I've tried my best, but now I give up. Can someone please explain to this idiot how the heater boxes create heat for the passengers without blowing exhaust fumes into the bus? I see connections that appear to connect into the muffler AND the engine (exhaust manifold?). Am I viewing this correctly? How does it work? If I were to cut the heat exchanger in half with a hack saw, what would I find?
Also, I am replacing the heat control box on the left and right. I found new parts at www.bustedbus.com , but the cables are froze up and I can't find new kits. Anyone know where to buy new heater cable kits and are they difficult to install?
Thanks in advance for the kind help.
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"Goin' Where the Wind Don't Blow so Strange"
More Muffler/Heater Questions...
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Derek May
- Posts: 217
- Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2001 1:01 am
More Muffler/Heater Questions...
Bus boys with have the cables, the hard part is in the dash, its not so hard. Consider baling wire to hold 'em open in the winter to enjoy the slightly less cold air that will come out of them.
The exchangers work because the exhaust is in a tube on the inside, with fins, and the air that goes into your van blows over in in the tin jacket and then forward into the van. But you need good seals at the joints, and most are rusty as poop by now, especial the riser pipes that connect the exchangers to the control boxes.
Even working, you're moving air 10 feet forward, in a metal pipe that's got outside air rushing past it as it head to the cab. It loses heat on the journey and is then expected to heat a rather large interior space. Put plainly, the exchangers on their own aren't up to heating a bus.
Mine are only decently warm on their own when the van is working hard, ie freeway driving, and only after about 20 minutes.
Lucky owners have auxilliary gas heaters, that work like a furnace. There was a BN4 which sits in back opposite the battery, and a BA6, which is a oblong thingy under the van. If you have a green knob with a time next to the ashtray, you likely have an auxilliary heater.
The gas heater is hot in about 45 seconds. Paint stip gun hot.
If you have one, it probably doesn't work, but you might be able to fix it if its not rusty to hell. Most often, its a burnt fuse or dirty spark/glow plug, but the things are potentially dangerous, and you really should go over it top to bottom, knowing sort of what you are doing, before you try to get it going. Be sure to change over fuel lines to it, they crack and drip gas if not used for extended periods.
Some guys retrofit the things in.
type2.com has links to an online manual for gas heaters which are invaluable. If you want more info, do some searches, there have been posts on the subject before.
Goodluck.
The exchangers work because the exhaust is in a tube on the inside, with fins, and the air that goes into your van blows over in in the tin jacket and then forward into the van. But you need good seals at the joints, and most are rusty as poop by now, especial the riser pipes that connect the exchangers to the control boxes.
Even working, you're moving air 10 feet forward, in a metal pipe that's got outside air rushing past it as it head to the cab. It loses heat on the journey and is then expected to heat a rather large interior space. Put plainly, the exchangers on their own aren't up to heating a bus.
Mine are only decently warm on their own when the van is working hard, ie freeway driving, and only after about 20 minutes.
Lucky owners have auxilliary gas heaters, that work like a furnace. There was a BN4 which sits in back opposite the battery, and a BA6, which is a oblong thingy under the van. If you have a green knob with a time next to the ashtray, you likely have an auxilliary heater.
The gas heater is hot in about 45 seconds. Paint stip gun hot.
If you have one, it probably doesn't work, but you might be able to fix it if its not rusty to hell. Most often, its a burnt fuse or dirty spark/glow plug, but the things are potentially dangerous, and you really should go over it top to bottom, knowing sort of what you are doing, before you try to get it going. Be sure to change over fuel lines to it, they crack and drip gas if not used for extended periods.
Some guys retrofit the things in.
type2.com has links to an online manual for gas heaters which are invaluable. If you want more info, do some searches, there have been posts on the subject before.
Goodluck.