RV Problems
When heading home from camping last year the engine in the RV started to overheat and the check engine light popped on. I pulled over to let it cool down, no coolant was leaking, everything seemed fine. Once cooled down the RV was fine, I got up to 100Kph and it didn't overheat again. When I pulled it out after it was in winter storage I found that it would stay cool when moving 100Kph but not for stop and go traffic.
I started with the obvious, the thermostat. It can be accessed through the floor between the driver and passenger seats. Unfortunately this did nothing.
Next, I replaced the cap to the coolant reservoir.... turns out I am not that lucky.
next up was the temp sensor. The RV never boiled over or steamed... so i thought that maybe it was just lying about overheating.... replaced the sensor, no change.
Next up was the mechanical cooling fan, for this I needed to buy some new tools, even with these tools the fan is really hard to get to. Anyway, no luck, didn't fix the problem.
So the only things left are the radiator itself or the water pump. the water pump isnt leaking but if I am going to go to all the trouble of removing the radiator I may as well replace the water pump while I am there.
I had to remove a bunch of wire clips from the fan shroud. After that, the two bolts from the top of the shroud were removed. The shroud itself is still locked in by the fan clutch.
Now from the front of the RV I dug down to the bolts that hold the top of the radiator down The Airbox had to be removed and some rubber shrouding.
now I could disconnect the trans lines from the radiator and the upper and lower rad hoses. Now it's possible to remove the mechanical fan so it sits inside the fan shroud. Then remove the shroud with the fan inside it. Then the radiator can slide up an inch or two releasing the bottom pins. Then the base can be slid back toward the engine and down to the ground. The RV had to be jacked up 2 feet to make room to fit the radiator out the bottom.
Now I could get to the front of the engine by putting my body where the radiator used to be. I removed the belt and removed the pully from the front of the water pump with a puller. This gives access to the bolts that remove the water pump.
Then the new pump went in using a new O-Ring. Belt was reinstalled, new radiator installed, fan shroud reinstalled with fan loose inside. Fan then bolted back up and all of the lines were reconnected.
Leave a comment