Hi guys im new to this forum Ive been cleaning for about 14 years im fairly knowledgeable when it comes to the mechanics and operation of truckmounts ive even built my own in the past (110 hp EFI honda civic engine, roots 59 blower, cat 5cp pump..lol) and im at my wits end and out of ideas with this heat issue and was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to get my heat back so here goes. When I first got my machine i bought it slightly used from a friend it had 50 hours on it it now has approx 600 hours on it, when it was brand new we had added the third heat exchanger to it, and oversped the engine to 3000 rpms wich in turn sped the blower up to i believe it was 3300 or 3400 rpms, the machine would run out at 230 degrees or more with the wand trigger wide open you couldnt make the machine come off 230 degrees. Last winter my heat started to drop to about 160 to 180 cleaning with wand trigger wide open, i figured it was just the ambient temp of the water being winter and all. This summer it still did the same thing. Ill tell you everything ive done to the machine to help the problem and maybe someone can tell me what im missing cause it hasnt fixed the problem. Ive replaced the standard BX42 belts with Power Twist belts, replaced the cat 145 degree thermal valve on the water box with a new cat 180 degree thermal valve, took exhaust header off and double wrapped it with header wrap, took exhaust heat exchangers out and cleaned them, descaled the machine thouroghly, ive checked to make sure there is hot water recirculating back to the water box wich it is and my temp guage is not defective, i even tried preheating my 120 gallon freshwater tank (left a bucket heater in it overnight) water was about 90 to 100 degrees in my freshwater tank by the time i got to the first job this morning, machine started out after letting it run under load for about 15 minutes at 230 to 240 and i thought SCORE!!!! then went down to 160 let it run under load for about 30 seconds and it spiked up to 230 to 240 again but as quick as it went up it went back down to about 170 to 180 it does this throughout every job. ive really been scratching my head on this one guys there should be absolutely no reason i can think of to make it drop temp like that especially whith all the mods that have been done to it, not to mention im running a AW29 wand with 2-11002 jets (not alot of water flow) tried 11001's and no change. If anyone has any ideas... other than buying a new bigger machine lol i would greatly appreciate any imput you may have im willing to try just about anything to get back to the consistant 230 to 240 range cause cleaning at 160 to 180 is really depressing, ive even thought about jacking the rpms up to 3600 at the motor but wasnt really wanting to (Max Out) the rpms unless its a last resort the machine used to run 230 to 240 consistantly before so i dont know why it isnt doing it nowespecially after the mods ive done to it. I usually do all my own repairs on my machines but i even brove down and called my distributor/TM mechanic who is also a long time friend of mine every suggestion he had ive already done so he's scrathing his head right along with me lol. Sorry for the long winded post but i just wanted to give as much info as possible, thanks in advance guys, any help would be greatly appreciated. Spencer
PS. Ive also checked the temp control valve and the flow valve and they are not bleading off into the wast tank i even went so far as to cap them off at the waste tank didnt fix it.
I can only throw darts here because it sounds like you have pretty much rambled off alot of possibilities. Take these suggestions anyway you want. 1) your cat thermal valve you bought could be defective. (not uncommon) 2) Your heli coil could have air in it and preventing coolant from heating the coils or your engine isn't circulating the coolant properly. Have you tried a new thermostat for the engine? 3) The 2 #2 jets on your wand have worn larger. Running 2 #1 jets is not a great field tester. 4) Your water box is letting in too much water.
ive checked the new thermal valve and its good, and the helicoil it spits a solid stream of antifreeze out when you open the bleeder draincock on top i havent checked thermostat on motor though ill try that. waterbox float seams to be functioning properly water level is about 4 or five inches from the top and water never comes out of the overflow hose on the side of the water box. thank you for responding im willing to try anything
checked thermostat its good, i opened the draincock ontop of the helicoil the first time and coolant came out so i closed it real quick cause i figured if coolant shot out it must be good went out earlier and did the same thing and coolant spurted for a minute then quit so i rigged a hose off the draincock to a container to collect the antifreeze and i let it run for a while till it was a consistant solid stream, that seemed to help it stay more consistant or hotter a little longer but its still dropping from 240 to 180 or 190 in about 15 seconds with the trigger pulled ugh!
4 flow is nothing. Have you looked into your waste tank to make sure your not bypassing water from the 2 by pass hoses as it's running? Threads like these make me SO happy that I don't have heat heat exchangers on my new truck mount!!!
My machine has 3 lines going to the waste tank one from temp control needle valve, one from flow simulator needle valve, and one from the thermal valve not a drop from any of them. Thanks for rubbing it in Rob LOL, im actually really interested in what kind of fuel burner setup the diablo has..that thing looks like its a fire breathing beast from everthing ive seen and read...i dont know how their getting that kinda vacuum out of an aircooled and a 45 but obviously their doing something right on them lol. I ran diesle burners on the machines i built back in the day when they were functioning you couldnt run them out of heat if you tried 250+ all day long with the trigger wide open, but i had alot of problems with flow switches, transformers malfunctioning either not kicking on or kicking on and not turning off ( had one go over 300+ one time scared the hell out of me lol)
Just out of curiosity, how did you check the thermostat? Also, what pressure are you running? Try running your pressure at 400 and see if there is a difference.
Yes sir they both have their pros and cons. Heat exchangers are ok but the electronics/water plumbing that operate them can drive one crazy in trouble shooting. I'm also not a fan of choking down the vac plumbing to get heat as done by many models. I guess I am just enjoying a fresh change with a simple hotter machine. Plus now diesel is easy to get at the same time I get gas. They cleaned up diesel and it runs extremely clean. So Im happy.
Take the thermostat out put it in a pan of water, heat it up on the stove, put in a temp guage, see what temp it opens up at then take it out and make sure it closes when it cools off. Mine opened up at like 180 or 190. My pressure was set at 450
One thing that maybe different is the water temp. When you first used the machine was it during the summer time? The water may have been a little warmer. I know that I see a diff in my temps now that the water coming to my TM is in 30-40 deg range. I don't think this is the problem but could be some of it. Also are you taken the temps at the wand? The colder weather will also lower your temps at the wand because your Solution hose is exposed to the colder ground outside and air temps, no sun beaming down on the sol line laying in the driveway? How about your tank seal if you are leaking air your blower will not make as much heat because you cant put it under load?
tank seal is good, no vac leaks anywhere, you can hear it load when u put it under vacuum, ambient water temp was what i originaly thought as it started doing it during winter time but i left a bucket heater in my 125 gallon fresh watertank overnight just to see what would happened water tank had mild steam coming out of the lid opening when i pulled the bucket heater out that morning, by the time i got to the first job it read between 90 and 100 degrees still didnt fix it. had a friend tell me today he has had thermostats not "fully" open or close before i tested mine last night seemed to open all the way and close all the way but who knows im running out of ideas now. I went and bought a 195 degree thermostat and replaced the one that was in it a little while ago, the one that was in it was a 190 degree ill let you guys know how it turn out lol. once agan thank you guys for all your imput it is greatly appreciated
