[encantotom]

hi all,

a week or so ago, i was putting a new starter in and while i was on the creeper under the bus, i decided to drain the airbox tank. as you know it should only have dirty yukky oil in it. much to my surprise, it was totally full of totally clean antifreeze. not a good sign. it was just inspiration i think to check it because there was no reason to.

so, i took an oil sample from the oil pan drain, and it too, had antifreeze.

i am going next week to san diego from mesa with my grandkids, so if i had not checked it and saw the antifreeze, i would have been stranded somewhere between here and sandiego with a blown motor.

the bus started and ran fine, but the coolant eats the bearings up fast. something was seriously wrong.

so i had it towed to my bus service shop where i have my major work done. they took the pan off and instantly saw the coolant in the airbox chamber for one of the cylinders on the passenger side. so they took the head off and the head was cracked. they took the cylinder liner out and the 2 "O" rings between the liner and block were pliable and not melted or burned at all. the solder plug in the airbox chamber of the head for that cylinder (which is there only as an indicator or overheating if it has been melted) was barely melted. with extreme overheating the o rings get toasted and fail. mine looked like new. i have them. in fact i will bring the piston, liner and o rings to austin for our mini ralley to show everyone how the o rings work in the wet cylinder liner. they form a coolant water jacket around the liner between it and the cylinder in the block. i knew about them, but until i saw them in the engine and the liner i didnt really understand them.

so, a new head, a new liner kit with piston for that cylinder, new rod bearings for all cylinders and new main bearings.

it was road tested today just fine and i pick it up tomorrow and will get ready to smoke my amex card.....

so it is ready for my trip next week. just have to do a few things to put things back together after the wiring job inside and fix a few little things.

dont know why the head cracked. i know it is usually from heat. the radiator looked fine and they inspected it very carefuly from the bottom hose port and there was no corrosion or build up at all. i was prepared to take it out (very very expensive) but they said i didnt need too.

i baby my coach and drive using the vmspc and have not overheated it. it had an inframe rebuild 28k miles ago by the previous owner and all i can suspect is that the head had a small crack then that got big enough recently. they said it had just happened as the rest of the cylinders were perfect. they showed them to me.

the crank also looked perfect.

this shop is very good and has been doing these old detroits for a long time and i trust them totally.

it is funny how things happen. i consider myself blessed that it didnt happen on our 7k mile trip last summer or with my grandkids in next week. it happened on a 100 mile round trip to the nascar track here.

i had them fix a few other things for me and i am excited to get going again. they said no break in was required and to drive it like i stole it....

but, i am putting in a pyrometer and dual senders for a switched digital engine temp gauge so i can monitor all that more accurately. along with my vmspc.

thanks to michael and richard for their support as i asked a zillion questions along the way the last week or so.

later

tom