97 F53 radiator

[cm2785]

Hey guys I have a 96 Bounder 34j with 11k miles on a 97 F53 chassis.. well we just got back from a couple hour trip the other day and it seemed to run a bit hot but overall ran great. Now I am supposed to pull out again tomorrow for a short 20 minute trip and I just noticed a small puddle of coolant under the radiator and a few drops on the bottom radiator bracket.. cap looks dry, overflow tank is brand new, but before my trip we replaced the thermostat and coolant went everywhere, but I would assume after 3 hours driving it would all be evaporated by now.. anyway, I guess I need a radiator and I’m going to do the water pump at the same time, does anyone know what the best water pump and radiator for a 97 F53 i can get? Reading other threads I see some people get the wrong one and there are some with plastic tanks and some that are all metal. I definitely want the best. Hopefully I can find these tomorrow and get this done ASAP. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

[cm2785]

Thanks guys!

Glad to hear you got it worked out Dave!

I found an old guy, he’s a master technician and ex instructor. He used to own his own shop and now he does mobile work part time as he’s retired. He’s working on it as we speak. I found a new all aluminum 1 row radiator from Performance Radiator and from what I have found out they are a high end brand. It was $750 shipped with tax and I got it the next day. I also went to Galpin Ford and bought a brand new water pump and got a new fan clutch just to be on the safe side.

The mechanic quoted me $450-500 labor to do it all so if that holds out I’ll be at $750 radiator, $350 water pump/clutch, and $500 labor which would be $1,600 total. Let’s hope that stays there!!

I’ll keep you guys posted but I have to say, I asked God to keep me safe on my recent trip and this thing made the three hour trip and let go after I got home and parked it.. I’m VERY grateful for that!!!

[crasster]

You can always try an add on extra set of radiator fans. Are the ones you currently have working 100%?

[David99]

I just had the same problem with my 95 Fleetwood Southwind F53 and wound up having Fairway Ford RV install a new radiator, water pump, and belts with I believe one new belt tensioner. Although it only has about 32k miles it has leaked for years and I am hoping to do some traveling this summer and didn't want it to let go at the worst time.

I went with Fairway after getting one estimate of "it'll take 2-3 days or more (18-24+ hours) labor, we won't know until we try" estimate and another "we'll gt back to you." Fairway quoted 8 hours labor and a new two row all aluminum radiator "built from scratch" and all the rest of the service supplies necessary like a/c evac and recharge, coolant, hoses and so on for $2500, with water pump etc additional as needed.

If you take a close look you will see that you need to remove the condenser and at least loosen the hydraulic cooler and take the radiator out the front. I know it looks like it might come out the bottom but apparently it won't. I don't really have a place to do the work myself due to not only CCRs but a slanted driveway to boot, and there's no way I can do it at my RV storage lot.

In all I did need a new water pump and belts, tensioner etc so it was $3150 out the door, with the new water pump etc. and a couple more hours labor for that plus tax accounting for the additional $650. After the run around I was getting elsewhere I think I got a fair deal, as the radiator parts charge was about $1200 of that. YMMV

I mentioned Fairway as I am nearby in Orange County and their labor rate was about the same as the others who would even attempt this. I got a few "we don't do those" from radiator specialists too.

Good luck pulling that sucker!

Dave

[cm2785]

Wow this is interesting! Basically copper heat transfer is almost double aluminum but copper is too weak so they use copper and brass. Brass is horrible for transfer so with the aluminum being stronger and able to build better cores and aluminum having almost double the heat transfer of the copper brass they are much better.

https://wizardcooling.com/blog/brass-vs-aluminum-radiator-thermal-properties/

[cm2785]

Hey Scott, I have the original copper brass with composite tanks. I just a few minutes ago ordered a new 100% aluminum for $750... I know copper brass cools better than aluminum but from what I’ve been reading the new alluminum Design uses stronger bigger tubes so they can be only One row vs stock two row and cool about the same but the aluminum has better air flow because of the design. The company I purchased it from was radiator Express and they have a no haggle return if I don’t want it so I figured I would at least get it on its way here so it comes before the weekend and can always return if need be. The coolant keeps appearing below, on the bottom support but even with the borescope everything looks pretty dry besides a slight seepage on the passenger side tank.. so slight it’s just a damp spot with no actual coolant but I’m thinking it could have leaked some on my recent three hours of driving. The funny thing is my overflow tank is still at the level I filled it to.

[FIRE_UP]

cm2785 wrote:
Hey guys I have a 96 Bounder 34j with 11k miles on a 97 F53 chassis.. well we just got back from a couple hour trip the other day and it seemed to run a bit hot but overall ran great. Now I am supposed to pull out again tomorrow for a short 20 minute trip and I just noticed a small puddle of coolant under the radiator and a few drops on the bottom radiator bracket.. cap looks dry, overflow tank is brand new, but before my trip we replaced the thermostat and coolant went everywhere, but I would assume after 3 hours driving it would all be evaporated by now.. anyway, I guess I need a radiator and I’m going to do the water pump at the same time, does anyone know what the best water pump and radiator for a 97 F53 i can get? Reading other threads I see some people get the wrong one and there are some with plastic tanks and some that are all metal. I definitely want the best. Hopefully I can find these tomorrow and get this done ASAP. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

cm2785,
First off, you don't say what type of radiator you presently have. Is it an aluminum one with plastic tanks or, is it an all metal (copper/brass) one? If it's a copper/brass one, it can most likely be repaired. If it's an aluminum one with plastic tanks, it most likely CANNOT be repaired.

The cooling ability for aluminum ones vs copper brass ones, is debatable. There are some that advocate aluminum ones cool better. Well, again, not real sure on that. Primarily because, I had the same issue as you did. Only mine is a diesel pusher. We purchased it back about 7 years ago with 40K on the clock.

About 6 months into ownership, I, like you, noticed a puddle under the radiator. Well, long story short. MY aluminum/plastic radiator was shot. So, rather than spending a whoppine $1,750.00 (not including shipping) from Freightliner, I picked up an identical dimentioned copper/brass one from a local radiator shop. It's been in there cooling properly for 6.5 years now and I couldn't be happier. Before you go spending a bunch of money, see what you have and, why it's leaking. It's been in there for how long and working just fine? Good luck.
Scott

[RLS7201]

lets make this easy. check your private messages.
I hate typing.

Richard

[cm2785]

Thanks Richard! I was hoping you would reply! I have noticed there are a lot of One and Two core radiators out there. I found a two core copper on Amazon and a one core Aluminum that seems pretty nice, I’ll include a link. I don’t really know how well my original radiator works anyway as it seems to be on the hot side on the last trip.. what do you think about this aluminum one core?

https://www.radiatorexpress.com/product.asp?part_id=222306&aaia_id=1367412&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9MP6oPCa2wIVCrnACh0zfQJLEAYYASABEgIDQfD_BwE

Also, how hard is it to drop this radiator? Is it a big pain?

Thanks!!

[RLS7201]

Beware of the copper radiators with brass end tanks that only have 15 fins per inch instead of the 20 fins per inch your copper radiator has. That's a 25 percent reduction in cooling surface. They will not cool properly. I suspect if you look closely, you'll find the left composite end tank is leaking close to the bottom. If you can find a really good radiator shop, they could fabricate brass end tanks to solder on your radiator to replace the composite tanks. I've been lead to believe there are some aluminum radiators out there that will cool properly.
I'm only relating the mistake I made when I purchased one of the replacement copper/brass radiators. I ended up removing the end tanks from both radiators and soldering the new tanks on the old radiator.

Richard