In the spirit of Mad Max (just saw the new movie), a new paint job for the trip through town to dump off the stripped seats at the scrap yard, along with the various other metal pieces, with the cushions and insulation going to the landfill, unfortunately. WARNING!! Some bus cabin heater systems have TWO valves that must be closed to prevent coolant from flowing through the heaters. I closed the only one I saw and was spared only by my cushions from the hot coolant blasting the stopper free at the rear of the bus. I also had about 2 hours of downtime, requiring a rescue from my friend, in the form of coolant and water. I wonder if that counts as a radiator flush?
For those that don't know, this is what lurks under the padding of the bus seats:
Now that I have some room to work, time to figure out why my dash is acting up. Just about everyone says is a ground issue, so time to chase wires. First, I'd like to get rid of that last piece of the "Silent Witness" system. The harness it disappears into leads to fuse panel 4 under the dash by the entry door.
WOW! There's a lot of junk in here. Dead end wires, a plastic spider (yeah, I jumped back for a second) a melted wire :ermm: I need to see what's going on here. It looks like all of the computers are here except for a couple in the engine bay. The gauges run on data, and the Allison code 16600 means the transmission controller is not getting a good feed either. That confirms that the ground affecting the gauges also affects the transmission shifting smoothly. This must be the place to look. Hmm. All of the plugs in the back of fuse panel 4 are really limiting my visibility.
Okay, I can see the computers now but can't get to them. The dashboard itself is in the way. I'm sure a few screws is all it'll take to see what I need to see.
Yes. That looks much simpler
So, I pretty much took the dash out with a hammer, a saw, a dremel, a grinder and more than a couple of swear words. The dash is literally now in pieces, along with the front ventilation system. I'm okay with that though, since I wanted to make my own dashboard, to include a defrost system. I'm glad I took the dash out as well, since the floor under fuse panel 4 and the heater core is just completely destroyed.
I hadn't really expected this since the rest of the floor was in pretty good shape. For me, the only solution is to get as far into this area of the bus as I can, strip and treat rust, plate and fiberglass as necessary, and while I'm at it, reorganize the wiring harnesses to all 4 fuse panels. That way, I not only learn A LOT about my bus, but it will be simpler in the end, and maybe, just maybe I'll find that ground wire problem. For now, the front end reminds me a bit of Zoidberg from Futurama.
All of the wiring will be completely removed from the front so that I can prep, build, prime and paint this area so this issue won't show up for a long time. That's where I am as of June 2, 2015. I have some electrical component questions that I will ask in a different post.
