Can anybody tell me what this is for?

CoffeeGuy · 08-20-2020, 07:57 PM

Poking around under my bus, I found a couple of big coolant hoses unattached at the ends but running through brackets. They were originally attached to this thing at one end, I have no idea about the other end.

Can anybody tell me what this is (or was) used for?

CoffeeGuy · 08-20-2020, 07:57 PM

Sorry about the sideways pictures, my phone seems to want to do that. I will try to fix.

Fixed!

cadillackid · 08-20-2020, 08:04 PM

I dont see any pics

Sraycwb · 08-20-2020, 08:13 PM

Looks to be Part of your AC system. Ac condenser.

CoffeeGuy · 08-20-2020, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadillackid

I dont see any pics

Sorry, you probably looked while I was rotating them after they uploaded sideways. The pics are there now.

CoffeeGuy · 08-20-2020, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sraycwb

Part of your AC system.

But... I don't have an AC system! Is this something I can use, or is it taking up space I can repurpose?

Sraycwb · 08-20-2020, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoffeeGuy

Sorry, you probably looked while I was rotating them after they uploaded sideways. The pics are there now.

If your referring to the unit, with grill over fan, that definitely looks to be an ac condenser. If you no longer have air, there's no need to keep it. Should see a set of 4 bolts through your floor which is holding it in place. We eliminated ours, had 1 located on each under corner at rear of bus.

CoffeeGuy · 08-20-2020, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sraycwb

If your referring to the unit, with grill over fan, that definitely looks to be an ac condenser. If you no longer have air, there's no need to keep it.

Hmm... I will look into this further, but as far as I know, this bus never had AC, nor does it have controls for AC. I was concerned that it might be a radiator for some other system that was detached and could cause a problem down the road.

These busses are like big yellow boxes of mysteries to solve!

cadillackid · 08-20-2020, 08:43 PM

to me seeing it has hydraulic flare fittings id guess that was eithyer an auxiliary transmission or power steering fluid cooler.. that doesnt look like any Air conditioner used in the year 2000

CoffeeGuy · 08-20-2020, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadillackid

to me seeing it has hydraulic flare fittings id guess that was eithyer an auxiliary transmission or power steering fluid cooler.. that doesnt look like any Air conditioner used in the year 2000

Thanks! That is my line of thinking as well. It looks too small to be an air conditioner condenser. I think the guy I purchased from said that new lines were run, I assume to the existing cooling system? I didn't know enough at the time to ask more specifically, it just sounded like there was an issue that they took care of and left the old lines in.

tlzimmerman · 08-20-2020, 09:09 PM

Guessing transmission cooler. Probably developed a leak so they just bypassed it. Would make me nervous myself. It probably could use a transmission cooler.

Truthseeker4449 · 08-20-2020, 09:14 PM

One of my buses (2001 MVP ER) has a cooler that looks just like this. I haven't taken the time to chase exactly what runs through it tho. If I had to take a stab at it tho I would say it's a transmission cooler due to the size of fittings. None of the visible power steering hoses in engine bay are close to that size except for the hoses for the engine cooling fan. I've seen some massive hoses coming out of some transmissions. The trans temp gauge on that bus barely registers any heat coming out of the transmission (MD3060) going down the highway.

TJones · 08-20-2020, 10:06 PM

Its the transmission cooler. I have one just like it on my bus.

Ted

CoffeeGuy · 08-22-2020, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJones

Its the transmission cooler. I have one just like it on my bus.

Ted

Thanks, Ted. Do you have an idea where it should plug into? The end of one of the hoses ends up near the power steering oil canister. That canister has all its connections. The end of the other hose looks like it is hanging near the radiator, again, there's no place where it looks like a hose is missing.

TJones · 08-22-2020, 11:24 PM

Your second picture looks like it shows a hose with a female fitting next to a male threaded fitting. I'll take a look at my bus in the morning and see show it is plumbed and take some pictures for you.

Ted

CoffeeGuy · 08-23-2020, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJones

Your second picture looks like it shows a hose with a female fitting next to a male threaded fitting. I'll take a look at my bus in the morning and see show it is plumbed and take some pictures for you.

Ted

That would be amazing and a huge help! Thank you!

TJones · 08-23-2020, 02:12 PM

I was mistaken that is the cooler the power steering/hydraulic fan circuit. Funny the is an electric fan to cool the hydraulic fluid that was turning a bigger fan. The transmission uses an oil water cooler to dump heat into the engine coolant. The below photos are as follows.

1) line towards the front of the bus leaving cooler (covered with loom)

2) line in #1 returning to filter/reservoir. It is the large line in the middle of the T fitting

3) line from hydraulic fan

4) line from hydraulic fan connected to cooler toward back of the bus.

Ted

CoffeeGuy · 08-24-2020, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJones

I was mistaken that is the cooler the power steering/hydraulic fan circuit. Funny the is an electric fan to cool the hydraulic fluid that was turning a bigger fan. The transmission uses an oil water cooler to dump heat into the engine coolant.

Ted, this is extremely helpful! There are new hoses connected to the power steering/hydraulic fan circuit, but I need to trace where they go. It seems like the mechanic figured out a work-around, but I’ll have to dig a bit deeper before I understand what they did.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and time. It is much appreciated. This is why I love being a member of online communities like this.

Iceni John · 08-24-2020, 12:44 AM

My bus has a small cooler for the radiator's hydraulic fan motor which also shares its fluid with the PS circuit, so it cools all that fluid eventually. I'm surprised your cooler is so large to do only that - my cooler is half the size without a fan. When I rebuilt my entire cooling system a few years ago I relocated this hydraulic cooler from in front of the radiator to a new position where it catches the air flowing under the bus while driving. This means my radiator now has no obstruction to its incoming air, and the air isn't being pre-heated like before. I also installed a transmission fluid remote cooler that looks similar to your mystery cooler: mine's about 18" x 24" with a 14" fan and 1" ports, and it's plumbed between the fluid outlet at the top of the TC housing and the shell cooler on the side of the engine that transfers heat from the oil and transmission fluid to the engine's coolant. My fan motor / PS fluid runs about 130 degrees most of the time, so there's little need for a huge cooler for it; my transmission runs about the same temperature as the engine coolant unless I'm driving around town in which case it's about ten degrees hotter. With my 2-stroke engine I can never have too much cooling, so the more coolers and radiators I have, the better!

John

CoffeeGuy · 08-25-2020, 03:07 PM

Okay, I think I understand what the previous owner did. The circuit goes as follows: Comes out of the Compressor, where it then goes into the Power Steering tank. From there, it would have gone to the small radiator, but instead a new line replaced it that bypasses the small radiator and goes directly into the radiator fan hydraulics.

So they just cut the small radiator out of the circuit. Is this a problem? What issues might it cause down the road, say on a cross-country trip?

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