Coolant Leak or Coolant Drip?

[DSL417]

Went back through two years of Spartan Chassis posts. One very short thread two years ago. One person had a leak at the radiator cap. Obviously not all 450SL engine derivative, but I think hawgguy's questions are the type I'd be asking.

[voltdoc]

Originally Posted by DSL417

So what is the experience on other brands. I would think that a Mountain Master chassis is for the most part a Mountain Master chassis, especially with the 450SL engine. There are a lot of them out there. While no problems would be best, and we don't see all of Entegras on this forum, with 1600 Aspires and Anthems on the road, 10 leaking radiators would represent 0.625% failure rate (or third standard deviation of successful radiators with no problems). OTOH, not sure the margin on the chassis would allow for much more in terms of failures before they would be forced to find the cause of the issues. It also raises the question of what is different over the years. This chassis dates back into the late 1990s from what I understand and has been very durable. JMHO

My personal sense is there are a lot more than 10, I have had two myself within a one year period. I also suspect it is only a anthem/aspire (mountain master) issue. I too would be very curious to know if this issue is specific to Spartan or is happening on other brands with ISL engines.

[Bill in FL]

I had a leak last summer that I did not post. It was a weld joint that Spartan authorized to be repaired by rewelding. It was a pinhole type of leak and I caught it early. They sent me to a shop in Rockford, IL that did a great job in less than a day of repair work. No radiator issues since the repair.

[brobox]

Originally Posted by hawgguy

Who makes the radiators that have leaked, and has there been a change in supplier?

I asked the same question. Ten years on a Travel Supreme forum, all of us with MM chassis and never heard of a radiator leak. JMHO but I believe they are not the same radiators as before.

[Car1]

It looks to me like Spartan has gone from a steel/copper core radiator to an aluminum one. Members of the forum that own or owned a late model Country Coach should be familiar with the issues with an aluminum radiator. I do not think an aluminum radiator likes any kind of a twist.

[oceanmoho]

Originally Posted by voltdoc

My personal sense is there are a lot more than 10, I have had two myself within a one year period. I also suspect it is only a anthem/aspire (mountain master) issue. I too would be very curious to know if this issue is specific to Spartan or is happening on other brands with ISL engines.

I hate to add to the pile! My 2015 Cornerstone had the same sequence of events. The sight glass broke...........3 gallons down............replaced the sight glass with the new flat style...........discovered leak by puddle.............brought it to Cummins N'West.........they took photos needed by Spartan...........shipped and replaced rad!
My question is why Spartan, knowing there is a problem that is occurring, is taking any of us to task on that same problem.

[rbr]

Just heard from Spartan - after inspection by the Cummins shop they're shipping a new radiator. Asked if it was same design/manufacture as the one in the coach - "yes". Did not authorize thermostat replacement.

[rbr]

Well, my radiator story gets even crazier...

The Cummins Bridgeway shop that I'm using here in Cincinnati advised Spartan that a new radiator was needed on Tuesday and Spartan did an excellent job of getting a new cooling package (radiator, CAC and enclosing frame) here very quickly so that the shop was able to start replacement on Thursday. Spartan was also very professional in communication with me, calling me on Tuesday afternoon to give me a full update on what they were doing.

I went by the shop this morning to check on progress and see the old radiator. They had removed the new radiator from the "Cooling Package" and installed it and the new bottom frame piece in the coach and were just finishing up reinstalling the decorative cover around the bottom of the frame. All that remained was to get it down off the lift, reinstall the coolant and do final checks and pressure test again.

Just got a call from the shop that the new radiator is leaking in roughly the same place as the first one!! So, I guess our coach will have it's third radiator in just 2,500-miles and four weeks of ownership.

Edit: once again professional response by Spartan - just called to say they had the third radiator ready to go out for delivery on Tuesday. That's really all I can ask of them at this point other than to find and eliminate the root cause of these failures for the long term.

[brobox]

Ron, great report and thank you. I have also had great response to problems from Spartan. But like you three failures in a row from suppliers....come on! JMO, but it is starting to get a little nuts from suppliers! My replacements took six months (supplier denying fault) which is insane.

[hogdriver]

Man, you guys are spooking me about these radiator leaks!

[wmpbauer]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.....good for the first 20K miles.


Wmpbauer

[voltdoc]

Originally Posted by rbr

Well, my radiator story gets even crazier...

The Cummins Bridgeway shop that I'm using here in Cincinnati advised Spartan that a new radiator was needed on Tuesday and Spartan did an excellent job of getting a new cooling package (radiator, CAC and enclosing frame) here very quickly so that the shop was able to start replacement on Thursday. Spartan was also very professional in communication with me, calling me on Tuesday afternoon to give me a full update on what they were doing.

I went by the shop this morning to check on progress and see the old radiator. They had removed the new radiator from the "Cooling Package" and installed it and the new bottom frame piece in the coach and were just finishing up reinstalling the decorative cover around the bottom of the frame. All that remained was to get it down off the lift, reinstall the coolant and do final checks and pressure test again.

Just got a call from the shop that the new radiator is leaking in roughly the same place as the first one!! So, I guess our coach will have it's third radiator in just 2,500-miles and four weeks of ownership.

Edit: once again professional response by Spartan - just called to say they had the third radiator ready to go out for delivery on Tuesday. That's really all I can ask of them at this point other than to find and eliminate the root cause of these failures for the long term.

Wow, you got me beat, it took 15k miles to get to my third one which is on the truck now and due here in Tampa on Monday, it shipped Wed. Will not be surprised if this one fails early as well, but a DOA? Something really stinks here. If not done already, I think Joyce will want to know about your situation too.

[rbr]

Originally Posted by voltdoc

Something really stinks here. If not done already, I think Joyce will want to know about your situation too.

Yep - there's a significant supplier failure somewhere in the design/manufacture/QC consistency chain for these radiators.

I did call Entegra CS yesterday to give them an update on the situation - said I didn't need them to intervene for the short term because Spartan and Cummins Bridgeway are both being very responsive and professional around my immediate issues/needs, but I wanted them to know about the issue from a broader/longer term perspective. Mentioned that posts here are indicating it's a bigger problem than just mine.

[Mwoodofd]

Originally Posted by wmpbauer

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.....good for the first 20K miles.


Wmpbauer

Same here. (20K miles on my Aspire) Maybe our model year is good, or different. Keeping an eye on all this.