1998 Intrigue leaking radiator fluid from the front.

[Wewander]

Took her out for the second time since we bought her in March and all of a sudden she is running hot. Checked the radiator fluid and she was a little shy so we added some and headed home. Got home and found her to be leaking radiator fluid from under the front. Anyone else had this this happen and what did it turn out to be? We are new to A class ownership and diesels. We have no clue. We live in Lewis county WA. Any one know a good diesel mechanic in the area please let us know?

[cntrylife]

Hopefully a hose, do you know.if you have the dreaded aluminum radiator?
As for mechanic, we only let 2 people touch our coach after much trial and expensive error. If some else has to touch it we make them call Joe Maser in Springfield Or for engine hydraulic etc. And for general coach stuff Brian and Kevin in junction city.
Super worth the drive. Add a little fluid and go.

[cntrylife]

Wait front of the coach or front of the radiator? Front of the coach is heater

[Wewander]

Thanks for the help. Under the front of the coach is where it is leaking. When we look under there it is leaking out of a box. Looks like radiator fluid. green color, like what we put in to bring the radiator fluid level up, it was down a little when we checked it. Still our engine was running hot. Would a heater leak cause it to run hot? Our Radiator is towards the back on the side of the coach so we are confused for sure.

[mike brez]

Sounds like a heater core or the hose going to it.

[Wewander]

Are Brian and Kevin with Oregon Motor Coach?

We bought our coach from Kenai Coach and Terry the owner has his coaches worked on at Oregon motor coach in Junction City. We just returned from Junction City. We were there to get a new Samsung blutooth receiver for our surround sound installed. The old Bose system wasn't working when we bought it and Terry who is a really great guy said he would replace it when his installers were back in town.

[Wewander]

Thanks for your reply. Do you think this is something that we could have looked at and serviced locally by a diesel Mechanic if it is the heater or do we need to take it all the way back to Junction City?

[Smitty77]

As far as the front leak, pin pointing if it's a loose hose clamp, cracked leaking heater hose (Looped up from the engine, to bring heat., or the mentioned heater mini radiator like heat exchanger - will determine how extensive the repairs may end up being. Anything short of the heater mini radiator exchanger - should be able to be taken care of by an competent RV Tech.

You said it seemed to be running hot? As long as you are still seeing adequate fluid in the overflow tank in the back (Where you topped off.) then I'd not think the loss of fluid would cause engine overheating.

So some questions for you:
-What engine?
-What temperatures were you seeing?
-Do you know if the coolant was tested and is still in good shape?
-Can you hear the side radiator fan kicking on, and changing speeds (If your year model has a multistep speed fan.)?
-Any signs of dirty/caked up radiator fins? (Look from the inside out, with a flashlight, to examine the fins. Radiator fins may just need a good cleaning.)
-Any documentation on the last time the cooling system was changed and flushed? And Thermostat replaced? (A failed Thermostat, can cause warmer temps.)

Possible you have older coolant, and need a good radiator flush. And, or, as mentioned - also a radiator fins cleaning.

I've a 03 engine ISL in our 04 model. And when I flushed and change our fluids over to Final Charge (No SCA required with Final Charge type coolants, another plus!) - we saw our temps drop by about 5 degrees. I went with Peak Final Charge, as it's usually regularly available at Truck Stops like Pilot.

And good luck and enjoy your new rig. Kenai has a good reputation on pre inspection and fixing things that need to be fixed before selling the rigs. So a call with Terry might answer what he knows was serviced on that rig.

Relax, get over and resolve some of these start up issues. Getting things back up to a good baseline maintenance level, will provide you a coach that will yield many good years of enjoyment ahead. (And yes, opportunities for maintenance too!). Take good care of her, and she'll take good care of you...

Travel safe, have fun,
Smitty

[Wewander]

Wow what great info thank you so much.
We have a C series Cummins and the temp gauge got up to 230 and stayed around that temp. Could that be normal and we just think it is high? We will call Terry to find out if the radiator fluid was changed or not when he had it. As for the radiator fins we will check them as you instructed with a flash light. No documentation about when if ever the thermostat was changed. We don't know what final charge coolant is or what SCA is? if you could explain to a couple of newbies that would be great. Again thank you so much.



32 ft. 1998 Intrigue affectionately called (the green machine.) with a 2015 ford C-Max toad. Air force one brake system and Road Master all terrain tow bar.

[deandec]

I have a C8.3L Cummins engine tuned to 300HP.

At 230 degrees, my rig will start telling me I am running too hot and ultimately will shut down before doing any engine damage. (This has happened twice in 17 years.)

Low coolant below the sight glass on the coolant surge tank might cause this situation.

When replacing or adding the coolant, one needs to "bleed" the air from the system. My bleed screw is behind the surge tank and up. Better reached from below the North/South Bed. (No slides). (This is in the manual.)

If the bleeding is not done, an air bubble will force coolant out of the overflow tube and reduce the available amount of coolant.

There were also two "school bus" pumps on our rig that pushed coolant forward to the dash heater and then on to the 10 gallon water heater for hot water on arrival at destination.

One pump at the forward end of the engine and one pump behind the front "Bumper" curb side. The one at the engine failed three times on my rig. I bypassed that pump. Do take a look to see if you have the front pump and if it is possibly leaking.

My overheating occurred in high ambient temps on a steep ascending grade.

I now avoid such overheating by down-shifting to 3rd or 4th gear to raise the rpms and add further cooling to the radiator system.

You could use an infrared thermometer to measure the coolant temp to check against the dash gauge reading to see if accurate.

If you have aqua hot or hydro hot water heating systems, you may not have the school bus pumps.

[Wewander]

Thank you for all the valuable info. We will try bleeding.

We did not know about that when we added fluid.

[deandec]

I suspect you have a 185 degree thermostat in your engine. That is the temp at which it begins to open.

Normally our rig runs at 180 degrees and can climb to 205 degrees where the thermostat is fully opened.

Once it gets over 210 degrees I begin to watch closely because the shutdown protection can activate at 125 degrees. And mine does!

If you are running at 230 degrees, you might have a faulty gauge.

Read your manual to learn what is normal for your rig.

[Roy1]

Do you have the electronic controller for the radiator cooling fan or a wax valve? If it is the electronic controller you can unplug it at the controller to see if the fan goes to max rpm to see if the fan is doing its job when the temperature is elevated.

[Ilvmygt]

Some coaches have one or two booster pump (Schools Bus Circulation Pump) for the dash heater. Typically one is located in the engine bay and the other in the front under the dash heater unit. The factory pumps have seals that can leak over time. The pumps can be by-passed, repaired if not damaged or replaced. I replace my booster pumps with seal-less pumps.