Trying to find a new radiator cap for my DT360 with no luck

[onenationundergoat]

The cap I have on my bus leaks under pressure. It has no part number on it. It's a hex shape cap that says 10psi on it, and I can't find any caps that match it. I'm not even sure that the right cap was on the bus to begin with. To you other 360 owners; what cap do you have?

[nat_ster]

Any parts place will have a 10 psi rad cap.

Nat

[onenationundergoat]

I've called autozone and looked online in general and it doesn't seem that they exist...

[nat_ster]

Did the cap you have fit?

Did it lock down properly?

When you squeeze the top rad hose, did you hear, or see it leak?

If the old one fit, take it with you to the parts place. It will help them match up a new one.

Nat

[somewhereinusa]

It's a truck, places like AutoZone don't have a clue anyway. A parts store that isn't one of some chain or a NAPA.

[onenationundergoat]

I went to AutoZone, Advance, and O'Reilly's today in person with the cap. I managed to find a 9psi at O'Reilly's, and they were the only place that actually had any of my filters as well. The old cap is shot.

[taskswap]

Have you tried online? JC Whitney and eBay are pretty regular sources of all kinds of "my store OUGHT to carry this, but I can't find it" stuff.

Here's a dozen 10psi caps on eBay you can match yours against:
10psi cap | eBay

There's a hexagonal one 4 items down that looks like a truck part and another one a few spots further. Maybe the same as yours? If not, keep scrolling.

If you find the right part, why not buy two? They don't really fail much but they're super cheap and then you'll have the spare. And if you CAN'T find it, any decent welding shop can weld on a new neck that takes a different kind of cap. It's kind of a simple job if you don't mind emptying and bringing them the part - I had one done just to shorten the neck and the guy only asked $50, I think.

[nat_ster]

Your making this way harder than it is, and way over thinking it.

A rad cap is the most simple thing to find and replace. Are all the parts places there brain dead?

Nat

[claydbal]

parts places like autozone and advance are like walmart. total idiots. just go to napa or oreillely.

[Booyah45828]

I agree with all the above. A radiator cap should be the easiest thing to find in the store. There's only like half a dozen to a dozen different styles for all vehicles out there(cars, trucks, busses, boats, semis, tractors, you get the picture) You either have: A, just a standard sized one that fits 2 1/4" filler necks; Or B, there is a larger one(not common) that fits 2 11/16 filler necks. The larger one they might not have, but I HIGHLY doubt you have that one anyways. They tend to be on tractors and larger equipment that have higher power levels. If yours has a hex on it don't mind it, it's still a 2 1/4" cap with just a different look.

[somewhereinusa]

just go to napa or oreillely.

O'Reilly are only semi idiots

When hunting for school bus parts, remember it is a truck, if it is a dog nose it really is a truck from the firewall forward. Instead of say a dump body or cargo box, it has a long frame with seats. RE and FE buses are still trucks. You have to go to places that sell truck parts. The chain store parts stores as a general, rule employ people who don't really know much about cars and nothing about trucks. If they can't look it up by make, year, and model in a computer, it doesn't exist. NAPA is a chain, but they have truck parts and are usually, at least in my area knowledgeable about trucks. Old local autoparts stores, even though they may be some sort of buying/marketing group now will probably know trucks. At least around here the counter people either grew up in the business or were mechanics. Most of them know what the part is and at least what it is off of and what it does, when you lay it on the counter. As a general rule the web isn't a good place to look for truck parts. Heavy and medium duty trucks are still basically built one by one. They come down an assembly line, but each one has a build sheet telling what parts and extras are to be installed.

onenationundergoat

You need to find out what kind of truck you have, if you have a dog nose it's easy, show us some pictures. There should be tags all over the place telling you what things are. On a truck, EVERY major component has an information tag, this includes axle,air compressors,etc. Find them all and make notes, I take pictures of them all, I then have the pictures on my phone. I also print them all and put them in my "build" book. Your camera/phone has the capability to take good clean close-up pictures. If you don't know how, LEARN. It's even possible to get a picture of a tag that you can't actually see, if you can get a camera pointed at it. Thomas, at least when I contacted them were quite helpful, you need the VIN# to do anything having to do with a truck.

Your original question was answered by people who know what they are talking about

[rvingoffgrid]

In a pinch, I was at a gas station once and as I fueled I could hear gargling or a hiss sound , so I broke the hood over to find my radiator cap leaking , explains the slightly higher temp my engine was running. So the gas station had chips and Pepsi but no cap! So I took one off of my 1990 gmc jimmy I was towing and swapped caps. So I can tell you a cap from a 1990 gmc with a 4.3 v6 will fit and work perfectly , I bought a new cap but I put it on my jimmy napa had it in stock . And I have logged another 20k miles sense I put that cap on and my 360 international has never run over 190 temp ever.

[onenationundergoat]

I have the "pug nose" style bus where the engine is halfway inside and halfway outside. Apparently people aren't used to seeing those on here, but they're all over NC. The cap I bought hasn't given me any trouble, but then again the bus hasn't been driven for more than one or two miles at once because I won't put insurance and tags on it until I finish the conversion and chance the title. I'm going to try to take pics of the labels on everything I can find eventually, but all the ones I've seen are so dirty they're unreadable. When I try to clean them they either refuse to come clean or the information comes off with the dirt. Ugh. I'm also working with an antique flip phone because I refuse to get a smart phone. Some day I'll borrow a digital camera to work with.

[jazty]

Originally Posted by somewhereinusa

RE and FE buses are still trucks. You have to go to places that sell truck parts. The chain store parts stores as a general, rule employ people who don't really know much about cars and nothing about trucks. If they can't look it up by make, year, and model in a computer, it doesn't exist. NAPA is a chain, but they have truck parts and are usually, at least in my area knowledgeable about trucks. Old local autoparts stores, even though they may be some sort of buying/marketing group now will probably know trucks.

I'll add a couple extra real truck part stores:

Fleetrite

Traction Heavy Duty Parts (Canada)

Look for Cummins and International authorized service centers, as well. They'll have a parts counter and often deal with all sorts of trucks. Sometimes at shockingly reasonable prices! The International shop around here has surprised me on a couple of occasions.

[HolyBus]

O'Reilly's autoparts was the only place around me that could look up my bus by model and engine. I went with parts from them even though I could have cross-referenced and gotten them cheaper because the guy took the time and effort to find out what parts he had or could get. Other chains were not so helpful.

[Stu & Filo. T]

If you can find an old time napa I've found them to be quite helpful, most your new stores have no clue how to find older parts, if it's not in the computer it don't exist to them. I once went to the older Napa store here in town to get new brake lines for my 70 Ford motorhome, the girl behind the counter actually pulled out a book & found them, had them that afternoon, other stores told me they didn't exist.

[milkmania]

I called Autozone once.... my exact words were "I need spark plug wires for a suburban"
the guy on the other end asked "who makes that?"
I hung up, and took them out of my contact list

[rvingoffgrid]

I used a cap off my 1990 gmc jimmy to replace the one on my 3700 international with a DT 360 we where on the road and no part store around so i just swapped it. its still on the bus today and works perfectly my engine runs 180 dead on always never runs hot.