Chassis heat problems

[Don Bradner]

I suspect that valve on the bottom of the water pump takes the highest heat and
flow, which may explain why it erodes faster. Particularly if there is one exit
and two returns. I'm still not clear about whether I should be looking for a
fourth gate valve?

Unless I ever have to remove the water pump for some other reason, I don't think
that valve will get replaced. I will keep the other decent core for potential
repair in a few years - if push comes to shove I will do what Greg said, gut the
valve, and put another immediately downstream. Not necessary to do any major
work to gut it, just remove the gate from the stem and discard, then replace the
stem.

Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
Eureka, CA

On 3/22/2008 at 1:45 PM sfedeli3 wrote:

>Hi Don,
>
> I know that you don't want to hear this- but it was the one that
>you're talking about on the bottom of the water pump that failed on
>mine. Replacing the innards is a good move- and should solve your
>problem. Some plumbing supply houses may carry new gates and seals for
>the valve, but good luck finding a perfect match. Sadly, I do not
>think that there is any way to replace that valve without having the
>water pump off- and that is a challenge in itself. Maneuvering a 25 lb
>chunk of iron with fittings and trying to match up the drive gears was
>a real PITA.
>
>Shane Fedeli
>85PT40
>Hershey, PA
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Don Bradner"
> wrote:
>>
>> Back for more. Over the past two days I pulled the two gate valves
>that I show in the image at
>> http://www.arcatapet.net/image/heaterplumbing.jpg
>>
>> Both looked and operated fine, but I agree a ball valve is much
>better, so I replaced them. Not a fun job getting things out, as there
>isn't much room to wrench. Had to drop the air conditioning pump down
>to have room to turn the right-hand one.
>>
>> As I was installing the left ball valve, I happened to notice that
>there was another valve below the water pump - black with grease, and
>hard to see - even harder to get to. It wasn't until I came back to
>your post, Shane, to make this post that I happened to read new
>meaning into the "I've replaced 2 of the 4 valves with ball valves." I
>assumed you meant 2 gates, 1 Sporlan, 1 Bosch, which is what I knew I
>had; now I'm thinking you meant 4 gate valves. Am I missing a 4th gate
>valve somewhere?
>>
>> Anyway, I reached down and spun the handle, and spun the handle some
>more. No stops, either direction. Sigh. I don't think I could get that
>valve out without removing the water pump, which I really don't want
>to tackle.
>>
>> So, what I did was to unscrew the top of the valve (a difficult
>thing in its own right), and replace the handle/stem/gate with the
>best of the other two. You can see it here after replacement, as well
>as the handle of the left-side ball valve:
>http://www.arcatapet.net/image/thirdvalve.jpg
>>
>> A picture of the valve stems is here:
>http://www.arcatapet.net/image/erodedthreads.jpg
>>
>> On the left is the other "good" valve, and on the right is the bad
>one from below the water pump. The threads are just eroded away enough
>that the gate will slip somewhat freely on the stem.
>>
>> Unless I can find another valve to look at, tomorrow will be spent
>filtering 8 gallons of collected coolant for replacement, then
>checking for leaks, etc.
>>
>>
>
>
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