Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

The sample kit I got was for Chevron Lubewatch in Arizona.

I will look into the others though.

 

Well, ended up having a bad crankcase breather. Had to be replaced.

I took it to a Detroit Diesel shop in Denver, Stewart & Stevenson.

They also performed a Dyno to check on the engine before the engine rebuild warranty ran out.

That, fortunately, turned out well. The truck pushed 81% of engine horsepower to the road, and all the health metrics came in solid.

One more thing added to the list of equipment failures, but one less worry too.

I was happy with the people I spoke to on the service staff. They were both friendly and professional. The work was done quickly, and there were no surprises on the bill.

A bit over 1200.00 for the diagnostics, replacement breather, labor, and the Dyno. Maybe a bit more expensive than I would like, but they did the work in less than 24 hours.

 

I think I have finally figured out the intermittent minor coolant loss.

The dyno and engine health tests done by Stewart & Stevenson appeared to rule out a leakage of coolant into exhaust, and even after several thousand miles I have seen no evidence of coolant in the oil. (Still waiting on results of oil sample test.)

BUT I did notice a pattern.

I appear to lose a noticeable amount of coolant every time I spend a significant amount of time in higher elevation areas. I do not see coolant level changes when most of my time is spent at lower elevations.

So... could this simply be a case of the pressure release valve allowing water vapor to pass out of the radiator at high elevations?

I do not think pressure relief valves work based on radiator internal vapor pressure only. Any mechanical configuration I can imagine would be based on a pressure differential.

So... if the air pressure outside the radiator is lower, the vapor pressure in the radiator would not need to be as high before the pressure relief valve would vent.

Anyone want to dispute this, or confirm it?

 

It's going to be a few more months before I'm ready to move. With all the crap going on with the economy due to Covid and the election, Schneider might just be off balance and trying to react to a ####ty economy.

 

I don't think it's pushing liquid coolant out, I think it's pushing out a tiny bit of vapor, which over time leads to a noticeable coolant level change.

If the system were under constant pressure I would be a little less likely to believe this, but it's not. In high elevation areas (more hills, generally), the coolant in my truck varies from 190-220 degrees dozens of times per day, or more, depending on how many uphill grades I am on. That means (I think) that the coolant vapor present at lower temperatures would be pushed out when the temperature cycles up to 220, then when the radiator fan cuts in and the coolant temperature drops back down the slight vacuum created would encourage rapid evaporation of a tiny bit of coolant to equalize the coolant vapor present at the lower temperature. Rinse. Repeat. Dozens of times per day, and the loss of vapor would lead to noticeable loss of fluid level.