The engineers at International deserve a big kudos!
I was sleeping on the way home, and the driver of the bus woke me up to tell me that the alternator stopped alternating. I told him to keep driving and we'll worry about it later. It was daytime, and we didn't really need much 12 volt current at the time.
about 45 minutes later, he stopped to let another guy drive for a while. I awoke and stepped outside the bus a few seconds behind another passenger to empty my bladder along the rode. I took one look at the bumper and thought the other passenger urinated all over the bumper of the bus, which didn'tmake me too happy....after about 3 seconds i realized that it was not human waste, but was in fact engine coolant.
hmmmmm!
It then occurred to me the reason the alternator stopped making current is that the belts had come off. No belts = no water pump. So for about 45 minutes the bus drove highway speeds without a belt turning the water pump, I figured that some pretty serious engine damage probably occurred. As it turns out, everything was just fine after we filled her up with coolant.
Why didnt' my engine suffer total thermo nuclear meltdown??? Those engineers at international mounted the fan directly to the water pump. The only thing i can figure is that at highway speeds there is enough wind to allow the fan to work as a propeller and spin the water pump at a pretty decent speed.
how cool is that?
more stories still to come.....
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