| Author |
Message |
John Fitzgerald (Johnfitz) (209.179.168.35)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 4:55 pm: | |
Has anyone heard of a clogged intercooler causing overheating on a 6V92TA?
First let me apologize. I don’t have a bus – RV forums just don’t get technical enough let alone talk about Detroit Diesels. My hat is off to you people who build a conversion from scratch – it think it’s an incredible feat of guts, patience and perseverance.
My coach is a 1991 Foretravel with 300hp 6V92TA Silver, DDEC II, a rear radiator, engine mounted clutched fan, and a MTB648 ATEC transmission. In the past two years I’ve done all the things normally thought to solve overheating, but I have never heard of this last suggestion – a clogged intercooler. It was second hand info and I’m not sure if they mean the water passage ways or the air side is clogged. If the later, I could imagine the fins getting gummed up with oil seepage that migrated over the years. But I still don’t understand how it could result in overheating –maybe the same way a dirty air filter does it, but I never understood that as well.
Secondly, how would one verify if it is clogged without disassembly? DD estimated 10 hr. of labor plus parts to do this and they said there wasn’t a way to tell without pulling the turbo, blower, and valve covers. I’d spend the money in a heartbeat if I knew it would do the trick but I’ve been here before with some of the other things that were supposed to fix it and I would really like to verify it before spending another chunk of change.
Any thoughts would be appreciated,
John Fitzgerald |
jim mci-9 (209.240.205.60)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 5:25 pm: | |
unless you've got some really bad antifreeze, i don't see how an aftercooler can cause an engine to overheat....depending on whether you have a "double-double" or a "bundle" type oil cooler on the side of your engine, can help in troubleshooting your heating problem.... if you have an infrared heat gun, you can "trace" the heating pattern on your oil cooler housings....on a 180 degree engine, the oil will be about 15 degrees hotter....and the oil cooler will remove about 12-18 degrees of temp from the oil.... the top tank of your radiator should be about 15 degreeas hotter than the bottom.... any more differnce and you have a coolant flow problem in the radiator...(like its stopped up)... less than 10 degrees and the coolant is moving to fast to be cooled.... (like stuck open thermostats)....the $100 investment in a heat gun is worth every penny spent....you'll suprise yourself in what you can find out....if the aftercooler is stopped up, you ought to be able to look in the tube, right behind the governor, and see gunk, crystals or whatever.... its hard to determine what problems exist without an actaul interview....hope it helps..jim |
Don Fairchild (209.234.134.61)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 6:43 pm: | |
John;
Buy the temp gun like jim advises, or go back to the local Detroit dealer have them run the scan tool and see what codes you get. Run your rv on there chasis dyno and check the engine temp at the thermostat housings and the radiator like jim said. If the temp gun gives you good readings look at the sender or sensor for the problem. While on the dyno look for high exhaust smoke. If the aftercooler is plugged on the water side you will have high air box temps. If it is plugged on the air side you won't have enough air going into the engine and it will smoke. Have you alway's had a heating problem or did you change some thing and that created the heat. Is this some thing that has been coming on over time.Have to ask.
Don |
jim wilke (152.163.252.163)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 7:21 pm: | |
I have an 8V92TA that I thought had the same problem. A friend who is a great diesel mechanic said to put a pressure gauge on the air box and one after the blower. (The aftercooler is in the Vee of the block directly below the blower.) Run the engine & there should be no difference in pressure if the air side of the aftercooler is clean. If there is a difference in pressure the cooler is clogged with oil sludge, dust, etc. This could happen pretty quickly if the turbo or blower has leaky seals and/or if the air intake/filter system has let dust, weeds, lint or ?? in. The aftercooler core looks like a car heater core or air conditioner coil.
Jim-Bob |
Geoff (Geoff) (66.238.120.99)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 10:36 pm: | |
There are two ways an intercooler can be plugged-- externally and internally. If it was plugged extenally you would not be getting enough air to the clyinders and the engine would be smoking black under a load. If it was plugged interally the water would not be circulating and the air going through the aftercooler would be hot. All this would do is result is less horsepower and perhaps a little more smoke. Neither condition by itself would cause the engine itself to run hot. Look elsewhere for an engine overheating problem.
--Geoff
'82 RTS CA |
James Maxwell (Jmaxwell) (66.81.32.138)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 1:00 am: | |
Geoff: Thnks for the answer, even if it wasn't my question. I theorized what you have said when this solution was offered to me as my problem on long grade pulls at speed. Having eliminated everything else, I'm back to what I think to be the problem, a slipping fan clutch (which just happens to be a Grumman OEM type only used in '81 on the 6v92 and for which I have not been able to locate new friction discs) |
John Fitzgerald (Johnfitz) (209.179.168.55)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 1:23 am: | |
To answer Don's question,
I have had this problem since I purchased it-over 2 years now.
The only thing that really seems to help was replacing the radiator core. It doesn't seem to be getting any better or worse.
The engine runs fine, smokes on throttle up then runs clean. It doesn't consume any coolant and uses at most 1 quart of oil per 1000 miles.
To Jim Wilke: Was your problem overheating? and Was your intercooler clogged? and
If so, did it solve the overheating?
My thanks to all,
John Fitz |
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