[360]

Drove 9 hours today and all went well until we got to our destination.  When I got to our friends house I had the coach idling on low idle for maybe 10 minutes as we tried to figure out where I was going to park.  After quite a bit of jockeying I hear on the other end of the phone from my wife/spotter my friend saying you're leaking anti-freeze.  I hop out and sure enough it had made a pretty nice trail where I was backing up, although was going super slow so it's hard to judge.  He asked what my water temp was and I hopped back inside and it had went up to about 205.  I got parked, threw it on high idle, aired up and got my supports in place so I could go under and get a look.  By about the time I got all of this done it had all but stopped leaking onto the ground.  

I will say when I got out at a rest area and walked around checking hub temps mid-trip as it walked around that corner of the coach and caught a whiff of anti-freeze.  Opened up engine bay and couldn't see anything near radiator and it was not leaking on the ground then either.  

Few questions:

1.) Sent image as I don't even know which tank to look at to see levels and also don't know which side I add fluid to if needed.
2.) If I'm no longer seeing it running to the ground I'm assuming I can attempt to limp home and just keep an eye on fluid level?

I think that's it.  First time dealing with this kind of issue so any additional insight would be greatly appreciated.

[bikestuff]

First of all…good job on keepin that engine clean and tidy!

Second….the tank you see on the left of the picture is the overflow tank. It should be about half full of coolant.

With the engine cool, open the little door on the drivers side above the radiator / CAC. Take the cap off and reach your finger in there. (There is also a sight glass but it is really hard to see). I would add water to bring the level up to just below the level of the cap. Any extra will go into the overflow tank.

Open the door on the drivers side by the radiator / CAC and look closely at the bottom. Use blue paper towels to jam into nooks and crannies. They turn dark blue when exposed to liquid. Try to figure out where the leak is coming from.

Are you sure it is coolant?

Just some thoughts to get you started. Gurus, if I misspoke, feel free to correct me.

Bill

[Richard]

You covered it.

I would NOT attempt a drive without refilling the system. I too would use distilled water until I found and corrected the leak.

If you don’t refill, the low coolant sensor can and probably will shut you down or at lease derate the engine.

[Trainer]

Brad, check engine preheat pump and lines at the Aqua Hot. Main engine coolant pump moves engine fluid through those lines anytime engine is running.

If found leaking, the hose to and from the engine can be disconnected and looped till leak fixed. Everything works fine with hoses looped. Just no preheat in real cold weather and no Aqua Hot coolant heating by engine driving down the highway.

[360]

You covered it.

I would NOT attempt a drive without refilling the system. I too would use distilled water until I found and corrected the leak.

If you don’t refill, the low coolant sensor can and probably will shut you down or at lease derate the engine.

For sure low on coolant as i could not feel any coolant at neck of filler and when you turn the key on I get a low coolant error and a very low coolant error.  If you can see from one of these images where we had coolant all the way over at these lines near the engine and had coolant actually running down the side of the muffler.  That is where it actually made it to and was running onto the ground just on that side of the engine between there and the muffler.  

Thoughts right now are to fill with distilled water to see just how much I lost and thenI guess the debate is am I safe to drive on Monday?  I don't think I'll get it to leak if I'm just up to 185 or so since it stopped leaking last night once temp came down.  Or I guess hypothetically could I have lost enough coolant to be below the leak now?  Seemed like it was more temp related.  I apologize for my ignorance if that would not be a thing on being below where the leak would be.  

Also included a pic of the bottom or radiator

[Richard]

The question about safe to drive is up in the air until you have a better clue of the leak size and the location.

Start by refilling the system with distilled water. Wash with soapy water the entire area where the leak sprayed and let it dry. Why? There is so much coolant in the pictures that it will be hard to tell where new coolant is leaking. Coolant doesn’t really dry for weeks on it’s own, so the soapy water gives you a clean baseline.

I use paper towels a lot for leak detection. Zip tie towels, or small sections of towel anywhere you suspect a leak. Don’t let them touch or they will wick. And water doesn’t run uphill but it does run downhill, meaning the highest point you see a leak is closest to the origin.

Have you looked at the outside of the radiator where the tubes join the header for any signs of coolant. Keeping in mind that the fan pulls inward and will spray any coolant all over the place in the pictures you attached.

[Latitude 28]

You covered it.

I would NOT attempt a drive without refilling the system. I too would use distilled water until I found and corrected the leak.

If you don’t refill, the low coolant sensor can and probably will shut you down or at lease derate the engine.

 I don't think I'll get it to leak if I'm just up to 185 or so since it stopped leaking last night once temp came down.  Or I guess hypothetically could I have lost enough coolant to be below the leak now?  Seemed like it was more temp related.  I apologize for my ignorance if that would not be a thing on being below where the leak would be.  

You're on to it being temp related....actually its temp/pressure related.  The cooling system once it cools down and or the pressure is relieved by opening the tank your leak goes away.  Once you do the above recommendations its quite possible that you won't see a leak until its back up to operating temp.

[360]

Brad, check engine preheat pump and lines at the Aqua Hot.  Main engine coolant pump moves engine fluid through those lines anytime engine is running.

If found leaking, the hose to and from the engine can be disconnected and looped till leak fixed.  Everything works fine with hoses looped.  Just no preheat in real cold weather and no Aqua Hot coolant heating by engine driving down the highway.

Nice call Rudy.  Thanks to you, Richard and Bill I got to the bottom of this.  I had a pinhole in one of the lines that runs from the manifold back at the engine that goes to the Aquahot.  I was able to close all 4 valves so I'll be able to get home. 

While being under coach I noticed something else dripping and it was the fuel line that runs from my fuel pump up to the primer pump.  Was a drip every 4 seconds or so at idle.  Thankfully the NAPA in the little town I'm staying near makes hydraulic hose in house so we'll be going there in the morning to have a new hose made.  As much as this coolant leak frustrated me and burned a day of our trip I am super thankful to be able to find a solution and to have caught that ruptured fuel line.

[TJ Clark]

My radiator weeped when I bought the coach.

It leaked when I was in Fargo and all my help was in Arizona or Spokane. I limped across town in Fargo looking for help there and my temps were all over the place in just a few miles of driving.


Talked to my race mechanic just spitballing ideas.

Cut to the chase

I filled the system and left the cap loose and drove from Fargo to Spokane then to Arizona where Leo replaced it.

So yes you can limp home for sure. As long as the leak is pressure caused. If the leak is not pressure sensitive I would be hooking up a remote camera and monitoring that feed as I drove.

Cell phones make good remote monitoring systems.


just my pennies.