Radiator

stew47 wrote:
Lol well last week I put new chassis battery and a set of 6 v golf cart batteries. I did this so I could get the rv started to take it to get my onan generator running. After warming the rv up for a while I noticed a small puddle of antifreeze. I couldn't find leak exactly but it had dripped down through the holes of metal brace directly below radiator. It wasn't leaking anymore (and its 10 degrees ) so I drove the 20 minutes to auto electric place. Reservoir still at cold mark. I'm puzzled. You folks have any thoughts?

Ps I also managed to buy a nice used master tow dolly today but if things keep going like this my camping this year is gonna be a nice mix of flying j, Walmart, and other boondocks places haha. I'm not even sure what the bill is gonna be for the onan!

Thanks all for letting me vent.

sitting and cold weather causes a slight seepage of hoses sometimes.
I would not worry about it at all unless your having to add fluid
more than once

Richard thank you. It all sounds reasonable. After 20 miles the reservoir was same level. That would be some welcome news. Talked to generator folks and the part to fix is a 400$ module plus some labor. Is love to run into a break with radiator.

Brian,

You have a copper/brass radiator with composite end tanks. The end tanks are crimped on with a gasket between components. When you start your engine the coolant pressure builds before the coolant in the radiator get warm and swells the gaskets. Thus you get a slight leak on start up. Time to replace the gaskets. No OEM gaskets are available but a quality radiator shop will have the materials to make gaskets. I'll bet a cup of coffee that the lower part of the left tank is the problem. Been there, done that more than once. You have metal spring clamps on your radiator hoses, not plastic like on the newer model F53s. Keep them they work great!
My research tells me that only one replacement radiator available for your chassis and it will not cool you MH properly. There are many places that sell replacement radiators for you MH but they are all the same substandard materials. It has less fin count and smaller tubes. Find some one to fix what you have.

Richard
95 Bounder F53 460

On Edit: The radiator comes out the front. The AC condenser will need to be removed.

If the radiator (cooling system) has enough antifreeze you don't need to cover the radiator. When the heater starts blowing cold air its pretty certain that there isn't enough coolant in the radiator or that it is frozen and thus no circulation.....This isn't the only thing that could be wrong but the most common. All a lot less expensive to fix at home rather than on the road.....

Those screw type clamps are not recommended by many auto shops. Todays radiators are built with plastic components, upper and lower tanks, compared with the copper tanks years past. Thus those screw type clamps can exert too much clamping force at the screw end, and might crack the neck in the radiator.
This last weekend i helped our neighbor replace his radiator in his class 8 truck, it cost 1,200 dollars, and we used the OEM style clamps. We had no garage, and it was COLD outside, Saturday it was 9 degrees, really tough working conditions.

Do you still have the original Ford squeeze type hose clamps? They can be trouble and should be replaced with screw type clamps. Even they need to be re-tightened periodically especially in cold weather. Might be a cheap fix for your problem.

Yea there's a nearby reputable radiator shop. Was going to call tomorrow. I like to try to do things at home and I can have a radiator delivered for a little over a hundred dollars but to be honest I'm not sure how to get the old one out....

you need to get it into a shop, it could be lots of things. all we can do is give you our opinion which if listened too could ruin your engine.

You won't be stuck at Walmart. There are free or cheap places.

Oh sorry good to know right. 1998 Winnebago 35wp with a ford 460. Yea it never got really warm inside the coach.