Dirty radiator on Journey

pine tree · 12-07-2009, 04:48 PM

Any advise or help on cleaning and keeping clean exterior radiator fins on 2001 journey 36GD 330HP Cat. Am warned bed must be removed to access engine and radiator in order to steam clean the fins. Is this the only way? I don't know if we have the Cat engine breather pipe extension fix or not. How do I tell if we do? Frankly, I don't even know if the fins are dirty. How do I tell if they are?

This is our first DP and we want it to be right from the start. We have done ALL the fluids incluing the radiator flush [Cat cleaner] and put on 6 new round black things.

Any help here would be great. Thanks in advance

Pine Tree

jimmccreary · 12-08-2009, 12:20 AM

Hello Pine Tree,
This topic has be thoroughly covered in a past forum (link below). Here is a summary.
Dirty radiators have been the cause of overheating as I discovered with my 04 Winnebago Journey 34H. By raising the jacks in the rear you can peak at the radiator from the underneath using a flashlight but you can get only a small glimpse of the radiator by doing this and the fan blades may obscure most of the radiator. By doing this, I was able to see a thick oily film on the inside of the radiator. To clean this you must raise the bed and remove the engine cover from inside thereby exposing the top of the engine and the radiator fan cowling cover. By manually moving the fan blade you can visibly inspect about 80% of the radiator. Using the simple green solution described in the link below you can saturate the radiator with the cleaning solution and rinse with a strong stream of water. Since the radiator is a composite of 2 radiators you must also spray the cleaning solution onto the radiator fins exposed at the rear engine cover from the outside. I found that even with this treatment of solution, the composite radiator could not be fully cleaned without a high pressure stream of water ( careful not to damage the fins). To reduce tendency of the "slobber tube" or engine blowby tube from re-coating the radiator with more oil you must extend the blowby tube so that it extends beyond the rear of the radiator. This is easily done with hardware store materials.
Check the link below for the past forum that describes this in much more detail:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f101/2004...lls-24352.html

Hope this helps,
jim
04 winnebago journey 34H CAT C7, 330HP

pine tree · 12-08-2009, 07:52 AM

Jim,
Thank you so very much for the quick and complete reply. We are obviously new to this Winnebago site and to DP's in general, so your refresher was most welcome. Your reply may help others also.
Thanks again,
Pine Tree

RCtime · 12-08-2009, 08:26 AM

Pine tree
On my 2002 Journey with the Cat. engine the slobber tube extends past the radiater and intercooler ending about an inch before the metal frame, I believe it may be part of the hitch??
It appears to be a factory aftermarket or origonal install as the metal portions are yellow.
The area around it needs to be wiped off on occasion. Look at yours.
I believe on our 3126 engines the breather comes off the top of the valve cover and presents less a blow by problem than later engines.
(I have just been told this, so its not for sure). Maybe someone with more knowledge of our 3126 Cats can chime in.

ernieh · 12-08-2009, 06:15 PM

As stated previously in this thread, you don't need to remove the bed, just raise it. I hit mine at least once a year with Simple Green from the top and the bottom.

Just look at the end of your breather tube. If it extends beyond where spray can get into the CAC or radiator your good to go.

FWIW my tube extended beyond the radiator very close to the trailer hitch. Thus I always had a mess on the hitch. Because of the way it was clamped it was almost impossible to cut or relocate the tube. Regular 1" hose would kink before making the bend. I finally solved the problem by using a section of the moulded end of an old washer drain hose. It may not hold up for a long time in the oily mess, but we'll see.

pine tree · 12-09-2009, 12:51 PM

To all who replied,

Thank you very much. I think I'm good to go on this radiator cleaning issue. Looks like a bit of a mess but I'll get it done. The breather extender sounds fairly easy and very necessary.

Thanks again,
Pine Tree

Robert Rice · 12-09-2009, 03:50 PM

I have a 2002 Journey with the 330hp 3126 engine. Careful study of the oil capacity will reveal an error on the oil sticks that causes the engine to be over filled. This is the primary cause of the "Dirty Radiator" problems. Instead of 22 qts, I put 20 qts in mine and have had no problems with my radiator. Cat has info on this on their site.
Hope this helps.

RCtime · 12-09-2009, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Rice

I have a 2002 Journey with the 330hp 3126 engine. Careful study of the oil capacity will reveal an error on the oil sticks that causes the engine to be over filled. This is the primary cause of the "Dirty Radiator" problems. Instead of 22 qts, I put 20 qts in mine and have had no problems with my radiator. Cat has info on this on their site.
Hope this helps.

Yes
Our engines have the shallow 19 qt. shallow pan engine.
a call to the Cat. customer assistance with your seriel number for verification is advisable.
1-877-777-3126

My dipstick shows under the full mark when indeed it is full.

ernieh · 12-09-2009, 10:14 PM

I spoke wit Cat CS a few years ago and they told me that I have a 22qt. pan and a 19qt. stick. Before I did my own changes, they would put 22 in and then drain about 3 out to reach the full mark.

RCtime · 12-10-2009, 07:26 AM

CAT RV Club

A great place to visit and check out their tech tidbits section. It shows a picture of the differences between the shallow 19 qt. pan and the 22 qt. pan.
A wealth of information for us Kitty cat owners

apparently a call to Cat. customer service with your veh. ser. # for positive ID of which pan your engine came with is in order. or take a look at the pictures of the two styles of pans and crawl under your rig and take a peek.

pine tree · 12-10-2009, 09:24 AM

You guys are great!!!! Thank you very much. I will follow through on ALL that you suggest. What a super site this is.
Thanks again,
Pine Tree

jimmccreary · 12-13-2009, 10:29 AM

One last point. Before you clean your radiator, and with the engine in normal idle mode, move your hand around over the exterior side of the radiator to feel how much air flow you are getting. After the radiator is cleaned, there will be more airflow flowing uniformly from the radiator. If you are not getting good uniform airflow, then the cleaning process may need to be repeated.
Good luck,
Jim
04 winnabago 34H C7

cyko · 12-20-2009, 06:39 PM

Our 03 Journey overheated a couple of years ago and we stopped at a Freightliner shop in Arizona where they ran the engine pretty hard (to make the fan blow) while spraying degreaser through the rear of the radiator. Took about an hour and they got a huge amount of gunk off the radiator. I had them extend the slobber tube even though we had gone through the recall and supposedly already had it done. The Freightliner guy said that it could be more than just oil on the radiator; mud and other stuff can be thrown up into the radiator and cause problems. Side-mounted radiator would probably be better.