Odd overheating problem

[Wlharrisjr]

Good Morning,

First some background on the Coach... It's a 2000 Dutchstar on a Freightliner XC chassis with a 3126B Caterpillar engine and side mount radiator, hydraulic valve is at failsafe open position (new valve ordered almost three months ago and still has not appeared). searched the forum and can not find a similar problem so thought I would post for ideas since I am running out so here goes: Obviously with the valve open, it takes a long time for the engine to warm up at all, but eventuall it does and over the miles climbs little by little. On a cool day everythign is good as long as I drive gently, but on a warm day eventually the temp will climb to the 3/4 point and start jumping up and down, if I keep going it will eventually get to the red, now to the strange part, even if I let it go to the alarm buzzer (happned only once, last weekend on a hill climb in VA), if I pull over, set the brake and put it in neutral, within five minutes it will be all the way back to cold, which "should" not happen if it is a sticking thermostat or a plugged radiator or a collapsed lower radiator hose (hoses are good anyway) Any ideas?

Bill Harris
Clinton, MD

[Wlharrisjr]

One more little bit, the fan pushes the air through the radiator from the inside and I have been unable to validate that this is hte correct airflow direction

[Wlharrisjr]

wow, lots of crickets chirping. Can someone with a similar coach at least let me know which direction the air flows through their radiator? Sort of begging at this point as I leave at 0500 tomorrow for a trip North and don't want to stop every 50 miles to let the coach cool down

[Wlharrisjr]

Not having a lot of luck in the frieghtliner chassis area, so figured I would try here. I have a 2000 Newmar Dutchstar on a freightliner XC chassis with a 3126B Caterpillar engine with side mount radiator and Allison trans. I desperately need to know which direction the airflow is supposed to go through the radiator. Basically does the air suck through the radiator to the fan and engine compartment or does the air push through the radiator from the engine compartment? Leaving at 0500 for New York and want to try to get this running hot issue fixed by then.

Bill Harris
Clinton, ND

[Route 66]

Rear radiator MHs push air out the rear.

Side radiator MHs pull air in from the side.

["007"]

Has the radiator ever been cleaned could be blocked with bugs or dirt.
You say its slow to heat up when cool outside.

[Lug_Nut]

Ditto on Dirk's post. Rear rad blows out, side blows in. (Note: I did not say that side sucks)

If your FL is a side rad and truely moving air from inside to out, you have one of the following problems.

1) The wrong fan is mounted on the hub
2) If hydraulic, the control valve is connected incorrectly
3) If mechanical, incorrect 90 degree gear box installed

Peter

[lonestarace]

Our 98 DutchStar Cummins 300 on Spartan has a side radiator that pulls air from out to in.

[Wlharrisjr]

Thanks a million for the help, reversing the hydraulic lines was not fun, but I seem to have a lot better air flow. I did flush the radiator fins earlier this week and had pretty goo dair flow out throuhg th eradiator but the angle of the fan blades just did not look right for the direction the air was flowing. Hopefully my run to NY tomorrow morning will be much smoother than recent drives.

["007"]

The air gets sucked in through the radiator through engine compartment than out rear of coach body through rear vents, is that what you said?

[Lug_Nut]

If you reversed the hydraulic lines I presume you are talking about the two between the control valve and the fan motor, that will work. Do not reverse the two lines between the control valve and the pump/tank. Either would work in the short run, but the later will cause a hydraulic overheat due to restricting the return line.
How did they get reversed in the first place? Did someone have the lines off?

Peter

[Wlharrisjr]

lines were off right after I bought the coach this year, only got ten miles from the dealer before I found out the hydraulic valve was stuck in the closed position (got hot rather quickly with no fan). Dealer tried bypassing the valve which did not work real well, my guess is that while they had the valve off cleaning it up so it would default to open like it was supposed to, they did not pay attention to which line went where and connected them back incorrectly Been fighting this problem since. Should know in about an hour and half if there are any other issues. (and yes, the two lines between the control valve and the fan)

[Wlharrisjr]

update, back from a 700 mile round trip. now have reverse problem (which I can deal with) engine never got warm at all! Hopefully the new fan control valve will be completed before long (has been three months already). Thanks for all the help. I have more questions for other Dutch Star owners but they can wait until I get some sleep.