Not hot enough or what?

[Keith Moffett]

The idiot guages on the dash have been telling me my coolant temp is around 210 deg. and the Trans. is around 200 deg.  The Silverleaf sets both at around 190 deg.  While having traveled about 100 miles. I checked the radiator fan and the electric fans and neither were on.  They have never come on since we bought the coach to ny knowlege.

What is the bes way to verify that these are working properly?

Thanks again
Keith

[Tom and Pam Brown]

Normally, when the a/c is engaged the fan should come on......

[Keith Moffett]

Tom, that makes sense but surely it should come on at other times as well.  
Dont a think/

Keith

[Edward Buker]

Keith,

The radiator fan (hydraulic fan behind the side radiator) must be coming on or you would be overheated. You are holding the thermostat temp on the silverleaf which means that everything is cooling as it should be. When you are running hard and it is hot out the silverleaf may be up from the 190 degrees to 200 or so. The dash gauges are not accurate and look like they are about 10 degrees high.

The two rear electric fans on the hatch cover, if those are what you are referring to have never come on, on my 2002 Marquis either. Not sure if the control circuit is not working or we never get hot enough to trigger it. I have thought of rewiring and powering these with a manual switch from the bedroom so I could flip it on after running and coming into a campground but have not gone there yet.

The condenser fans for the air conditioner under the front of the coach should come on with the dash air conditioning control.

Later Ed

[Tom and Pam Brown]

Ed,

I did exactly that with the rear electric fan.  I try to stop about an hour out of my destination and turn on the electric fan to cool the engine compartment before I arrive.  I also allow it to run for about 30 minutes once there, it seems to allow the bedroom to cool a bit quicker.

[Edward Buker]

Tom,

That certainly makes more sense then having them never run. We have been in 115 degree heat, come into a campground, and still they have never fired up.....I guess it would probably take an engine fire and then they would come on to supply oxygen while fanning the flames...

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

Ed,
I am not sure how the electric fan/fans on your engine access door are wired (my 2000 does not even have them), but on the earlier model coaches with no bedroom slide, they were wired to come on at startup and run until 30 minutes after shutdown. The reasoning for this timing was to prevent or reduce bedroom heat soak from the engine by ventilating the engine compartment. There was a relay that powered the fan through the ignition, and a timer that powered it for thirty minutes after loss of the ignition input.

On the earlier non-slide model coaches, heat soak was seen as a bigger issue because of the "doghouse" under the bed that was used for engine access. This area above the engine would hold heat after shutdown and cause excess bedroom heat. My wife loved the warm bed in the winter with our 1993 Patriot, but it was a real problem in the summer. Therefore, Beaver ventilated the engine compartments on the higher end coaches to reduce this problem.

Gerald

[Edward Buker]

Gerald,

Our 89 Contessa had the dog house over the engine and that was a really warm bed for sure. This 2002 as well as your vintage Marquis has a lot of ventilation, no dog house, and it really does not run that hard and hot on the road so I have ignored it so far. We are camped in VT for the summer and I was looking for a small project so this could be it. If anyone knows where the components are that run the rear hatch fans or has a schematic let me know. I was thinking of creating an automatic circuit something like you describe but a simple switch and relay may be better given when it is cooler out I would not actually want the fans to come on. Sometimes a toasty bed is a good thing....except when hot flashes might be involved :-)

Later Ed

[Keith Moffett]

Keith,

The radiator fan (hydraulic fan behind the side radiator) must be coming on or you would be overheated. You are holding the thermostat temp on the silverleaf which means that everything is cooling as it should be. When you are running hard and it is hot out the silverleaf may be up from the 190 degrees to 200 or so. The dash gauges are not accurate and look like they are about 10 degrees high.



Later Ed

Ed;
I just recalled that the only engine codes shown on the Silverleaf have all ben overheat and those date back to near new. With your comments in mind I did the 'light check' on the radiators.  Very little light passes through the main radiator.  The second large cooler is the A/C isnt it? and the small one about 1/3 the size and on the outside, that is the Tranny cooler?
On the old coach I used mild simple green spray and a broad spray garden hose.  Didnt hurt the old radiator but unsure of the '02 side radiator.  I am fairly sure that if light wont get through then air wont either so how do you clean yours.  We are talking old dried grass between the big radiators and also the cooler so I must assume there is a fair ammount of packed dirt as well.

Keith

[Edward Buker]

Keith,

I am not sure if this size and configuration would pass light through readily. I have never cleaned my radiator other than a bit of car wash soap and spray in passing as I wash the coach. I do reach in from time to time if I see grass or whatever and pull it out. The second cooler I believe is engine oil, the third smaller I think is hydraulic oil cooler but I may be wrong. The condenser for the AC is up front underneath the coach, none of the AC system is near the large side radiator. Unless you can see dirt I would not suspect that you have that issue. The engines with that problem have rear radiators with oil residue from the engine crankcase vent coating the radiator and holding the dirt, those due clog up and need cleaning. The transmission cooler is underneath between the radiator and the Allison and is a liquid to liquid cooler.

Keith, I am not sure why you are suspecting over heating and what codes you are referring to or how old they are? Your 190 degrees on the Silverleaf (which is all you should believe) is perfectly normal.

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

Keith,
The heat exchangers on your side radiator coach are; the inner most unit is the engine radiator, with the intake air intercooler next, and the small unit as the hydraulic cooler. The condenser (cooler) for the dash air is located behind the front bumper in the center of the coach, and the transmission cooler is in the lower radiator hose.

Gerald  

[Joel Ashley]

Recall that regular Simple Green has demonstrated a not-so-great history with aluminum, especially in the airplane industries, so I'd only use Dawn soap, or preferably Extreme Simple Green if you can find it.

Joel

[Keith Moffett]

Keith,
Keith, I am not sure why you are suspecting over heating and what codes you are referring to or how old they are? Your 190 degrees on the Silverleaf (which is all you should believe) is perfectly normal.

Later Ed

Thanks everyone for the good points.
This all started with the Silverleaf.  I discovered that it shows a history page on engine diagnostics and there is a overheat history (none since we owned it).
Realizing the dash guages are unrerliable I am trying todetermine what is reliable before we ffind out the hard way in warmer climates.

I cleaned the radiator on the old coach at least once each year but I think that one was steel and as Joel points out, Simple Green is not great with aluminum so I was looking to do it right.  Dish soap probably is the best idea as he mentioned.  Regardless, this will be as clean as I can get it without taking them apart.

Thanks for the input
Keith

[Edward Buker]

I somehow had a senior moment and forgot the intercooler, thanks Gerald for setting that straight.

Later Ed