Its that time again

Yes summer is here and the heat plus road trips.

That means overheating and maybe expensive wrecked engines.
Here's a prized example.
Lady owner with a 2006 T1N Navion Rv.
Blows out its water pump on 1/70 "climbing the wall"!
Rig get towed to a shop and they put in an aftermarket water pump with paper gasket.
A test run and its is overheating like crazy!
Shop dumps it on us!! OK wtf is wrong with this?

A quick visual, serpentine belt although new is the wrong length by a hair or so (aftermarket)
I pulled it off the pulleys by hand and a tug!
The tensioner was so worn the belt was tracking at the edge of the tension roller.
The guide rollers had seen better days,
The t/stat was original at 186 000 miles.
The radiator core was filthy (indeed the whole cooling stack was full of grasshopper guts et al)
Remedy
Remove the pump and FIT genuine steel MB gasket so that the impeller isn't rubbing against the back housing of the timing case!
Put on new accessory belt equipment including the tensioner that was past its best!
PUT on the RIGHT belt!
There are two for the T1N make sure you get the right belt from MB, and there is only 1.5 mm difference in length .
Clean out the cooling system and fit a new t/stat & cooling fan.
Go test and it climbed the wall in 95 degree F heat flat scat, with a constant top max temp of 103 celsius, dropping to a constant cruising temp of 90 c.
Off she went to Winnemucca Nevada!
Where the heck is Winnemucca NV!?
Stay cool
Dennis

After she walked with a limp ... ..

And a royal 'Purse flush'.

Yes $1100 parts and labor.
BUT consider the price of a new engine!

AND consider one of my customers who has just blown his 2004 T1N engine at 745,335 miles.
He was doing 82 mph down a grade when he over ran it!
I reckon it would have easily done 1 million if he could have kept his foot out of it!
Now this guy does maintain it very well, but drives the wheels off the rig--and he knows only two pedal positions off and flat scat!.
Dennis

The sad part of your tale is that everything listed is pretty much routine maintenance. Do the maintenance at home on your own schedule, or do it on the road when it interrupts your schedule.

That's less than I had envisioned.
Nice work.

lindenengineering said:

Yes $1100 parts and labor.
BUT consider the price of a new engine!

Click to expand...

That is a reasonable price for some outstanding service. I hope she realizes that she is driving away in a vehicle that should last a good long while (at least those parts).

My 06 is still running cool after my "linden" cooling system regime last summer. Yeeehaw!

lindenengineering said:

Where the heck is Winnemucca NV!?

Click to expand...

Pretty much due south of the lower right corner of Oregon.
Where US 95 (from the north) intersects I-80
... which may well be its only claim to fame (or infamy )

--dick (been there. Arrived from east at dusk, spent one night, drove north early the next AM)

I highly recommend 'the griddle' in beautiful winnemucca nv for breakfast.

HelloPitty said:

That is a reasonable price for some outstanding service.

Click to expand...

Precisely what I thought. Good on ya Dennis.

lindenengineering said:

Yes summer is here and the heat plus road trips.

...

Clean out the cooling system and fit a new t/stat & cooling fan.
Go test and it climbed the wall in 95 degree F heat flat scat, with a constant top max temp of 103 celsius, dropping to a constant cruising temp of 90 c.
Off she went to Winnemucca Nevada!
Where the heck is Winnemucca NV!?
Stay cool
Dennis

Click to expand...

Hi Dennis,

Nice recovery work, as always. With a properly functioning cooling system, what do you expect to see as the maximum engine temp under hot conditions? My 05 T1N hovers around 185-190 F, which I think is normal. Was driving stop-and-go in the city last week in 100 degree heat with the A/C on high, and saw the engine temp get up to about 215-220 F (visual based on the gauge), just shy of the middle-upper tick mark.

This is my first summer owning the Sprinter, so I don't have much experience with its behavior in hot weather. At what temp should one become concerned, or at least stop the engine and let it cool down?

Related (maybe?) I had the low coolant level warning light tick on a couple times briefly last week. Checked the level and it appeared fine. Did not add any water or coolant and the low level light has not returned. Engine temps (other than the very hot day, as above) have been normal. Bad level sensor perhaps?

Thanks,
Dan

lindenengineering said:

PUT on the RIGHT belt!
There are two for the T1N make sure you get the right belt from MB, and there is only 1.5 mm difference in length .
Clean out the cooling system and fit a new t/stat & cooling fan.
Go test and it climbed the wall in 95 degree F heat flat scat, with a constant top max temp of 103 celsius, dropping to a constant cruising temp of 90 c.
Off she went to Winnemucca Nevada!
Where the heck is Winnemucca NV!?

Stay cool
Dennis

Click to expand...

Confused a bit by this, ive read threads on here about the two belts and how their slight size difference are OK. I think its 2257 and 2260 mm? You changed my tensioner and rollers last year and we talked about how the belt was fine but its a little foggy as to what the conclusion was. I think a 2257 came with the van and my new one is 2260 but also beleive maybe there are two different types of rollers that could be slightly dofferent in size that coallate with the belt?

How do you clean the bugs out of radiator fins ? Many fins are also bent over from small stones (?) hitting them. They break off when trying to straighten, removing them seems appropriate (only removing fist 1/4 inch leaving clear path behind).
Flushing from rear would be logical but impossible with shrouds in place .

I believe front "radiator" is the transmision cooler ?

Aggie said:

How do you clean the bugs out of radiator fins ? Many fins are also bent over from small stones (?) hitting them. They break off when trying to straighten, removing them seems appropriate (only removing fist 1/4 inch leaving clear path behind).
Flushing from rear would be logical but impossible with shrouds in place .

I believe front "radiator" is the transmision cooler ?

Click to expand...

I believe some users here have reported success by removing the front grille, and sitting down in front of the radiator with a set of dental picks (available on amazon, etc) and a beer, and just working their way through all the fins.

danpaul000 said:

I believe some users here have reported success by removing the front grille, and sitting down in front of the radiator with a set of dental picks (available on amazon, etc) and a beer, and just working their way through all the fins.

Click to expand...

You can also get a radiator comb to help with straightening up the fins.

lindenengineering said:

Yes $1100 parts and labor.
BUT consider the price of a new engine!

AND consider one of my customers who has just blown his 2004 T1N engine at 745,335 miles.
He was doing 82 mph down a grade when he over ran it!
I reckon it would have easily done 1 million if he could have kept his foot out of it!
Now this guy does maintain it very well, but drives the wheels off the rig--and he knows only two pedal positions off and flat scat!.
Dennis

Click to expand...

How many times do a tansmission repair at that mileage?

I changed it at 355,000 miles.
Currently it has a Silverstar Transmission rebuild in it.
Dennis

Was the AC on during this test run?

High idle temps, 210f for example, are a sign of a cooling system problem. Fan clutch, plugged cooling pack, or slipping belt drive are prime causes.