COOLANT HOSES

[Larry W]

Looking at the Prevost update I find my chassis is beyond the Vin's listed (X6978). Guess that is why I have green stripe Gates heater hose to the surge tank.

[GDeen]

Changed these hoses out today. Amazing how truly brittle they were - I just snapped them into small pieces to throw them away. Nothing else in the engine bay is in near as bad a condition as those were.

[hhoppe]

Other Coolant Hose Failure: I had a failure of the coolant hose from The engine block line to behind the Webasto. Access to the leaky hose behind the webasto cannot be reached by hand from the bottom or from the Webasto access door on the 2000 Liberty. I'm awaiting word from Liberty on possible access to the end of the hose. I was able to isolate the large leak by closing a valve behiund the Webasto copper piping maze. I suspect all of these water hoses are due to be replaced due to their 11yr age. If anyone has been through this wonderful task I would aprecciate any heads up help on getting it done. If I ever hear back from Liberty on the subject and get the replacements done I'll offer a blow by blow description of the process. In the meantime all the hot water valves in the vacinity of the webasto are closed.

[charlesebrownjr]

Did mine a year and a half ago while in Nashville. Jon, mine were in the same condition, looked fine from an appearance standpoint but were hard as a rock. New fittings and hoses and also the engine coolant hoses. Now I am in the process of replacing all the big lines in the rest of the engine room. Being a 98 I am sure they have had just about all the heat they can stand.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Each conversion has different ways of routing coolant hoses and different ways to use heated coolant, such as to heat hot water or defrost the windshield or heat the engine block. Liberty uses a Webasto and plumbs it in various ways depending on the length of the coach or type of coach. Others use AquaHot. However coolant is routed for heat transfer there is one constant that applies to all coaches. That is the coolant hoses will eventually need replacement.

Like Harry I got a leak in my previous coach and it was in a hose that looked perfect. Once I got into the task of replacing hoses and hose sections it became apparent some hoses were brittle, some were overly soft and appeared to be failing internally, and some hose clamps looked great, but on inspection had rusted to the point where they were merely sitting in place and were not clamping tightly. So with a very good scare my coolant system hoses (except for the blue engine hoses) are on a 10 year replacement cycle. Like Harry's some are miserable to get at, some are hidden(such as in the water bay onlhy visible by removing panels) and some are easy to access. In Harry's case and mine access is only from a door or from beneath and there is a lot of blood and scrapes associated with hose replacement. But it has to be done.

The loss of coolant is one of the reasons a coach will shut down. There is no benefit to delaying a necessary hose replacement.

[kenrobertson]

Hi Harry - Don't know if you've heard back from Liberty yet, but we recently had a very similar repair and found that unbolting the Webasto and moving it aside allowed pretty good access to the hoses behind it - Obviously, while in there, we replaced ALL the hoses at the same time. If you have any questions, give Rick May a call.

Good luck,

Ken

[hhoppe]

Big thanks to Jon, Ken and Bill Doherty of Liberty. Lots of good information much needed here. The gory deed will be attempted on 11-15 by West Coast Frame in West Sacramento. Bill explained a sequence of bed lift removal and an access panel under the bed and above the engine. also the panel at the water heater location to remove the supply and return hoses to and from the engine. I will be back here with a complete blow by blow description of all phases of the operations. I intend to replace all hoses in connection with the heater systems and webasto.

[Gary Carmichael]

Looking forward to this, photo's if possible Thanks Gary

[wmoureau]

Changing the coolant hoses on a 1997 Liberty, and cannot remove one of the hoses. The one connected to the radiator in the foreground. Can I loosen the large hose in the front without complications? Have pic on my hard drive but cannot attach. Please advise.

Thank you,
W Moureau