Well, I've reached the "blowing out coolant hoses" stage of the project.
Driving the bus around town, the TD was doing fine and running right about 190degF H2O w/o the fan coming on. About 5 miles into the trip, I had some road so I wound her up a bit to see how she did in 4th. About 30 seconds later I heard a BANG and steam filled the bus through the hole where the coolant lines come through the spare tire well to the overflow tank.
I immediately pulled over and found that a hose had popped loose - maybe due to a loose clamp - so I dutifully got out my spare clamps and the two gallons of DI water I'd brought along and filled up the system. I'd hadn't gotten too far into the process when both the police and the tow-trucks showed up - someone had called in that a VW bus was on fire - and I told them that no, I had just popped a coolant hose. Everybody was real nice about it though.
Drove the remaining way to my softball game (1.5 miles) without any problems, but the temperatures seemed to get a bit higher. That could have also been the huge hill I was pulling, though.
Everything seemed ok at this point, so I headed across town (heading to a point about 7 miles from home) and BANG! Coolant hose #2 failed. This time it was a hose rupture - the 3-way hose from the oil cooler to the water pump. Unfortunately, this time I was on a bridge (<a href="
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_bridges">we have a few</a>), so I couldn't just pull over immediately. I probably drove about 200-300 meters before pulling into a parking lot.
Bus safely parked, I headed off to meet up with my friend at the pub, carrying my two empty gallon jugs.
When I returned a few hours later, full jugs in hand, my friend kept her headlights on so I could see what I was doing. There was enough meat left on the hose to cut it down and just re-attach it, so I did that and filled up the system. Unfortunately, she had left before I determined that something was up with my headlights: i.e. they weren't working.
45 minutes or so later, I had hot wired a headlight (working from an online wiring diagram, a rigged up test light as my multimeter died a few weeks ago, and a cell phone as a flashlight). My guess is that the hi-beam relay is toast - which I knew - and causing the lights to not come on at all (and making hot-wiring them more difficult). The time is now approximately 2 am. The only downside to my hotwiring the headlight is that now the turn-signals and hazards aren't in proper working order, but I decide that those are less likely to get me pulled over than driving around with no headlights at 2 am.
I start the trek home and just after passing through west end circle and onto US-51 S (for those familiar with PGH), I hear the now almost expected BANG! and the cabin fills with steam again. The problem here is that there's absolutely no shoulder and I have no hazard lights. Hrm. So I drove about 0.4 miles this time (0.8 km?), turning off the engine and coasting where possible, and make it to a gas station.
This time I find that it's the upper radiator hose, and it's come free where I have two flex hoses connected via a radiator repair coupler, probably due to the heat of the coolant warming the plastic coupler which then warped and let the hose free. I had planned on swapping this out (as it seemed like a potential failure point), but hadn't gotten around to it yet. Well, I guess I was getting around to it now. I reconnect everything and refill the radiator, the refill my jugs once more from the gas station spigot, "just in case", grab my first tank of diesel fuel, and I'm off. At this point it is approaching 3 am and I am around 3 miles form home.
I make it to my turn-off from 51 and start heading up the big hill (Nobles Lane) when, you guessed it, BANG! about 0.2 miles from the crest of the hill. I drive the 0.1 mile to the parking lot of a CVS, where I find that another flex hose that has popped free of it's moorings. Oh, and the spring blew out of the flex hose: crazy. I re-attach everything, fill up with water and drive the remaining 6 blocks to my house. It is now 4 am.
I take the dog for a quick walk and sneak into bed as quietly as possible, completely exhausted. Hopefully no permanent damage was done while driving the very short distances w/o coolant. That would suck.
Two quick asides:
1. I think that while cleaning up the corroded wiring, I swapped the wires that go to the radiator thermostat (it's a three circuit plug, but only two connections on the t-stat) so the fan's not coming on. I had verified the t-stat worked when the engine was out, so that's not it. Either that or I screwed up in wiring the relay. In any event, the fan isn't coming on in the few times when the H2O temperature did get up to 210-215degF.
2. I may have my alternator idiot light wired to the upshift light terminal on the alternator: it's not on at idle, but comes on at 2500 rpm or higher. I'll have to track down the right sensor on the alternator...