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05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Yahoo Message Number: 61570
I was told by a dealer the other day that some of the 05's with cat have had a heating problem, Is this true. He said to make sure and buy a cummins. What has been your experiences with the C-9 thanks for your help

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61574
I'm guessing that he has a Cummins coach in stock?...
As far as I can tell, both Cat and Cummins make/made good engines, Country Coach is responsible for the placement/connection of "things that surround" the engine (e.g. radiators). In some cases the location of filters, radiators, hoses, mufflers, made sense. In some cases, they messed up. (We were at a CC event where several Allures from the same year group all suffered from Air Conditioning hoses that were chaffing against something...surely a problem for each was down the road, except that we all noticed it and just added some tie-wraps to move the hoses away from the offending sharp edges.) In other cases they seemed to do just fine.
In other words, the choice of engine (Cat vs Cummins) isn't really important. What is important is how they were outfitted into the coaches.
We've a 2000 Magna with a 385HP Cat C-10. The engine/tranny runs fine. The side radiator needed replacement as it rusted out... same for the muffler and for the turbo boost. I'm currently cleaning rust off of the water manifold CC used to connect the engine to the radiator assembly. Nothing to do with CAT (nor Cummins)....the problem is that CC bought parts that were poorly primed and a little bit of road gravel debris was able to kick up and ding the paint job on the pipes.
Now I'm scraping off the rusted bits, and preparing to paint the pipes with POR-15. If this had been done at the outset, there'd be no issues at all.
Heating issues?... never had any problems at all...Engine pulls a 10k trailer without problem.. (barely know that it is behind us...and only seem to lose about 1/2 MPG with trailer vs without ... i.e 10 1/2 mpg vs 11 mpg when driving naked.) Of course, previous owner outfitted the coach with a Pittsburgh Power system which I keep mostly at "2" when driving... I'm not sure how the Pittsburgh Power device works, but we seem to get up to 1500 ft/lbs torque whenever we need it up a hill.... And, we're pretty happy with anything over 10 MPG...
Personally, I'm agnostic with respect to engines. Cummins is still in business for over the road engines, Cat has elected to abandon transportation engines. For the near term (next 10yrs?) this won't make any difference because of the installed base....but after 10yrs or so, there will probably start to be fewer CAT dealers familiar with transportation engines (CAT will be concentrating on off-road heavy duty equipment instead of trucking.)
But if a dealer is telling you that one engine is better than another, I'd take it with a grain of salt. Any problems with diesel engines are rarely the engine manufacturers issue...they are more likely installation issues.

my $.02
-skip-

2000 Magna 5778

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61575
My understanding is that CC installed only CAT-C-9's in 2005 and 2006 in the Inspire line up. 2007 they had the Cummins choice as an option. There were more overheating problem with the 2006 due to additional emissions that were require.
My 2005 Inspire Da Vinci has 34,000 and has not needed any work on the coach for overheating. We have been full-timing for almost three years. I think the Da Vinci model was the best coach at the time for what were were looking to do as full time travelers.

Very happy with my 2005 Inspire.

Jock Vargo
2005 Inspire
51428

Currently in Amana, IA

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61589
I have an 06 Inspire and have had the C-9 in the shop 9 times already and they can't seem to find the problem. I know that it has something to do with in the electronci fan control but they have replace everything and still can't seem to find the problem. It is very intermintent, sometimes the fan works and sometimes it doesn't. And when it doesen't it overheats af just a few miles usually 10-20. My older CC was a cummins and I never had an engine issue. Personally I wouldn't buy a Cat engine again.

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61592
Don't relate a cooling system problem with a engine problem. Cat' are a very good engine. Not Cat's fault the cooling system is below par.

Leonard Kerns
97' Magna 5418

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61594
Leonard,

I completely agree. I dealt w/ an overheating problem on my Inspire for a while before resolving it for good but everyone I spoke with who was knowledgeable about how these things go together at the factories says that the engine manufacturer gives parameters to the coach builder. It's then up to them to design a cooling system that meets the requirements...same thing with Allison on the transmissions.

Tom

Inspire #51334 --- On Thu, 7/22/10, Leonard Kerns wrote: From: Leonard Kerns Subject: Re: [Country-Coach-Owners] 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problemTo: Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.comDate: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 2:27 PM
Don't relate a cooling system problem with a engine problem. Cat' are a very good engine. Not Cat's fault the cooling system is below par.
Leonard Kerns
97' Magna 5418

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61601

Russel: Cat had nothing to do with the cooling system installed in your coach. Very sorry to hear about your problems but it isn't the Cat engine. There are hundreds of messages on this list concerning the Sauer Danfoss fan controller and also dirty radiators - either could be your problem.
It also sounds like you have a replacement artist attempting to fix your problem by throwing new parts at it rather that getting a good diagnosis and fixing it once and for all.
We own an 05 Inspire with a Cat 400 hp C9 and after initial teething problems now 6 years ago haven't had a lick of cooling issues - and we live in FL and travel throughout the west and southwest when we can. Never had a cooling problem.
I wish you luck. The best approach is to get an accurate analysis by qualified service folks. Are you at a Cat dealer rated to work on RV systems? Cat has a list of such dealers on their website. Perhaps you might want to contact one of them.

Bob (rthandren@...)
'05 Inspire 51178

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61667
Hi Fellow Coachers! Short and Brief on this! Im a retired Cat Tech. Retired two years ago from Ringpower in Tampa Florida! I have worked on the Cat C-9 and its a good motor trust me! I would suggest taking your coach to a Cat main servive center and get a price for a Dyno as they will hook up a laptop to the Engine and run the coach hard and record readings and also have them do a Bottle Test they know about this, I had a NEW Cat C-9 in a Cat Generator with Cat Radiator piping etc. Turned out it faild the bottle test and turned out to be a head gasket. The C-9 runs a little hotter due to emissions at that time. Cat will find your problem trust me. Again go to a Cat Dealer Main store. Please keep us posted on this. Ken 99 Allure 30356 BTW Feel free to E-Mail me off line for more help'
Quote from: Robert Handren

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61729
C-9owners

I appreciate all the info and advise on the overheating problems that I'm having with my 06 Inspire with a 400HP C-9. Since I've had this unit into the Authorized Cat repair shop (9) times I think that they've run just about every test that they currently know about. The biggest problem is that the overheating is so sporadic that they just cant' seem to find the problem. They told me that they ran the coach on the dyno a couple of time but can't seem to duplicate the problem. I suppose that is the reason I'm so disillusioned with the C-9 is that three or four trips I can understand but mentally I can't justify nine trips. The repair shop did find their supplied wiring harness had (5) open circuits but that still didn't solve the problem.
BTW I haven't been charged for any of the repair trips, so its not costing me any money, just the time that I could be enjoying the coach.

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61743
Our c9 was having spuradic overheat issues and it was discovered one of two thermostats was bad. I asume they would have checked but mabee not. Changed both and no problems.

Rod
Inspire
 

Re: 05 Allure and C 9 cat heating problem

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 61749
Rod

When your CAT is overheating do you let it idle or do you turn it off. When I was having my problem I always let it idle thinking that was the best way for cooling it down. Chris Snyder (when the factory was open) told me to shut it off and wait a few minutes and that allowed it to reset. Never could figure out whether it was really overheating or just a sensor communication issue. Give me a call and I will tell you what they did to fix the problem. I took a picture but will have to check and see if I still have it. 406-257-2724.

Dan 2006 Allure C-9 31348