This past Thursday, March 30, 2017, we departed Rancho Jurupa Regional Park in Riverside, CA where we had been for the last six days. We were going to drive up to the Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge to pick up my renewal membership card so we could be sure to be able to stay at a few Elks Lodges on our way north along the California Coast, and from there continue up the coast to Ventura, or further. I have always been paranoid about overheating, and I check my coolant temp gauge often. Thursday was no different.....as we drove up Cedar Ave. towards the Fontana Lodge I glanced at my gauge and it read a normal 185.....just a few minutes later I glanced down and saw it moving north of 220 fast......that is not normal. I tapped the glass on the gauge to see if it was stuck, but it continued to rise. I told Elaine what was happening and quickly looked ahead to see where we could get off the very busy Cedar....the first street available was Santa Ana. I quickly turned right, and pulled on to the dirt shoulder and shut her down quickly.....by this time the gauge was approaching 250 and automatic shutdown, but I managed to shut her down myself.
As I exited the coach to walk back to the engine bay I was thinking it was one of three things, or a combination thereof......stuck thermostat, ruptured coolant hose, or water pump.....I first opened the rear facing radiator door to check the site glass for the coolant level....usually I can see the red coolant line right in the middle of the site glass.....there was no coolant visible. I then opened the right rear engine bay door, and saw steam coming out of the over flow hose. Next I walked around to the left rear engine bay door and opened it......I immediately saw steam blasting out of a 1" stainless steel braided hose at the rear of the engine (not the radiator side), and it seemed apparent that was the problem.....always nice when the cause is immediately apparent, and no further guess work is necessary.
By the time I took this picture the steam had ceased coming out of the ruptured hose.....the hole was on the engine side of the hose.....not visible in this picture, but in the next one I have the hose off and you can see the hole.
Initially I called Good Sam ERS, but after an hour of waiting, and the fact the engine had cooled down enough where I thought I could remove the offending hose I decided to take care of the problem myself. First I called a 'hoses and fittings' place just a few miles from our location that I had remembered seeing just off I-215 as we came into town a week before (Hose Specialist, Inc.) to see if they could make up a new hose for me.....I called and was advised if I brought in the bad hose they could fabricate a new one in just a few minutes with the requisite threaded fittings, so I got busy taking off the old hose. I took about 15 minutes, but I got it out, and then headed over to the hoses and fittings place. I was back in less than 30 minutes with a new hose, and began to install it....again, it took about 10 minutes to install the new one....
Next I needed to replace the coolant I had lost.....I had no idea how much coolant I had lost, but figured it had to be substantial for the engine temp to go so high so fast. I carry about 4 gallons of coolant with me and began pouring that into the radiator checking after each gallon to see if I could feel the coolant yet.....after four gallons I cannot feel the coolant. I decide to add water from my fresh water tank, again one gallon at a time......finally after reaching the 10 gallon mark I could see coolant appear in the site glass once again. So, I started her up, went back to see if there were any leaks.....there were none. I went back inside to watch the temp gauge.....it came up to operating temp and then leveled out just as it always does under normal circumstances.
To make a longish story shorter......while I was reinstalling the new hose Elaine drove the VW up to the Elks Lodge to get my renewal card, and by the time she returned we were ready to roll again. We ended up driving 213 miles to Lompoc, CA and the local Elks Lodge there......no change in the coolant level over that distance, and the temps were totally normal all the way.
Whew! I feel like I dodged a bullet! I have checked the oil and see no coolant in it so far, but I will continue to be vigilant over the next few hundred miles.
As I exited the coach to walk back to the engine bay I was thinking it was one of three things, or a combination thereof......stuck thermostat, ruptured coolant hose, or water pump.....I first opened the rear facing radiator door to check the site glass for the coolant level....usually I can see the red coolant line right in the middle of the site glass.....there was no coolant visible. I then opened the right rear engine bay door, and saw steam coming out of the over flow hose. Next I walked around to the left rear engine bay door and opened it......I immediately saw steam blasting out of a 1" stainless steel braided hose at the rear of the engine (not the radiator side), and it seemed apparent that was the problem.....always nice when the cause is immediately apparent, and no further guess work is necessary.
By the time I took this picture the steam had ceased coming out of the ruptured hose.....the hole was on the engine side of the hose.....not visible in this picture, but in the next one I have the hose off and you can see the hole.
Initially I called Good Sam ERS, but after an hour of waiting, and the fact the engine had cooled down enough where I thought I could remove the offending hose I decided to take care of the problem myself. First I called a 'hoses and fittings' place just a few miles from our location that I had remembered seeing just off I-215 as we came into town a week before (Hose Specialist, Inc.) to see if they could make up a new hose for me.....I called and was advised if I brought in the bad hose they could fabricate a new one in just a few minutes with the requisite threaded fittings, so I got busy taking off the old hose. I took about 15 minutes, but I got it out, and then headed over to the hoses and fittings place. I was back in less than 30 minutes with a new hose, and began to install it....again, it took about 10 minutes to install the new one....
Next I needed to replace the coolant I had lost.....I had no idea how much coolant I had lost, but figured it had to be substantial for the engine temp to go so high so fast. I carry about 4 gallons of coolant with me and began pouring that into the radiator checking after each gallon to see if I could feel the coolant yet.....after four gallons I cannot feel the coolant. I decide to add water from my fresh water tank, again one gallon at a time......finally after reaching the 10 gallon mark I could see coolant appear in the site glass once again. So, I started her up, went back to see if there were any leaks.....there were none. I went back inside to watch the temp gauge.....it came up to operating temp and then leveled out just as it always does under normal circumstances.
To make a longish story shorter......while I was reinstalling the new hose Elaine drove the VW up to the Elks Lodge to get my renewal card, and by the time she returned we were ready to roll again. We ended up driving 213 miles to Lompoc, CA and the local Elks Lodge there......no change in the coolant level over that distance, and the temps were totally normal all the way.
Whew! I feel like I dodged a bullet! I have checked the oil and see no coolant in it so far, but I will continue to be vigilant over the next few hundred miles.
Clarke and Elaine Hockwald
1982 Newell Classic, 36', 6V92 TA
2001 VW Beetle Turbo
Cannondale Tandem
Cannondale Bad Boy
Haibike SDURO MTB
http://whatsnewell.blogspot.com