20KW Kubota 4 cyl Generator Overheating - Luxury Coach Lifestyles
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 09-22-2011, 10:45 PM   #1
Barry Rooker
Member
 
Barry Rooker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Oklahoma City
Posts: 64
Default 20KW Kubota 4 cyl Generator Overheating

I've been reviewing the posts on generator operating temps. Even after re-coring the radiator, this summer with triple digit temps, my generator would run over 200.....when moving. I stop and the temp drops 20 degrees.

There were several earlier posts about the Road Air discharging into the genset's blower area. Mine does that. Another post mentioned blocking off part of the intake grille on the side of the coach. By the way, the rubber skirt that connects the radiator's shroud to the fixed shroud under the coach is in good condition.

Both my engine & genset seem affected by strong side winds, perhaps robbing cooling air from being pulled in & through the radiators.

Any ideas?

2001 Newell Coach 20KW Kubota 4 cyl
__________________

Barry Rooker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2011, 01:30 AM   #2
tuga
Senior Member
 
tuga's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Houma, LA
Posts: 886
Default

Barry,

What year is your Newell?

I also have been unable to get my temps down in extremely hot weather. Mid 90s to 100 degrees and my generator will run around 215 to 225.

I have changed thermostats, the water pump, & cleaned the radiator twice. After I changed the water pump and had filled it with new anti-freeze it ran at 175 degrees for 4 hours (while parked) in 95 degree ambient temps. I thought I had it licked at this point.

Then, we took a trip to North Carolina and it ran at 210 degrees in 90 ambient temps. The series 60 was running at a cool 180 degrees. I also experienced low operating temps when not moving.

In my previous 2 Newells ('87 & '93) the generator temps would match the engine temps.

I am going to contact John Clarke with Newell, maybe he can help us.
__________________

__________________
Tuga & Karen Gaidry
1999 Newell 45 w/2 slides
Coach #512
2005 Pilot
tuga is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2011, 11:32 AM   #3
rheavn
Senior Member
 
rheavn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 433
Default

My genset runs at 180 degrees whether I'm moving or not no matter the outside temperature. With that said I'm not a fan of the VDO gauges and especially the water temperature gauges. Have you verified your coolant temperatures with an infrared gun?
__________________
Steve
Newell
rheavn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2011, 12:28 PM   #4
express1
Senior Member
 
express1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: south louisiana
Posts: 654
Default

I second that Steve!!! I wish my VMS had Gen-gauges.....
express1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2011, 12:42 PM   #5
tuga
Senior Member
 
tuga's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Houma, LA
Posts: 886
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by rheavn View Post
My genset runs at 180 degrees whether I'm moving or not no matter the outside temperature. With that said I'm not a fan of the VDO gauges and especially the water temperature gauges. Have you verified your coolant temperatures with an infrared gun?
Steve,

You may be onto something with the infrared gun. I have one and I did check the temps with the gun when the gen was running at 180 degrees (VDO gauge reading) - the IR gun confirmed the VDO reading so I didn't go any further with the test.

I think next time the gen temp is around 210 degrees I will shoot the IR on the 2 hoses.

I'll post the results.

Boy, would that be a simple fix!

But why would the VDO gauge read correctly @ 180 degrees and erronously at 210?
__________________
Tuga & Karen Gaidry
1999 Newell 45 w/2 slides
Coach #512
2005 Pilot
tuga is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2011, 01:45 PM   #6
rheavn
Senior Member
 
rheavn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 433
Default

Tuga,

" But why would the VDO gauge read correctly @ 180 degrees and erronously at 210?" __________________

I can't explain why the gauge works and then reads wrong, but I've learned someone on the forum will. My water temperature gauge on my Country Coach & now my Newell are both VDO gauges and both have read higher than actual temperature on an intermittent basis. I was heading for Dallas in cool weather and the gauge went up to 230. I stopped, used the infrared gun on the radiator and it only read 195 degrees. I smacked the gauge with my finger and the needle immediately dropped to 195 degrees. The same thing would happen in my Country Coach occasionally. I just can't explain why.
__________________
Steve
Newell
rheavn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2011, 01:51 PM   #7
folivier
Senior Member
 
folivier's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Thibodaux, LA
Posts: 1,221
Default

When I first start my generator the VDO oil pressure gauge will peg out to the right. After a few minutes it will settle in where it should. Gotta love them VDO's!
__________________
Forest & Cindy Olivier
1998 Newell 45' 2 slide #486
2004 Chevy Silverado Z71
2013 RZR 570LE

"You don't have a soul. You are a soul, you have a body." C.S.Lewis


https://www.luxurycoachlifestyle.com/...php?albumid=14
folivier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2011, 04:14 PM   #8
afrench45
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 306
Default

Mine generator usually runs around 200-225. I've called Newell multiple times and they have said sometimes they do run that hot, or the gauge is off. I've shot mine with a temp gun a few times and usually seems to be around 195 or so. Newell told me that if the generator overheats, it will automatically shut itself down. I usually don't worry about it, and been running 7500hrs strong!
afrench45 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2011, 11:59 PM   #9
Richard and Rhonda
Senior Member
 
Richard and Rhonda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Huntington WV
Posts: 1,041
Default

The squirrely gauges are almost always a ground problem. Newell chose to daisy chain the ground on the instrument gauges. If you look into your panel it is evident.

Saves wire, but leads to this kind of problem.

Solution, do as Tom has done and run individual ground wires to the gauges. Or, live with squirrely readings from time to time.
__________________
Richard Rhonda Ty and Alex Entrekin
1995 Newell # 390 DD Series 60, Allison World Trans
Subaru Outback toad
CoMotion Tandem
Often wrong, but seldom in doubt
Rhonda's chronicle https://wersquared.wordpress.com/
Richard and Rhonda is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2011, 05:11 AM   #10
Barry Rooker
Member
 
Barry Rooker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Oklahoma City
Posts: 64
Default

Tom French, glad to hear of your 7,500 hour genset. Mine's right at 4,000 so I'll stop being concerned. Before we bought our coach seven years ago, it had maybe 3,600 hours. I thought that was high, so I called Power-Tech and they said they called it their 10,000 hour unit, but with proper care it'd go farther.

My friend & fellow Newell owner Don Freymiller says his refrigerated truck trailers use the same engine as our generators and exceeding 13,000 hours is common.

Newell always uses the best stuff available and it pays off with longevity, given proper maintenance.
Barry Rooker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2011, 02:07 PM   #11
HoosierDaddy
Senior Member
 
HoosierDaddy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Indiana
Posts: 424
Default

As long as the maintenance is done these gensets will run a long time because they run at a constant speed and load. Most engine wear is attributed to start-stop cycles. If we can keep clean high quality fuel and oil and service the cooling system they'll run for years.
__________________
1993 Newell 45'#316, 1976 Trans Am 455, 1967 GTO, 1953 Chevrolet 3105 (panel truck),1952 Chevrolet 3600,1969 Airstream Overlander. Always fixing something!
HoosierDaddy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2011, 06:18 PM   #12
Wally Arntzen
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 326
Default

On my 88 I had my generator running 24 hour a day for 5 days and it never ran over 185 degrees. These generators are installed in many large boats and sometimes they run for weeks at a time as expected. All you have to do is check the oil once in a while and let them do what they are built for run, run, run.
__________________
Wally and Phyllis
1988 Newell Coach #163
40' with tag 8V92
Wally Arntzen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2012, 09:25 PM   #13
tuga
Senior Member
 
tuga's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Houma, LA
Posts: 886
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry Rooker View Post
I've been reviewing the posts on generator operating temps. Even after re-coring the radiator, this summer with triple digit temps, my generator would run over 200.....when moving. I stop and the temp drops 20 degrees.

There were several earlier posts about the Road Air discharging into the genset's blower area. Mine does that. Another post mentioned blocking off part of the intake grille on the side of the coach. By the way, the rubber skirt that connects the radiator's shroud to the fixed shroud under the coach is in good condition.

Both my engine & genset seem affected by strong side winds, perhaps robbing cooling air from being pulled in & through the radiators.

Any ideas?
Barry,

I don't have a rubber skirt that connects the radiator's shroud to the fixed shroud under the coach - there is nothing there! I wonder if that could be the cause of my overheating problem?

I know for a fact that my dash AC dumps hot air into the generator blower and that air is blown into the generator bay; that has to increase the operating temps.

I am going to Newell at the end of August for service, and I am going to ask them about the rubber skirt and also about installing a metal shroud to re-direct the dash AC hot air so it doesn't dump into the generator blower.

My generator will run at 200 degrees in 100 ambient with the dash AC OFF! If I turn on the dash AC on the generator operating temps goes up to 225+.
__________________
Tuga & Karen Gaidry
1999 Newell 45 w/2 slides
Coach #512
2005 Pilot
tuga is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-01-2012, 03:00 AM   #14
afrench45
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 306
Default

Just a thought... These temps y'all are giving, is that off the gauge inside the coach or a heat gun? I was driving back from Florida last week and mt gauge was showing 250+ which obviosuly would be a problem. When I pulled off the road the gauge dropped to 230 and with my heat gun the genny shot around 210. The gauge was picking up a lot of road heat. It was 100+ outside. Ran fine for 24hrs, at night it dropped down to 180s-190s
afrench45 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-01-2012, 12:59 PM   #15
tuga
Senior Member
 
tuga's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Houma, LA
Posts: 886
Default

Andrew,

I have compared my VDO gauge temp to using an IR thermometer; the temps are the same. I really believe my problem is two fold: the rubber skirt at the bottom of my radiator is missing completely and my dash AC unit exhausts hot air into the blower squirrell cage fan and then dumps the air into the generator compartment.

Once I have both of those things corrected, my operating temps will drop.
__________________

__________________
Tuga & Karen Gaidry
1999 Newell 45 w/2 slides
Coach #512
2005 Pilot
tuga is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Newell Coach Corporation or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT. The time now is 01:20 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
×