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Old 07-12-2021, 04:57 PM   #41
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Location: Essex, MD
Posts: 3,738
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: Blue Bird TC RE 3904, Flat Nose, 40', 277" wh base
Engine: 8.3L Cummins ISC 260hp, MT643, 4.44 rear
Rated Cap: 84 pax or 1 RV; 33,000lbs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bon Voyage View Post
That’s not a regular code reader is it?
Couldn’t you get a mobile mechanic come out to do it for a lot less than that?
By "regular" I assume you mean OBDII; if so, not a chance in hell. I have one of those and as far as I know it doesn't exist on any bus*.

*Bus = big commercial bus. Cummins, Cat, Mercedes engines. The little van based and maybe the Ford engines? I dunno.

Quote:
Originally Posted by musigenesis View Post
On an International there's a little button next to the data port you can press and the dashboard will indicate any codes by blinking the engine warning light in sequence. Do BBs not have something like that?
I think the BB has something kinda like that. Press the gas pedal for 30 seconds, use the right blinker twice but only while using the horn... Might not be quite that convoluted but I don't think it gets you much either. I want to say I recall something in something I read somewhere some time again but well,... you see where I'm going with that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
bob.. thats a rebranded RP1210 device.. its a Nexiq rebrand..

same as

https://www.hobdii.com/wholesale/nex...RoCkfQQAvD_BwE

I have the insite software and a nexiq Device but have never used it before as i dont have a cummins vehicle..

I'll have to check that out... another day. Now back to my original post before the php script went tits up...

Today was an outstanding day. I got the bus started and moved twice.

So, I bought a Deutsch connector for the lift pump just to make it easy and certain that I made contact with the jumped straight to the battery, the new one fired right up. I don't ever remember hearing it before. I'm guessing my hearing is either shot from the front of the bus or that I've never used it before (never lost prime).

After making sure the lift pump worked, I went looking for fuses es. What I thought were test points were encapsulated fuses. Checked all of those and replaced one of the 10A fuses. I didn't have any 7.5A fuses. All of the fuses were either 10A or 7.5A; all of them were disgusting looking even by my standards (if it weren't for low standards, I wouldn't have any at all). So, as mentioned I replaced one of the two 10A fuses. The other 10A fuse looked brand new which I find interesting. I'll have to go back and figure out which circuit that was. The 7.5A fuses got a good scraping with the pocket knife and all reseated. Plugged the lift pump back into the ECM/ECU and turned the key and got NOTHING!! Well, damn. So figuring I didn't have to drive far and just to see if it would start, decided I'll just leave it wired to the battery. It have a return line so it can't hurt to run for awhile right?

Ran the lift long enough that I didn't hear any air noises and then yelled to the girlfriend to try and start it. Not even a second of spitting nor sputtering. No giant ball of smoke. Not a single burp of a backfire. It started right up on the first crank and withing the first half a second or less. Truly a miracle.

Then decided to see what would happen if I unplugged the pump from the battery. Nothing. Nothing at all happened. She kept purring like a kitten. A rather large, possibly feral kitten but a kitten none-the-less. I guess the CASS is fine once it's running and only needs the lift for priming?

Anywho, got the bus started. Next problem is the air brakes. In drive, parking brake off, gas pedal floored... not moving. Can feel it torquing the bus a little. That's a good sign. It means not all of the tranny fluid has leaked out of the heat exchanger. More on that later. Put it in reverse and ease on the gas. The fence is just far enough back that the e-window will clear it when opening. Finally hear and feel a pop. Mild look of panic from the girlfriend. Back to forward and the bus finally rolls forward a little. A little meaning an inch or so. Back to reverse and kind of rock it out like it's in snow. The passenger rear side had managed to sink a little despite the 2x4 re-enforced plywood I had under the tires. Once the car was out of the way, the bus rolled out of the divot.

Went looking for the temp lot. Had an email with shady directions and a lot letter and spot number. Finally find the right lot and start looking for numbers. I'm in spot 15; lowest number is 42. Recheck the list of names, numbers, lots, and spots. No one else is in Lot B with a number anywhere near 15. They're all 42 and above. I've got the right place as there are already quite a few other RVs. There's an empty 51 but no Lot B spot 15. There's an empty Spot 15 in Lot A but that spot is too small. So, they know it's 40 foot bus so maybe they typed 15 but meant 51? I park in a random wide open spot.

Went to the office and checked. Did you get an updated email? I dunno, maybe. They renumbered Lots A and B consecutively. Dude pulls up the old list and agrees it says spot 15. Checks the new list; I'm not on it at all so there's why you didn't get the new email. Mkay one mystery down. Checks another list; it says 15 as well. He makes a call. So, you're going to the Outdoor Req spot, take any spot that's open. Um, you sure? I don't wanna take someone else's spot and you have to do this all over later when that guy doesn't have a spot. Nope, you're good. We planned on overflow even with all the temp spots assigned just in case. Someone will be outside when you get there.

So, back to the bus... do a drive-by of the new spots. Hmm, kinda short and all parked perpendicular (others were diagonal) . Hmm,... No one outside but it's only been a minute or so. At the bus, do I need to re-prime using the lift pump? Screw t, it's find out. Turn the key and she starts right back up again. SWEET!!! Drive to the new spot and there's a kid out there waving to where I need to park. Thx to the drive-by I had that figured out. Pull past the spot, throw it in reverse, and back right in. Only one trailer on the passenger side, nothing for awhile on driver's and a decent mount of room to swing the nose around. End up fairly straight and 3 feet off the travel trailer on the first go. Get out of the bus and kid says that was pretty impressive to watch. Yeah, not bad for the 3rd time ever driving it huh? Kid wasn't sure what to say. But now that I think about it, I guess it might actually be the fourth time or maybe 6th. 1) drove it home, parked at a Walmart overnight, 2) drove it to a different storage lot, 3) drove it to the until now current lot, 4) drove it to the girlfriend's house and then to NY the next day (count that as one trip, and 5) drove it to the newest spot. I did drive it to a truck wash once and a gas station but that was all close enough to the NY trip.

Now back to the leaky heat exchanger... There's a heat exchanger that coolant and tranny go thru. It's rusty as hell and started leaking some time after the NY trip. NY trip was Year 1. I've had the bus for 4 years now. The leak is part of the reason the batteries went dead. No point in idling the bus if it's going to piss tranny fluid everywhere. Wandered off topic again, sorry. Anyway on the NY trip, the tranny temp NEVER went above about 150. Water temp would go between 180-200 depending on the grade and how long the pedal was floored. So, I'm guessing the heat exchanger is used to warm the tranny fluid? Can anyone confirm? If it's designed to cool the coolant, I might have a problem. New OEM parts are around $700. I don't want to spend that when it's just a small radiator inside a metal box. I'm thinking about bypassing it. I'm not worried about the tranny being too cold. I'm only marginally worried about the coolant being too hot.

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Old 07-12-2021, 05:32 PM   #42
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Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: Blue Bird TC RE 3904, Flat Nose, 40', 277" wh base
Engine: 8.3L Cummins ISC 260hp, MT643, 4.44 rear
Rated Cap: 84 pax or 1 RV; 33,000lbs
Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
Holy mark-up, Batman. I expected that between the OEM Cummins and the off brand. I didn't expect that much between the off brand and the Chinese knockoff. That might be worth getting.

Quote:
I have the insite software and a nexiq Device but have never used it before as i dont have a cummins vehicle..
Is the software free? I don't think I saw anything on the Cummins site saying one way or another.

Looking at all the cables with your knock off, I think I've got a 6 or 7 round barrel style connector like that. I didn't do a pin count but it's between 5 and 7. Hmmm,...

So, aside from the geekiness of it, why do you have both when you don't have a Cummins?
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Old 07-12-2021, 05:41 PM   #43
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I dont own that knock off.. its one a buddy of mine has that works with his 24 valve. the nexiq or clone device works with many different softwares .. IH, CAT, cummins, allision, etc its a standard protocol.. I have the cummins software as I found a "??? version " (free) on a certain website and downloaded it... im guessing at some point ill probably get a cummins...


your engine should either have a green 9 pin round or a grey 6 pin round connector.. "deutsche" diagnostic connectors
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Old 07-12-2021, 06:09 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brewerbob View Post
By "regular" I assume you mean OBDII; if so, not a chance in hell. I have one of those and as far as I know it doesn't exist on any bus*.

*Bus = big commercial bus. Cummins, Cat, Mercedes engines. The little van based and maybe the Ford engines? I dunno.
No I didn’t mean obdII. I guess “regular” was supposed to mean for the j something plug or if it was for some specialty application that I didn’t know about.

Glad you can move it!!
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Old 07-12-2021, 06:33 PM   #45
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bon Voyage View Post
No I didn’t mean obdII. I guess “regular” was supposed to mean for the j something plug or if it was for some specialty application that I didn’t know about.

Glad you can move it!!

all of the different standards and software are enough to give anyone brain hurt
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Old 07-12-2021, 07:23 PM   #46
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Awesome that you got the bus moving again!
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Old 07-13-2021, 03:34 PM   #47
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Chassis: Blue Bird TC RE 3904, Flat Nose, 40', 277" wh base
Engine: 8.3L Cummins ISC 260hp, MT643, 4.44 rear
Rated Cap: 84 pax or 1 RV; 33,000lbs
Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
your engine should either have a green 9 pin round or a grey 6 pin round connector.. "deutsche" diagnostic connectors
Grey for sure and probably 6 pins.
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Old 07-13-2021, 03:37 PM   #48
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Chassis: Blue Bird TC RE 3904, Flat Nose, 40', 277" wh base
Engine: 8.3L Cummins ISC 260hp, MT643, 4.44 rear
Rated Cap: 84 pax or 1 RV; 33,000lbs
Quote:
Originally Posted by musigenesis View Post
Awesome that you got the bus moving again!
You have no idea!!. I thought I had until the 29th but instead they gave a range of June 29th to July 16. When I figured it out I only had a week left. Who am I going to get to tow it, where to, how much is that going to cost? I was starting to stress about it.
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Old 07-16-2021, 10:19 AM   #49
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Rated Cap: 84 pax or 1 RV; 33,000lbs
There's a heat exchanger that coolant and tranny go thru. It's rusty as hell and started leaking. The tranny temp NEVER went above about 150. Water temp would go between 180-200 depending on the grade and how long the pedal was floored. So, I'm guessing the heat exchanger is used to warm the tranny fluid? If it's designed to cool the coolant, I might have a problem. New OEM parts are around $700. I don't want to spend that when it's just a small radiator inside a metal box. I'm thinking about bypassing it. I'm not worried about the tranny being too cold. I'm only marginally worried about the coolant being too hot.

Can anyone confirm?
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Old 07-16-2021, 10:32 AM   #50
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That's the trans cooler. I would caution against removing it. I don't know how you're measuring your tranny temp but that cooler is important
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Old 07-16-2021, 11:22 AM   #51
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Just read through all this, kudos to getting it started.

You can find a "diesel diagnostic laptop" on ebay/craigslist/marketplace that has the interface and more software then you'll ever use. The software on it is either free to the user, or hacked and illegal. Regardless, they can be had for a few hundred bucks typically, and would work fine for any diagnostics you'd have to do on your bus.

Cummins has always been j1939 AFAIK, at least all of the interact series engines did. Maybe the celects were on 1708, I don't remember. Regardless, if it's got an ISC, it should have the 9 pin deutsche connector under the dash.

With it running is the check engine light on?

Your lift pump will run for 30 seconds at key on, and then turn off while the engine is running. The engine will run without it, because it has a gear pump in the injection pump to supply fuel. I don't believe there is a lift pump relay. It's controlled through the ecm and the ecm will actually monitor amperage draw(or lack thereof) and can throw a check engine light if it's out of spec(not running). If you're not getting power to the lift pump through the harness at all, I have seen the pumps/harness short out and burn out the driver in the ecm. You might be able to fix it if you're electrically handy, or a replacement ecm will fix it as well $$$$.

Or you could wire up a simple switch to prime the system after fuel filter change. That's typically the only time the lift pump is needed on an isc.

The trans heat exchanger is needed. Your fluid runs so cool because the cooler is working how it should. I know the oem one is expensive, but it does it's job better then any air unit you could try and stack in front of the radiator. You'll just have to bite the bullet on this one. Maybe see if yours can be fixed, or find a used one.
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Old 07-16-2021, 11:08 PM   #52
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Chassis: Blue Bird TC RE 3904, Flat Nose, 40', 277" wh base
Engine: 8.3L Cummins ISC 260hp, MT643, 4.44 rear
Rated Cap: 84 pax or 1 RV; 33,000lbs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rwnielsen View Post
That's the trans cooler. I would caution against removing it. I don't know how you're measuring your tranny temp but that cooler is important
Temp gauge.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Booyah45828 View Post
The trans heat exchanger is needed. Your fluid runs so cool because the cooler is working how it should. I know the oem one is expensive, but it does it's job better then any air unit you could try and stack in front of the radiator. You'll just have to bite the bullet on this one. Maybe see if yours can be fixed, or find a used one.
I'm 99.9% sure it has both coolant and tranny fluid running thru it. If that's the case, one fluid is cooling the other.

I'll take another look the next time I'm out there.
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Old 07-17-2021, 12:30 AM   #53
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I’ve seen people remove the transmission cooler and hook into a separate after market air cooler. I’ve been thinking of doing that to mine since the transmission is always running cool but the engine tends to run a little warm at times. That way it might lighten the heat load on the radiator and cool the engine a little more. But id hate to see the transmission start running warmer if I did.
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Old 07-17-2021, 03:38 AM   #54
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brewerbob View Post
Temp gauge.



I'm 99.9% sure it has both coolant and tranny fluid running thru it. If that's the case, one fluid is cooling the other.

I'll take another look the next time I'm out there.
It's actually called a heat exchanger. They're in saltwater boats instead of radiators. They're not very large
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Old 07-19-2021, 08:07 AM   #55
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I'm 99.9% sure it has both coolant and tranny fluid running thru it. If that's the case, one fluid is cooling the other.

I'll take another look the next time I'm out there.
It does. They use the cold water from the lower radiator hose to cool the transmission fluid, before it enters the engine.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bon Voyage View Post
I’ve seen people remove the transmission cooler and hook into a separate after market air cooler. I’ve been thinking of doing that to mine since the transmission is always running cool but the engine tends to run a little warm at times. That way it might lighten the heat load on the radiator and cool the engine a little more. But id hate to see the transmission start running warmer if I did.
It's going to run warmer. How much is anyone's guess. The oil to coolant heat exchangers are a lot more efficient then an air to oil unit. You can add additional cooling capacity with an air to oil unit, but you'll need a cooler the size of the radiator if you want to replicate what the oil-coolant unit is doing.

You guys do what you want, but those coolant-oil units are used in nearly every automatic equipped vehicle on the road, whether in the radiator tank itself or with a separate cooler box. I've seen several people try to replace leaking coolant units with an air unit, and each one wound up boiling the trans fluid pulling the nearest grade.
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Old 07-19-2021, 02:27 PM   #56
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Essex, MD
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Year: 1999
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: Blue Bird TC RE 3904, Flat Nose, 40', 277" wh base
Engine: 8.3L Cummins ISC 260hp, MT643, 4.44 rear
Rated Cap: 84 pax or 1 RV; 33,000lbs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rwnielsen View Post
It's actually called a heat exchanger. They're in saltwater boats instead of radiators. They're not very large
Yeah, I know what they are.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Booyah45828 View Post
It does. They use the cold water from the lower radiator hose to cool the transmission fluid, before it enters the engine.
Ok that makes sense I suppose. Makes more work for the radiator tho when it's the coolants time to cool. But then the radiator is ginormous anyway.
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Old 08-21-2021, 10:43 AM   #57
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My tranny cooler was cracked it pressured the heater hose till it burst at the fitting going to the rear heater. Good thing it was metal shielded, or it would have burnt my legs. I thought it was only a hose break at the barb fitting because rad fluid is red. Fixed it 10 min. later same thing. In the Baja desert relized the red fluid was oily and sure enough a cracked tranny cooler. Took out the cooler brazed the inlet and outlet holes. Put a vw aftermarket oil cooler on under the bus. Been driving all over from North Saskatchewan to southern Mexico with no problems. I did put a temp gauge on though to confirm. Took over 8 flushes and hundreds of miles to finally get the rad clean of oil. I would not trust a rusty rad
.
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Old 08-21-2021, 11:14 AM   #58
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Essex, MD
Posts: 3,738
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: Blue Bird TC RE 3904, Flat Nose, 40', 277" wh base
Engine: 8.3L Cummins ISC 260hp, MT643, 4.44 rear
Rated Cap: 84 pax or 1 RV; 33,000lbs
Quote:
Originally Posted by powderskier View Post
Took over 8 flushes and hundreds of miles to finally get the rad clean of oil. I would not trust a rusty rad
.
Pretty sure my oil doesn't go thru there. Just coolant and tranny fluid. But it's also been a long while since i was under it poking around.
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Old 08-21-2021, 01:38 PM   #59
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Sorry when I said oily I meant tranny fluid oily. If it leaks its under tranny pressure. I probably had old heater hose because you'd figure the rad cap would of vented
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