Trying to turn off heater...

[timmygyu]

Hi All

I'm trying to figure out how to disable the rear heater in my shuttle bus. My bus is a partially converted '96 e350 shorty with a 7.3l powerstroke. Manufacturar is Thor; brand is Eldorado. The rear heater seems to be stuck on; though the fan is stuck off. Both switches are on the dash, part of a panel that looked like it was added by Eldorado. The fan switch is electric. The other control is a pneumatic switch. I presume it's circulating cooling fluid from the engine, and that there is a valve that shuts it off when not in use. Does anyone know where I might find a breakdown of this system? Has anyone ever done this before?

Cheers,
Tim

[GreyEagle]

Look for a cut off valve around the heater box, front and rear heater box, may have to pull a cover to see it. look around the engine compartment. Most buses have a cutoff valve to stop the hot water going to the heater. may be a ball valve, or even a faucet type, round one like the outside water faucet on the house.
good luck, sure do not need heat this time of the year.. someone with a short bus should be able to tell you more...

[sdwarf36]

look underneath-you'll see 2 hoses running down the left side of the frame-it will probably switch back+forth from rubber to metal. If there's no shut off valves, you can just loop the 2 to each other. I took 2 pairs of needle nose vice grips + squeezed the the rubber hoses to prevent anti freeze from going everywhere + cut the metal lines--then took a piece of 5/8" heat hoses + looped the 2 metal lines together. I had to do this right after i got the van-there was an anti freeze leak underneath-one of the metal lines had a rust hole in it.

[timmygyu]

Grey Eagle:

I don't think there is a manual shutoff valve, though I'd be willing to look. I think the pneumatic control is going to a valve somewhere; it's possible that there is a manual shutoff in addition, but it seems unlikely. I guess I could trace the pneumatic lines, but if I just knew where to look for the valve it would make things much easier. BTW, the bus is at a rented parking spot right now, over an hour away, hence my inability to go out and look it over whenever I want. When I'm at the bus again though, I'll take a look for a shutoff.

sdwarf36:

Well, I don't want to entirely disable the heater, but I appreciate the input, and will keep it in mind as a last ditch possibility.

Thanks again everybody!

[Stuff]

best way is to find the coolant lines under the bus and follow them to the source!

[timmygyu]

Ascend:

I really appriciate you taking the picture; the shutoff valve you're talking about its the lever on the rubber pipe in the center of the picture, right? I'll take a look for it when I'm at the van again and see if I have one. Also, thanks for the pointer on the fans; I'll try that test when I get a chance. When you say the cutoff would disable the entire system, do you mean just the heater, or the fan/AC as well?

Stuff:

Heh, I guess that's what I might end up doing; seems like it's hard to know exactly what setup you have with these vehicles...

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by timmygyu

Hi All

I'm trying to figure out how to disable the rear heater in my shuttle bus. My bus is a partially converted '96 e350 shorty with a 7.3l powerstroke. Manufacturar is Thor; brand is Eldorado. The rear heater seems to be stuck on; though the fan is stuck off. Both switches are on the dash, part of a panel that looked like it was added by Eldorado. The fan switch is electric. The other control is a pneumatic switch. I presume it's circulating cooling fluid from the engine, and that there is a valve that shuts it off when not in use. Does anyone know where I might find a breakdown of this system? Has anyone ever done this before?

Cheers,
Tim

On the Eldos I drove (a 1997, a 1999, and a 2002), the rear heat shutoff valve was on the left side, underneath the vehicle, generally right behind the driver's seat, just in front of the side-mounted A/C plumbing.