Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 11, 2025 ...

Engine Radiator Cooling Louvers

October 17, 2024, 12:08:50 pm

Engine Radiator cooling louvers on mine and most other MHs a pointing down.  I want to change mine so as to point forward making the louvers draw air into the radiator.  This is the louvers on my 95 U-240.
I can not find anyone that will make this for me.  Where to start?  Any help will be very appreciated

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Re: Engine Radiator Cooling Louvers

Reply #1 – October 17, 2024, 12:59:14 pm

They are not "scoops" because they didn't want the possibility that you could funnel excessive water into the cooling system and engine compartment while driving in rain. Could just see you passing an 18 wheeler in a 2" puddle of standing water!

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Re: Engine Radiator Cooling Louvers

Reply #2 – October 17, 2024, 01:12:07 pm

What Brett said -- and the same holds true with dirt and other road debris.
Is excessive engine heat an issue with your coach?

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Re: Engine Radiator Cooling Louvers

Reply #3 – October 17, 2024, 01:43:15 pm

Thanks for the responses.  The water you speak of is still going right in the louvers now.  All that water is also slung into the same place by the rear tires.  As for as debrie, when I wash my radiator out with a water hose, I get leaves, sticks, paper, plastic and lots of road dirt.
I have seen a few coaches with the louvers pointing forward.
Yes,  I do have a engine heating problem caused by low RPM cooling fans.

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Re: Engine Radiator Cooling Louvers

Reply #4 – October 17, 2024, 01:44:42 pm

On the subject of cooling, I added a water misting system to ours. I'm not the only one who has done that I think.
 It's activated buy a switch next to the docking lights and draws water from the main water tank when I need it. Turns out that's not very often and even then the coach never really overheated before.  It's just on long hot pulls like leaving Laughlin Nevada on a super hot day (110) it helps. Also I thought it might be a bonus to water down the CAC when it's drawing that hot air.  And no I've not yet noticed any deposits on the fins. Seems to lower the temp between 5, as much as 10 degrees 
  I even went as far as to add an additional water pump and small accumulator tank originally... but I took those two things back out cause the pump was doing weird stuff and my on board pump supplies plenty of pressure for the spray. 

  All in all I'm pleased with it and happy to know I've got it during really hot travels.  Only thing I've thought about adding is a spray nozzle for the tranny cooler.

  Might consider that instead of repositioning those louvers.

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Re: Engine Radiator Cooling Louvers

Reply #5 – October 17, 2024, 02:03:55 pm

There is no opening behind those scoops they are ornamental to cover up what's under them. One of the coaches that had a rear light upgrade at Xtreme wanted them gone and when they said it would be to difficult he got a pry bar and tore them off then said fix it. Met him when he was selling his coach at the same community as Don and Ty when he told me the story

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Re: Engine Radiator Cooling Louvers

Reply #6 – October 17, 2024, 11:40:13 pm

I have a rear radiator coach.  I had an overheating issue for years, used a water spray for a while and it does work quite well.  I still have on the coach just in case.
But I finally put in a 2nd radiator on the drivers side.  I cut out a rectangle in the fiberglass "skirt" and cut the remnant in vertical sections and mounted them in a forward 45 degree scoop orientation.
I tested them using short pieces of yarn taped to the surface in various places and took it for a drive.  My conclusion was the air back there goes every-which-way and the scoops don't do anything.  It's very turbulent back there with the wheels, the undercarriage and the box shape of the motorhome.

In case you you don't know about these, here are a few suggestions for your overheating issue (beyond the low fan RPM you mentioned):
1.  Verify the temperature with another measurement device.  The dash gauges are based on resistance (higher = hotter reading) and connection age, long wire runs make for higher resistance.  And the dash gauge instrument might just be getting inaccurate too with age.  With a helper driving, I had the bed lifted and used a IR gun pointing a the engine thermostat housing where the dash gauge sending unit is.  I've seen 15 degrees of error on mine and it's the greatest at the high temperatures so testing in winter might not catch the issue.  This was at least part of my original overheating issue.
2. Make sure the shroud around your fans is in place.  Really helps draw air over the entire radiator surface.
3. Side radiators can have a circulation loop happen where hot fan exhaust circles around to the front intake side.  A longitudinal flap that extends from the radiator down towards the ground helps prevent it.  If you're on a dirt road you can see if it happens.
4. Use a scope or mirror on a stick to look inside the radiator to see if it needs rodding.  You need to drain and pull a hose to do this.

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Re: Engine Radiator Cooling Louvers

Reply #7 – October 18, 2024, 01:31:57 pm

What engine do you have and why don't you work on the problem of the low speed fans if indeed that is the problem,have tried
the misting system on generators on offshore platforms and after a while the minerals in the water build up and defeat the purpose.

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Re: Engine Radiator Cooling Louvers

Reply #8 – October 18, 2024, 03:37:20 pm

The 1995 U240 has the Caterpillar 3116 with side radiator and twin hydraulic fans.

Assume the basics have been done:
Water pump belt tight/not slipping (separate belt with manual tensioner.
Thermostat(s) have been replaced (Caterpillar calls them regulators).

What fan controls does your have-- so many have been modified over the years that ASSUMING can lead us off-track? Said another way, what triggers high vs low fan speed.

Do you have a hydraulic pressure adjuster in the system?  Have you adjusted it/verified PSI?

In the photo below of our 1993 U240 it is the aluminum block on the right with the hydraulic hoses to it.  Yes, I added the pressure gauge on the OUT side so I could monitor/adjust PSI to the fans. The pressure adjustment screw is under the "cap" on the end facing aft/toward the photographer.

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