band on tour, freezing cold in bus, help please!

[phillbus914]

Can you feel the hoses on both sides of the valves? If one side is hot & the other is only warm or cool, than you probably have a clogged or stuck vavle. You could cut the lines on both sides of the valve and by-pass it with some rubber hose - which is most likley avaliable at a truck stop.

What is the temp gage on the dash reading? If it is low as well, maybe you have a stuck open t-stat on the engine - which would over cool the engine.

I live in Michigan and a lot of times in the winter, I see busses & big trucks with covers over the grill to block the air flow across the radiator. If the temp gage is reaing low, maybe try that (big piece of cardboard) But watch the temp gage if you do, you dont want to over heat the engine.

What kind of music does your band play? do you guys have a website?

Good luck

[the_experience03]

This might sound dumb, but are you sure you got ALL the valves? My bus had the usual one inside right by the left foot of the driver like every other bus I've ever seen, but then it also had another four (yes, four) under the hood on the supply and return lines. One more thought...when you cut the heater out of the back and you tied it back together, did the line kink there? When I originally cut my heaters out and looped it back together, the hose kinked and it was tight enough that the water pump just couldn't overcome it, especially when it could just flow freely through the radiator instead.

Best of luck...let us know how it turns out.


P.S. Being a "girl" isn't an excuse. I used to think the perfect girl would be the one that knew how to lock the hubs on the truck or unspool the winch. Then I met one that kicked me out and made me do it......

[phillbus914]

I never thought of a kinked hose. Another thought is maybe the return line is clogged/blocked. If thats the case bypassing the (wrong) valve wont do much good.

Just be sure to check the return valve too.

One thing I've seen in cars a lot (I work at a Chevy dealership - in the shop) is a clogged heater core. if you disconnected both the inlet and outlet lines from the heater, see if there's flow though it - maybe with a hose

[wmah]

If it is a plugged line or heater core you can try taking the lines off and use compressed air to try and unplug it. Last year coming home with my bus somewhere along the line going to the back it was plugged. Since I didn't have an air compressor handy I just bypassed everything in the back and the driver side and just used the front right heater by the service door. This worked very good in my little short bus and as long as it isn't too cold outside I'd imagine it would be better than nothing in a full size bus.

[Elliot Naess]

I agree from personal experience that if you blocked the water flow in
the back where you removed a heater, by capping the lines or
installing a short hose that is kinked into a sharp U shape, then
you probably blocked all normal flow thru the system.

Another thing is that you might have air trapped in the hoses,
effectively blocking the flow of water. I cannot speak for your model
bus, but in general: Where ever there is a high point in the system,
there should be a little bleeder valve spliced into the hose. On mine,
the bleeder is just a tiny round knob about quarter inch or so in
diameter. You open and close it with strong fingers or small pliers.
When you fill the radiator, you must open the bleeder(s) until
water (antifreeze) comes out the bleeder, then close it and
finish filling. (These bleeders are under the hood.)

[GoneCamping]

Sounds to me like the hose that was cut/removed for the rear heater may be the culprit. Easy enough to fix, run hose from thermostat housing straight to the firewall for input into the heater core...then straight back out to the return....completely bypassing whatever went to the rear heater....

[Jarlaxle]

If the core is plugged, try reversing the heater hoses...compressed air can blow the core apart.

[KevinCoughlin]

Just wanted to follow up - you said they turned off the valve up front and cut the hoses. I think we all are assuming that you bypassed the hoses in some way - put a short piece of pipe in so that water will still flow.

IF, however, you just turned off the valve and cut the hoses (leaving them cut and the valve off) that might be the issue.

Put something to let coolant flow through the pipes, and try opening up the valve again?

Just my thought. I just had to move my rear heater - it's still connected because the pipe I got to bypass it was the wrong size, and I still want the heaters up front to work! (if you are around Washington I can give you an extra "HurriHot" unit once I get the right sized connector.... )

[lapeer20m]

the coolant that heats the interior of the bus is on a single loop. That is to say that the coolant flows from the front heaters to the back heater then returns to the engine. (or vice versa) If you shut off the flow going to one heater, you shut off the flow to all of the heaters inside the bus.

in both of my bus', 3/4" copper pipe elbows fit perfectly inside the heater hoses. like someone mentioned earlier, you need to build a U shaped adapter to allow the coolant to flow through the lines you cut (that previously went to the rear bus heater.) It's important that coolant be able to flow out of one hose and back into the other. This adapter can easily be made of copper tubing from home depot. you should also be able to use pvc or black pipe so you don't have to solder. Simply use hose clamps to hold the adapter in place.

[the_experience03]

My front passenger side heater was on a different loop than the rest and it didn't tee-off anywhere reasonable, hence the whole jumbled mess of valves under the hood...especially now that I have the falt plate heat exchanger too....It took me a while, but I now know where all the valves are and what position they are in at any given time. If there aren't any kinks anywhere, but bote is still on some dumb valve, be it factory or bus barn hack job, that is closed.

[busone]

If you are coming through Idaho email me and I can take a look at it. I am close to Twin Falls about 2 miles from I-84.

[bdavis441]

My bus had the exact problem. The rear heater was removed and the lines were plugged. The front heaters did not work. I reinstalled the rear heater and then all of the heaters worked. I then realized that all the heaters were on a single loop. By plugging the lines to the rear heater, this stopped flow to all of them. If you don't want to use the rear heater, replace it with a hose coupling.

[Demonknight]

same..if you come by Sterling Colorado I'd be happy to have a look at it.... nice song and the myspace BTW