What is this black box in my bus?

[Emilie]

I'm in the process of converting a bus and have reached a stumbling block. There is a black box that sits at the back of the bus. It has 2 tubes attached running all the way along the side to the front, left of the driver's seat.

I originally thought that it was associated with the a/c, but have since found out that the hoses aren't attached to the a/c units.

I would like to remove the box if I can, but I don't know what it's for. Also, it has started leaking pink clear fluid, maybe a coolant?

Any ideas of what it is would be super helpful. 😁

The pictures show the box, within a bucket to catch the liquid, and the tubes running to the front and to a part of the engine.

[EastCoastCB]

thats your rear heater. The lines have engine coolant in them.
To remove it you make sure the rear heater valves are shut, unhook the hoses, drain it all, and then remove it.

[Emilie]

Thank you very much for the help!

[cadillackid]

and loop the lines back together or you will have no heat up front..

[Native]

If you can, pull the heater box all the way out the front door, then disconnect it at the front. You may be able to keep from making a mess by not dumping a lot of coolant inside your bus. Once disconnected, you can take to open ends of the hoses outside as well and put them in a 5 gallon bucket, then drain out the coolant into the bucket.

[mmoore6856]

some shutoff valves for these heavy duty heaters do not shut off all the way so to help keep the inside of the core clean while not in use as coolant also contains a anti corrosion additive so use a pan or pinch off the hoses as just turning off the valves without looping it right away might keep leaking

[musigenesis]

Here's how I looped my hoses. Only thing to do differently is to not use a section of rubber hose to complete the loop like I did here, but rather to use a brass hose mender or something more solid. But this is basically a mess-free way to do it - I got maybe an inch of coolant in the bottom of my bucket - and you don't even have to figure out where your coolant valves are.

[TruculentTurnip]

Originally Posted by Native

...Once disconnected, you can take to open ends of the hoses outside as well and put them in a 5 gallon bucket, then drain out the coolant into the bucket.

Make sure you have much more than a 5 gallon bucket available. My Gillig had >15 gallons of coolant that had to be drained to loop the two rear heater connections. Cutting one of those blue plastic 50 gallon barrels (you can usually get them for free) in half with a jigsaw yields a great vessel to capture it without needing to aim very accurately or swap buckets partway through.

[novice]

Good luck to you and kudos to everyone who tackles rear heater removal.

After killing an engine due to an unbeknownst-to-me coolant leak, I'm building an insulated box around the thing for now til I run into someone who wants to help me with it.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

Originally Posted by novice

Good luck to you and kudos to everyone who tackles rear heater removal.

After killing an engine due to an unbeknownst-to-me coolant leak, I'm building an insulated box around the thing for now til I run into someone who wants to help me with it.

where do you live at?
i also have a 2003/4 3500 with collins/midbus body and 6.0.
have already deleted my heater and can talk you through it or send you a pic of what and where.
how far along are you with yours?
theres not alot of room in these so if you want your heater gone i think we can boost your confidence in you getting rid of yours.

[Ronnie]

Your last picture shows the coolant valves in a closed position

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

Originally Posted by Ronnie

Your last picture shows the coolant valves in a closed position

yes it does look like both valves are closed.
i didnt really study the pics before?
was trying to boost his confidence in his self to do this delete?
i suck at posting pics on here so when he responds back i can give direct contact phone wise with me when he has issues.
exact same platform, motor and all.
wiring delete and most vanda lock is done starting new mess now?.
was wanting the OP because we have exactly the same platform.
i would like to know where he is at versus where i am at? sounds like he is starting and i have started/in progress.

[Diverdude0075]

Off topic. How are you getting pics to upload directly?

[Native]

As long as your imges are on the computer you are using to post, then click on the "advanced" button on the post, then click on the little paper clip symbol at the top of the post box. This will open another widow (the attachment manager) from which you can select images to add into your post. I believe you can add 5 images before you have to use them in the post. Once you have uploaded the images to the server you click on the paper clip icon again to add them into the body of the message.