backhoemike wrote:
Radiator is rotten, any ideas on where to find after market radiator for 1995 newmar London aire, Spartan chassis , I emailed Spartan and no reply today. I the road salt must have eaten all the fin's away it looked like it was just dirty and I touched the fins and it is just rotten. Re-core it ? New one? any newer model radiator that will fit and has anyone had to change themselves...
backhoemike,
The first thing many guys think about when their diesel coach or, even gas coaches radiator goes south permanently is, head to the manufacturer. It's a natural reaction. Here's a short story. I had a leak in ours. Our coach is an '04 Itasca Horizon, 36GD with the C-7 330 HP CAT engine. The leak was an on and off, leak. Meaning, it only leaked a tiny bit and then stop for a month, then do it again, then stop for a month.
But, I'd been hearing about how clogged up the fins could get from the slobber tube and dust and debris. So, I did a good thorough inspection and, found out about 35% of my CAC and radiator were completely clogged. There was no way on this earth I was going to be able to clean that stuff thoroughly in the coach.
So, out came both the radiator and, the CAC. Well, the radiator was an aluminum core with plastic tanks. The lower left corner was deteriorated badly. Well, that meant a phone call to Freightliner for a replacement.
It's a good thing I was sitting down when the Freightliner person told me the price. A whopping $1,780.00 and, the closest one was in Georgia. We lived, at the time, in the San Diego area. They said it would be around 7-10 days to get it to me.
So, just for grins, I headed down to a local radiator shop in the town next to where we lived. It's good sized radiator business. I showed mine to him and asked if he could repair it. He pointed to a shelf in his facility that was completely loaded to the brim, with aluminum radiators. It's like that because about 99.99% of the time, they are not repairable.
I said, "crap". I said then, well, I guess I better go take out a loan for the one from Freightliner. His reply, he... no, you don't have to buy one from them. He took some quick measurements of mine and, headed to the computer. He located an exact replacement, less than 24 hours away. He said, "I can have it here tomorrow by noon. I said, "OK, how much"? His reply, $1,250.00, out the door!!!
And, he said, "this one's made of copper/brass". That means, it can be repaired, if and when it's needed.
So, the moral of the story, check around with your local radiator shop. The one he got for me fit exactly right, inside the steel frame that the aluminum one sat in, to a tee. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Scott
