john kelley

I changed both the belts, serpentine and water pump belt, along with both thermostats, and had the fan cleaned thoroughly; all this while we had the radiator out of the coach. In the ALFA with the Cat C7, there is NO room to touch the belts or tensioners from below. You can not even get a finger in the space; the Freightliner technician confirmed that. My plan, as suggested by Freightliner, is to extend the crankcase breather extension even farther aft past the radiator than where I have placed it. I have used Simple Green, but have not tried Extreme Green, a good idea. In addition, I may do what another ALFA owner suggested, and spray the Simple Green thoroughly on the CAC, and the rear radiator surface, let this soak for a while before rinsing thoroughly. I had been applying the Simple Green by aspiration via the pressure washer, likely diluting the de-greaser too much. On a humorous note, the professional technician suggested that to adequately coat the degreaser to the CAC surface, given the fan and shroud, and the impossible access beneath the aft berth, one must crawl out over the engine, and tease the spray wand/spray bottle fluid as best one can onto the CAC surface. He took one look at me and suggested I might get one of my small grandsons to perform this task! Challenging dilemma, and always good to hear what others have experienced. John

Following up on my previous posts, I just picked up my unit from my local Freightlner shop after a radiator cleaning. They were extremely helpful. My cost was in excess of $2700 to have the radiator and CAC pulled out and cleaned. Both were heavily blocked on their inner, opposing, unable to see, surfaces. Unfortunately, this resulted after following much cleaning advice over the years, using the simple green and water method, lengthening the crankcase breather, etc. My technique may not have been aggressive enough. Incidentally, most warn against pressure washing the radiator/CAC, but I routinely used pressure, albeit from a distance of 3-4 feet away. In discussing this with the Freightliner technician, he said they routinely do use pressure washing on diesel radiators, full pressure, and from as close as 6-8" away, simply being judicious to keep the wand @ 90 degrees perpendicular t the fins. I am searching for alternative preventative cleaning steps, given my experiences. Does anyone have experience with stronger degreasers, like Envirogreen extreme, or Purple Power, or Air Conditioner coil cleaners?? Many products state they are safe on metals, and biodegradable. I am aware that some products can be harmful to aluminum radiator fins. Searching for safe solutions................. John

Following up on my previous posts, and looking @ many similar concerns, I will share my recent solution. 10 year old ALFA rear pusher, with cat C7, overheating on any grade. In recent years, I have had radiator steam cleaned from the rear, added engine breather extension, and always wash radiator from rear and CAC from front side with water and simple green before every trip, yet, can not get out of the flat lands without overheating. Finally gave up and took it to my local Freightliner shop to pull the radiator/CAC as a very costly last resort. What I found was unbelievable..................my forward radiator surface was 75% occluded with dark crud, as was the opposing rear surface of the CAC similarly occluded. In addition we found a large dinner plate sized compact wad of grass/leaves/straw near the bottom of the gap between the two! I don't know how I drove around the block without overheating. And these findings in spite of aggressive cleaning routine that seemed to be what all have recommended. We changed the serpentine and water pump belts while in there, and replaced both thermostats. I am anticipating lots of future 'cool' miles now, but do not understand how such a quantity of organic debris got between the cooling units, and why my water/simple green cleaning routine made NO impact. Frustrated with my Freightliner John

Rich: Thanks for the tips. I do have help with a resourceful contractor/son. We wonder if using steel rails and a sturdy platform with a come-a-long to tease the unit out might work in lieu of a pallet jack? There is vertical room in the ALFA nose to raise the unit over the fiberglass spoiler. Thanks again for your input. John

I have a similar problem. Ours is an ALFA 40' diesel with a front/center Generac/Guardian RV 7500 with a trashed fan belt. No access to the belt area(s) from the nose door, and the Genset is bolted to frame rails. Anyone with experience pulling out a 400#+ Genset from the nose of an ALFA to access the side panels?

I have read the past comments, but have a new twist and question. My Freightliner chassis/CAT 350 rear radiator diesel is overheating on long mountain climbs. For the first 5 years we owned the new coach, we had no problems, anywhere. Then it first overheated on a long W Tx Interstate climb. Steam cleaning the radiator from the rear seemed to fix us, for the time. I got home, had the radiator cleaned again, flushed, thermostats and bottom hoses replaced, and put on a crankcase breather extension (pointed down). Following this, I began cleaning the radiator and CAC visible surfaces with water and simple green, prior to every trip. This solved things for a while, but, on a recent trip to the mountains, the dilemma returned. We only managed to get home out of the mountains by traveling in the cool of the morning. Freightliner says that I must have non-visible dirt/solid blockage between the CAC and the radiator, untouched by all my efforts. They recommend removing the radiator for cleaning/soaking. This is a major job, and seems extreme. Any thoughts or suggestions? John Kelley Georgetown, TX 7/6/15