Motor Home Overheating - Beaver 2000 Patriot

[jimbo6669]

I have a 2000 beaver Patriot with a 330 Cat motor. On several occasions my motor has heated up while traveling up an incline. I have had several qualified technicians look at my motor to make suggestions on what I might do to stop the engine from heating. It also happens if the outside temp is 95 or above.

Is there anyone who has had this same problem and if so were you able to correct or change anything to avoid the engine from overheating?

[TQ60]

Lots of things to check.

Were engine rpm right?

Radiator clean?

Water level?

Fan controller?

Not enough information provided.

Please describe driving conditions including rpm gear etc as others with similar will chime in.

[deandec]

We have had the problem.

How do you define "overheating"?

In our case the water temp was at 225 degrees and the engine shutdown alarm sounded, as it was supposed to do.

I suspect you have a side radiator. So wash it out from the outside to inside frequently to clear out any stuck dirt.

I changed my then 15 year old thermostat in my 300 HP Cummins.

We try to maintain 2000 rpm when heading up 6% grades on the way to Lake Tahoe in 100 degree temps to keep the fan turning on high speed.

[super_rep]

Clean your radiator. Not internal, but get the dirt out of the fins. Always, force a down shift to keep your RPMs in the 2000-2100 range when climbing a grade. Lower rpms generate heat.

[BeltoneMagoo]

Get a good radiator check. Ours had rotting fins and compacted dirt. Trying to clean it just made it worse. $6,000 later, complete new radiator, thermostat and hoses and all is cool. Now it is hard to detect changes on the dash gauge whether it is on the flats or going up and down hills.
Good luck, good health and safe travels!

[3rd stage]

Originally Posted by jimbo6669

I have a 2000 beaver Patriot with a 330 Cat motor. On several occasions my motor has heated up while traveling up an incline. I have had several qualified technicians look at my motor to make suggestions on what I might do to stop the engine from heating. It also happens if the outside temp is 95 or above.

Is there anyone who has had this same problem and if so were you able to correct or change anything to avoid the engine from overheating?

Is it the gauge or does your engine really heat up a lot? Or just a little? If only a little, that sounds pretty normal when climbing a grade.
We are pushed by an 8.3 mechanical Cummins. Going up an include in ambient temps above 85 or so, the engine temp gauge creeps up to about 200 and then jumps fairly rapidly to around 230-240. After in cools down on the downslope, the gauge will drop to just above 210 and then jump back down to 180-190. I offer this because I know that my issue is caused by a bad temp sender, so I don't worry about it too much (as long as it comes back down again!!!). I'll fix it at the end of the season. You may have a similar situation.
Just sayin....
Andy

[Miramichi]

Having dealt with heat issues in equipment and muscle cars, especially big blocks. I use water wetter to help with cooling. It is relatively in expensive and will reduce your running temp assuming you don't have mechanical issues (poor airflow, bad pump, rotted rad, coolant aged etc...)

You can get the additive at any auto parts shop and I wouldn't be afraid to add 2-3 bottles. All the additive does is allow the coolant to retain its best properties and reduce vapor locking and bubbling.

Cheers and good luck!

[dons2346]

Are you going by the gauge or do you get a red light with it? If it does overheat, the motor will de rate. Look for the red light, should say something like "check engine".

The check engine light comes from the engine ECM

[OLYLEN]

With the others on the dirty radiator. Your motor has a slober tube and it dribbles oil and the radiator gets this then adds road dirt. About the only solution is to clean clean and clean again the radiator. If you can do it your self great, I tried several times a nd then had the radiator pulled and pro done(if you go to this expense do all belts and hoses and check the boost radiator for leaks as well). Mine now sits at a rock solid 190° until it is working on a long steep grade then goes to 193° and holds to the top.

LEN

[palehorse89]

Originally Posted by jimbo6669

I have a 2000 beaver Patriot with a 330 Cat motor. On several occasions my motor has heated up while traveling up an incline. I have had several qualified technicians look at my motor to make suggestions on what I might do to stop the engine from heating. It also happens if the outside temp is 95 or above.

Is there anyone who has had this same problem and if so were you able to correct or change anything to avoid the engine from overheating?

Hi Jim! and


I see your Coach is a 2000 model, as questioned above, has the radiator ever been taken apart and cleaned? You might just be surprised the condition of it , especially if there is a CAC mounted on the front of it......? After problems and taking mine apart for replacement, there is little to no way to clean a dirty radiator good, if it has a CAC on the front of it, without tearing it apart. I have seen a ton of thread's and pictures of plugged off radiator's on here.........and first hand with mine! It might be worth your time to take it apart, and inspect both of them(Radiator & CAC) and pressure test them, and clean them, if you have one or both of them fail on the road....$$$$$ big, large dollar's. I was going to push mine a little bit longer when my heat problem's started......and I chose to tear it down, while it was in my garage at home..........glad I did . After getting my radiator out, it was shot and falling apart when touched, cooling fins falling right off the core.........$1700.00 to replace, and to the entire job including new coolant. I have seen on here, figure's that go in excess of 6k if repaired on the road, and I don't think that included the tow bill....Good luck.......

[jauguston]

Dirty radiators are the number one cause of overheating. BUT-it is almost always a problem for rear radiator coaches that have not had the slobber tube extend to behind the radiator. Another thing-220 degrees is NOT overheating if it is not rising from there. If the engine (Cat) is truly overheating the ECM will derate it and show a alarm before any damage is done.

Jim

[doc]

last poster is right. Our second coach had a Cat engine without the crankcase breather extended. Heated on short pulls and then had a major heating problem coming over the BigHorns. I could pull over for 5 minutes and the temp would drop to normal limits. I confirmed the dirty radiator by taking the coach to a quarter carwash and soaking the radiator with degreaser and washing it with hot water several times. A huge amount of dirt and debris came out and it ran cooler. Freightliner in Gaffney fixed the breather pipe problem and steam cleaned the whole thing and got another pile of grease and dirt out. The breather was dumping all the oily residue into the back of radiator and after cooler. Back then it was something like a hundred and fifty including the steaming

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by deandec

We have had the problem.

How do you define "overheating"?

In our case the water temp was at 225 degrees and the engine shutdown alarm sounded, as it was supposed to do.

I suspect you have a side radiator. So wash it out from the outside to inside frequently to clear out any stuck dirt.

I changed my then 15 year old thermostat in my 300 HP Cummins.

We try to maintain 2000 rpm when heading up 6% grades on the way to Lake Tahoe in 100 degree temps to keep the fan turning on high speed.

I thought all side-radiator chassis have a hydraulic driven(may be a electric too) cooling fan. If that is correct, RPM is immaterial to cooling fan speed. RPM does control water pump speed, which is more important.

[TQ60]

Higher engine rpm is higher output hp but less lugging resulting in less strain on the engine.

Also with faster engine tpm there may be more hydrolic flow that would give faster fan as well.

Water is flowing faster as is the air through the engine.

There are some who could spell it out clearly maybe.