How to Remove Rear Heater on a School Bus // Skoolie Conversion

This is how I removed the rear passenger heater on our 2005 International FE300 School Bus. If you have any questions feel free to comment or send me a message @backroadpurpose
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[@michaellee5363]

so I just want to comment for anyone doing this alone with no help . If you have one of the old seats or anything (water dont run up hill) lift the heater and set it on the seat , prop the front of the heater up just a bit so coolant stays in when you pull the hose off. Be sure you have the hoses covers off as to have plenty of slack to work with , cut the power wires . loosen one of the hose clamps and gently run ur screwdriver around the inside of the hose to crack the seal from the hose clamp , slowly work the first hose off the heater fitting . once its free I stuck a 1 inch round piece of black gas pipe (any hardware store 8 inch nipple) in the open hose and clamped it down . I wedged the hose between the other hose to keep it elevated long enough to repeat the process for the other line . Then I just connected the other loose hose to the other end of the gas pipe and clamped it down . you now have completed the loop and free to work around it. Hope this helps ANYONE

[@HankEyring]

Sheesh - just watched another vid and can't escape noticing the time you spend with the camera. Most instructional videos are FILLED with mostly nothings in between the somethings. You masterfully edit out all of the nothings! Thanks again. Now I've got my notification thingy clicked to be made aware when you post new content! I Like - Therefore I Subscribe!

[@BackroadPurpose]

Wow, thank you so much for noticing all of the detailed and hard work I put into these videos. I am trying to make these videos not only insightful but also entertaining and very detailed so that anyone can do a bus conversion. Even though it is taking more time, I will continue to make the best videos possible for you guys!

[@mattfindley2665]

I sure could use u on my schoolie bus been 7 months now since I bought it. I’m a 1/4 way done

[@BackroadPurpose]

Yeah its a big project and a lot to figure out. If i can help in anyway let me know! We do consulting too.

[@wanderingheartknits]

I commented yesterday that this video was super helpful and I’m happy to report we followed these steps and successfully removed the two under seat heaters in our skoolie today! Thanks again!

[@BackroadPurpose]

Oh very cool! Im so glad to be able and help you out with it. Thanks for watching!

[@DenisBaldwin]

Thanks so much for the tutorial. I'm doing the same thing on my 2007 international school bus today.

[@BackroadPurpose]

Glad it helped. Have fun!

[@michaelgrumbach4896]

Thank you very much for sharing this video. We have a 2000 International RE3000. We have the same heater and I understood what you did better than any other KZbin video I've seen so far. We'll see how it goes. :)

[@BackroadPurpose]

Haha well thank you! I made another video about removing the front heater that illustrates it a little more. that coolant gets everywhere! lol

[@michaelgrumbach4896]

@@BackroadPurpose thanks so much. I've seen a few videos, so I think I understand what I need to do. I just need to do it and make sure I dont break the bus🤣

[@BackroadPurpose]

@@michaelgrumbach4896 haha I understand. It's basically just one big loop for the coolant. And with the rear heater, your just taking out a section of the loop.

[@Hmd938]

You got my thumbs up when you sneezed

[@BackroadPurpose]

Haha I do what I can!

[@wanderingheartknits]

This was super helpful! Thank you!

[@BackroadPurpose]

youre totally welcome! thanks for watching!

[@williamburgos9705]

Thankyou so much for sharing this! Ill be doing this in about 2 weeks after tearing off the floor. We are #consciousmattertravels

[@BackroadPurpose]

Dude you're so welcome! Im glad to help. Thanks for watching my guy!

[@zaniehead]

the one valve I could readily see on our bus is right by the driver seat but that is so obvious that I suspect if your bus in configured anything like ours you would have figured that out thank you for the video if confirms at least most of what I thought I was dealing with.

[@BackroadPurpose]

I ended up finding the other one. It was in the rf corner of the engine. had to remove the dog house to get to it. Its in the other heater removal video if you want to check that one out too.

[@Lytylhappy]

Just bought a bus. Today is day three of demo for me and the heater is on today’s list. So Thank you!!! My insty and facespace is @trulyaskoolie if you want to see my build progress. Thanks again!!!

[@BackroadPurpose]

Oh super cool! Thank you so much for watching. Im glad it helped.

[@t_ravi_ous9493]

Yeah, they are pretty much terrible to take out. Best way is to drain the system from a low point (like at the firewall) and the majority will drain. But blow air (or the other side of a shop vac) and use it to push everhthing through the middle (mid-ship) or [and] rear heater. I work for a bus garage this is far more frustrating with the seats still in place. Awesome vids btw

[@BackroadPurpose]

ughh I couldn't imagine doing it with the seats in.

[@LeticiaTrowbridge]

Loved the video, what about the wires that run along the hoses? Do you have to reconnect those anywhere?

[@lovetreats717]

Using some of ur techniques to build a ice cream bus

[@BackroadPurpose]

That's awesome. I can't wait to see that.

[@brittdabee5278]

The sneeze 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@TheSweetsarahjayne27]

Does removing the loop cause any temperature issues in the coolant of the bus? You would think that Loop was cool down and recycle for the front

[@hillaryconsultingservices]

I am struggling to remove my lines because I have a short bus and there was only the back heater. I have two valves two smaller blue tubes, one feeds into the coolant reservoir. .Then I have the two black tubes from the now removed heater. I don't know what to feed the blue tubes into or or to connect the black tubes. I'm sure pictures would help. I'll try to take some today. I have coolant leaking so I need to complete the heater deletion asap. Thanks.

[@BackroadPurpose]

I made a video on it! It was posted a few week after this video! I hope it helps.

[@williammartinezii866]

I just did the same exact thing that you did and had the same problems. My question to you is; after you did this work did you notice any change in the way the bus ran or did everything go okay?

[@BackroadPurpose]

Not at all!! It drove the exact same. Had to add a little more coolant but other then that all is well.

[@sandys3767]

Hi. I have the same kind of bus, possibly different year. How much coolant did you have to add once you were finished taking the heater out? Do you just fill up the radiator until you can see the coolant in it? Thanks.

[@ma2008al]

On my list to do. I have a Blue Bird pusher and this thing has 3 heaters under the seats. I assume another one under the dash. This will be fun... Not. However, thank you so much. This gives me an idea on what to do. I also need to remove front AC (the one to the side) and the condenser on the top. Any one knows how to do that without releasing the refrigerant??

[@BackroadPurpose]

Thanks for watching! Fortunately for me I didn't have to worry about taking out and AC line. I heard it needs to be vacuumed out but im not 100% sure about that. Thanks for watching!!

[@lucifersatoshi]

Is that a Thomas Built bus?

[@BackroadPurpose]

International

[@andrewtravieso531]

Converting a skoolie myself. If i don’t want any remnants of the original heater in the bus, would I just take out the big hoses, heater and then loop the incoming hose to the outgoing hose and call it a day or would it have to be disconnected and plugged from the radiator itself? I’ve got a 40ft rear engine and it’s super tight under the bus to get to engine components without a lift

[@BackroadPurpose]

I just looped it ack into the block. Plugging the whole would work too but thats a lot of work. lol

[@digitaldrea]

Hi I have a question I’m in the process of converting my skoolie and my dad is helping me and in all the videos I have seen everyone removes the heater however I was wondering why you do it and if it is necessary to remove or can I just work around it I have one heater in the back right corner of the bus so you recommend I take it out and why? Thank you

[@BackroadPurpose]

You can work around it but it's not that efficient and it's all has coolant running through those lines so it that bust like most radiator hoses do, that would suck.

[@digitaldrea]

@@BackroadPurpose thank you so much I def want to remove it now

[@jeffroche3265]

Why remove it. When driving in cold the back of bus will be cold as Christmas. ??? What's wrong with leaving it???

[@BackroadPurpose]

Ours was actually broken. But most people remove it for space. But we do plan on adding two diesel heaters!

[@redpaint2814]

Hey dude! I’m working on taking my heaters out right now and I’m thinking about doing the same thing as you, as far as rerouting straight to the front heater instead of also taking the front heater out. The driver heater in my bus is a diesel heater, can I still reroute my rear heater to it like you did? I had another idea that may be easier. I was going to just connect the feed and outfeed lines that ran to the single rear heater back together with copper elbows and pipe clamps, then empty and refill the coolent. Or do I have to connect them back to somewhere else? I’m in a rutt and any help from anybody would be apprecieted🙏

[@BackroadPurpose]

Hey man! Thanks for watching. I'd have to see it to really understand and inform but you should just be able to take out the rear heater and just connect the lines with an elbow. I made another Heater video that might help you.

[@Hathor339]

What did you use to connect the heater tubes near the front of the bus?

[@BackroadPurpose]

I reused the elbows that came with the bus. I think they are 1" copper

[@ronielflores2305]

Where do you throw away the coolant fluid?

[@BackroadPurpose]

I took it to AutoZone.

[@pabloeldorado1175]

Hey man did this work alright? Everything still functioned as normal with the smaller “loop”?

[@BackroadPurpose]

Yes sir! It did. Didn't have any issues afterwards.

[@pabloeldorado1175]

And what about the wiring and such? Did you just cut them off with terminals at the ends?

[@BackroadPurpose]

@@pabloeldorado1175 I pulled them all the way out. I traced them back to the wiring panel and ripped them out.

[@pabloeldorado1175]

Backroad Purpose great, thanks man, I’m working on almost the same exact bus right now, so you and your videos have been incredibly helpful 🙌🏽

[@BackroadPurpose]

@@pabloeldorado1175 oh very cool! Glad to help for sure!

[@toastmansride]

How do i get the rubber floor up?

[@BackroadPurpose]

plybar. i made a video about it.

[@HowToSurviveLife.]

I accidently cut the coolant hose to the heater and now my bus refuses to hold coolant. Fml

[@BackroadPurpose]

Hmmmm I wonder if theres a leak somewhere else.

[@HowToSurviveLife.]

@@BackroadPurpose No leak. Shut off valve doesn't work.