so, i'm embarking on a 2500 mile trip and 350 (uneventful) miles into it, the bus shuts off while going down I-81.
The bus has shut off on me before in exactly the same way because a coolant hose had sprung a leak and it overheated. i know the problem is NOT the following:
- not low on fuel - just filled up 200 miles ago
- not a fuel filter issue - just changed that about 500 miles ago
so i poked around in the engine and then i realized the radiator fan wasn't running. Which was strange because the coolant level was all the way up in the indicator, and some coolant was even seeping out, which told me the engine was very hot (note: i don't have any temp guages installed yet). The radiator fan turns on & off with regularity, and it was strange that it wouldn't be on, especially since right before this happened, I'd been sitting at a rest stop for about 20 minutes w/ the engine running.
So at any rate, i'm fairly certain that the problem is that the thermostat sender that tells the fan to turn on isn't working. So my proposed solution would be to hard-wire the fan to always be on when the master power is on. But i'm not sure how to do this, and i'm hoping some kind soul can guide me.
Here is a link to some pictures of the 3 wires that run from the fan to the thermostat. i'm thinking that if i simply connect the 1st wire from the left with the 2nd wire from the left, it should turn the fan on. the 3rd wire (farthest to the right) looks like a ground wire to me:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=1ykjv3f.46gwpqzj&x=0&y=-4u6cn3BTW i checked the fuses and didn't see any burnt fuses. I also took out my voltmeter and, with the master power on (but the engine off), i tested the voltage between the 1st (positive, i assume) and 3rd (ground) and also between the 2nd (positive i assume) and the 3rd (ground i assume). i only got .04 volts on the 1st wire and .06 volts on the 2nd wire, which doesn't really seem to be any significant voltage. but maybe there's not a complete circuit, and hence no voltage should be showing??? Not sure if the results i got are indicative of anything.
thanks again for your feedback - going to sleep now but i'll be checking this 1st thing in the morning!!!