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mking · 03-31-2013, 06:12 PM

Any ideas as to how many $ I am facing to get either a repair or another radiator replaced? This is a 2001 Journey with a small 275 Cummin diesel. I am in the Orlando, Fl area. Will be a cash job.

FIRE UP · 03-31-2013, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mking

Any ideas as to how many $ I am facing to get either a repair or another radiator replaced? This is a 2001 Journey with a small 275 Cummin diesel. I am in the Orlando, Fl area. Will be a cash job.

Well Sir,
I kind-a just went through all that stuff you're about to. It started off by needing a cleaning of the CAC and, the radiator fins due to clogging because of the blow-by tube and road dust and debris etc. The CAC was so bad and upon inspection of the surrounding areas of the radiator, there was no way in he.. that the system was ever going to be cleaned good enough for a good flow through, well ventilated radiator and CAC system while it was in the coach.

So, I also had a small, persistent leak in my radiator. Well, all of that combined, I made the decision to remove the radiator and get it fixed and do a super job of cleaning everything while it was all out. As it turned out, the radiator removal was about a 6 hour job due to the fact that I'd never done it before and, some of those nuts and bolts holding it all in there were one serious pain in the a$$ to get to and remove.

Well, when it was all said and done, the radiator which, was an aluminum core with plastic tanks was not repairable. A new one from Freightliner was going to be $1841.00, not including shipping and tax

So, I headed on down to the local super radiator shop and had them give me an estimate on a new one. It came out to $1270.00 shipped to their door and it was a copper/brass one. It was a perfect replacement. If fit flawless. In the mean time, I'd already pressure cleaned the CAC and other parts in prep for re-installing the radiator. So, I'm now totally satisfied with the new radiator and hopefully it will last longer than the first one which, lasted only 8 years and 47K miles.
Scott

mking · 04-04-2013, 10:30 AM

Thanks Fire Up,

I got very lucky. My son and I cranked it up, checked oil stick(no white stuff), watched inside radiator during temp warm up ( no visible issue with bubbling), then upon tracing the water, once it commenced dripping, I FOUND A MISSING HOSE CLAMP ON THE BOTTOM HOSE. The arrangement on this engine is such that the hose cannot push off the snout as it is short and connects to another metal pipe that crosses under the engine(not rubber). It was being held in place enough to not blow out but had no tightness around the snout.

Good info about the cleaning, I had my rig gone over at Freightliner Gaffney SC last year and they did a condenser and rad cleaning.

thanks for the reply