Uploaded September 2015 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
The heaters in the bus run off engine coolant. Luckily, my bus has a valve that isolates the heaters in the passenger compartment from the heaters in the cab. I closed off the valve, then carefully removed the superfluous passenger heater system piece by piece. Once I was done, I ran the engine for a while with the valve open to check for leaks, and to run any air out of the system. Once I was confident that it was free of air bubbles, I topped off the coolant.
If your bus doesn't have the extra valve that I have, which is apparently an after-market feature, you will have to completely bleed/drain the coolant system, remove the heaters, close the loop, then refill the engine coolant system. It's actually not that difficult, though I can only say that in hindsight. I put off this project for a long time because I thought I would surely screw it up. I think it came out okay, though I wish I could hide the closed loop a little better.
Why I did this: I removed the heaters because they only work when the engine is running. Since I don't plan on running the engine while camping, they're really just taking up space. Instead, I will add a climate control system that runs off the house batteries later.
The heaters in the bus run off engine coolant. Luckily, my bus has a valve that isolates the heaters in the passenger compartment from the heaters in the cab. I closed off the valve, then carefully removed the superfluous passenger heater system piece by piece. Once I was done, I ran the engine for a while with the valve open to check for leaks, and to run any air out of the system. Once I was confident that it was free of air bubbles, I topped off the coolant.
If your bus doesn't have the extra valve that I have, which is apparently an after-market feature, you will have to completely bleed/drain the coolant system, remove the heaters, close the loop, then refill the engine coolant system. It's actually not that difficult, though I can only say that in hindsight. I put off this project for a long time because I thought I would surely screw it up. I think it came out okay, though I wish I could hide the closed loop a little better.
Why I did this: I removed the heaters because they only work when the engine is running. Since I don't plan on running the engine while camping, they're really just taking up space. Instead, I will add a climate control system that runs off the house batteries later.
