30. So i'll have some known good parts to put in.

I'll report back here when I have updates.

Also - for those of you worried... the coach has been running much cooler since I installed the Mister system. Drove over several hills today and didn't get across the "too hot" line. Still goes over the center line though and gets warmer. I know this is a stop-gap measure. But it's not OVERheating on normal hills anymore. I still think we'd boil over on big/long grades though.
Husband & Wife Team. 3 Kids. 8 yo boy, 4 yo girl, 19 mth girl. Mostly Finished Renovating 1986 Grand Villa 3300 GVF SBI for a multi year trip around the country with the kids.

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #57 –
The overflow return will not affect your heating issue. It will affect having to add coolant as the overflow only returns coolant to the radiator after the engine cools down. My personal opinion which I use, is make sure the radiator has flow through it first, then if it is ok go through with the other suggestions above. I have worked on several big block trucks and motorhomes and they would run up hills without over heating.
1999 40 ft. U-320 wtfe build 5563 Chuck & Lynda's "Rollin' Inn"  2030 watts solar
prev. mh's 71 GMC 5 yrs. 73 Pace Setter 1 yr. 78 Vogue 5 yrs 81 FTX 40ft all electric 18 yrs. 1996 Monaco Signature 3 yrs.
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland
Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today.  James Dean

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #58 –
UPDATE on this.

I finally solved this issue. In the end it was the fan clutch that the first radiator shop told me was alright. Talked to another radiator guy... he said he was 90% sure my symptoms were fan clutch related. So I replaced it. Took all of 30 minutes to do and cost lets than 70$.

Coach stays cool now... even on bigger hills. In normal driving the coach stays to the left of center of my temp meter. Used to stay right of center. And on hills it stays center and occasionally dances to the right of center. It used to go straight to just below hot and dance with the hot line... and if the hill was long enough.. it'd overheat.

The fan clutch engages all the time now. Sounds like a jet taking off... and it's the most glorious sound on the road. It's the sound of my cooling system working well.

Also got a new radiator cap and got the fluid return line setup and working.

Thanks everyone for all your help!
Husband & Wife Team. 3 Kids. 8 yo boy, 4 yo girl, 19 mth girl. Mostly Finished Renovating 1986 Grand Villa 3300 GVF SBI for a multi year trip around the country with the kids.

Re: Overheating Help: FT GV with Chevy 454 on P-30 Chassis '87

Reply #59 –
Glad you got it resolved, so happy trails.
Old Phart Phred, EIEIO
89 GV ored 36' #3405 300 hp cat 3208 ATAAC side radiator, mountain tamer exhaust brake