Community Forums

Okrver · 10-04-2012, 07:00 PM

I have 2002 Ambassador ISB rear radiator small leak in the top drivers side. It is very slow and I only add coolant once a year and a very small amount.
It's been the same for the last 3 years.
I know a number of you have replaced their radiators.
My question is has anyone with this known radiator issue had a major failure.
Just wanting to know if it really needs to be replaced based on it turning into a major leaks

Thanks
Pat

NMBeemercouple · 10-04-2012, 07:21 PM

We had ours fail suddenly on the way home from Heron Lake, not too far from home. We have an ISC with a side radiator. It was determined to be caused by corrosion and was not covered by our extended insurance plan. The coach was from Florida originally and we purchased it in 2009. Since we are in NM, the corrosion issue probably won't come back. If yours is cracked and leaking a bit, I'd look at it as a warning. You have time to plan your next move....

JFC · 10-05-2012, 09:47 AM

Had a 2002 Ambassador and the radiator failed in 2005. Not sure how long it had a slow leak on the driver's side top. Had a low coolant alarm and discovered the leak. Added coolant twice in two days to get home, so it started getting bad quickly. Had to have a radiator made since at the time Monaco couldn't deliver a new one for eight weeks.

R2Home · 10-05-2012, 09:52 AM

We had a major radiator failure in 2008 on our 2003 Endeavor. Total repair bill was about $6000.00! How ever part of that was due to us electing to 'upgrade' the radiator to a copper one. I feel that it was a better then gong back with the OEM style. We also 'upgraded' the fan and hub.
So far no more cooling issues.

JimM68 · 10-05-2012, 12:34 PM

diplomat Don has posted about his radiator failure, search it out. He has a rear rad ISL...

Adding coolant once a year is not in my worry zone. I might add some stop leak just for grins.
There is an RV store in oregon that bought most of monaco's spares after they went under.
if you can pull the radiator and leave it somewhere for a time,most any radiator shop can fix it.

BeltoneMagoo · 10-08-2012, 01:25 PM

Have an 01 HR Imperial with 375 hp and side radiator that I took possesion of and immediately made a 4300 mile trip that was necessary, at the time. Used the red engine light (overheat) as the speedometer. Was down to 45mph in West Texas with a headwind and 100+ temps. Most of the time I was able to go 60-65. Turned out that the unit was originally from Florida and the radiator was copper and partially stopped up and very badly corroded. Touch the fins and they would crumble into dust. $6,000 later the radiator was replaced with the same thing and now it is really hard to see the temp gauge move (at least down here in the Texas flatlands). Thought I was the only one that had a gold plated radiator!
Good luck and safe travels!

Okrver · 10-18-2012, 05:07 PM

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I'll just keep an eye on it for now.

Dutch Star Don · 10-18-2012, 10:07 PM

Okrvr.....Mine leaked like yours for close to a year or better. I could always smell coolant, but couldn't find the leak. I thought it was the coolant tank for awhile. My tank had two plugs on the side that were for mounting in another position. They leaked for a long time.

I'm guessing your leak may stay that way for quite a while. I think the leaks are caused by the way Monaco mounted the radiator. They just set it down in a metal trough and then placed a rubber strip on the top and stacked the CAC on that. Rex from this forum found an entire rear radiator assembly that a salvage company boughtwhen Monaco went out of business. They actually bought numerous assemblies. The assembly included the radiator, CAC and metal fan shroud all assembled on a pallet.

This assembly was for an 09 coach, but fit in coaches back to at least 2005. On this newer assembly, they used rubber cups on the bottom and top of the radiator to support the radiator and keep the vibration down. The cups are similar to how they mount car radiators.

Robert T · 10-21-2012, 02:23 PM

I had a 2002 Amassador with the ISC . On the very first trip I took with this coach the radiator failed at the core. Holiday covered this under warranty. Also my 02 Amassadors had a problem with the trans coolers which would allow water to enter into the trans. There was a recall which Holiday installed an external trans cooler. I also had problems with the front brakes squeaking which Holiday had had another recall.

In 2004 I traded in the 02 for a 2004 Endeavor which also had a radiator fail due to a rock striking the core on the fan side of the core. Even with a underside rock guard on this coach a rock still struck the core. The 2002 Ambassador does not have a rock guard.
A friend of mine did a Google search on RV salvage yards and located a rock shield from an Endeavor and it was a one hour bolt on to the Ambassador.

On the Endeavor my inurance company covered the loss as a comp loss but it was less to have a radiator built vs obtaining and OEM radiator.

The new radiator is brass/steel and is design with a rock core radiator that is used in strip mines.

The tubes are twice as thick and is a three core instead of a two core. So far no problems.

phil hall · 08-18-2013, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Okrver

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I'll just keep an eye on it for now.

We have an 02 knight with exactly same problem-seam leak-upper drivers side. we just returned from Oregon and did not add additional coolant. At the expense of a new radiator system, we, too, will keep an eye on it for now.

Bobs911 · 08-20-2013, 10:10 PM

Yup. Been keeping an eye on a small leak where the core meets the tank on my Radiator Specialties aluminum radiator for 4 years. I have the lowest pressure cap I could find, it's a 4 or a 7 as I recall. It uses very little coolant, maybe a quart a year. I climb all the grades with my foot on the floor, manually downshifting to keep the rev's up if the temp starts to approach 200.
ISC 315