Community Forums

wnytaxman · 12-17-2019, 10:49 AM

Our rig is in storage and I stopped to check on it a few days ago. I noticed a wet spot at the very rear of the coach on the driver's side. This is directly under the radiator. Our rig was one of the very last '18's off the line. Do the radiator issues go beyond the earlier models or do they stretch into the '18's and even '19's?

MRUSA14 · 12-17-2019, 10:53 AM

It sounds like you've got the disease. Fortunately for you, you are still under warranty. Some of us are less fortunate.

Victory Blue · 12-17-2019, 10:58 AM

You need to know your chassis build date. A 2018 could have a chassis built in late 2016 or early to mid 2017, before the November 2017 date Spartan supposedly changed vendors.

wnytaxman · 12-17-2019, 11:12 AM

I'm scheduled for my annual Spartan maintenance right before Homecoming. It would be great if it can be resolved then. I sent an e-mail to Spartan to see if my VIN is one of the "infected" ones. I'll keep you posted but I'm not overly optimistic at this point.

Ed

wnytaxman · 12-17-2019, 12:06 PM

I just heard from Spartan and their records show my rig as one with the updated radiators. They will check it out with my annual in May. In the meantime I'll watch it closely to see if there is an issue.

brobox · 12-17-2019, 07:01 PM

Ed, check the radiator hose clamps. Mine were loose a leaking on our first trip on the 14. The radiator did it's thing for me to join the club on the way home.

wnytaxman · 12-18-2019, 07:20 AM

Thanks Chuck. I'll check that out when I get over there next time. Today would not be the ideal day to go to the storage unit with more snow and some pretty solid winds.

kerrvillepil · 12-18-2019, 07:33 AM

I was at the Spartan facility in May 2019 for their class and my radiator started leaking. I knew about the problem when I purchased my 2016 Anthem in Dec 2018 and I purchased an extended warranty from NIRVC in Dallas. At first, Spartan wouldn't tell me if they had replaced the radiator or not, eventually they admitted it may be a problem and my Anthem had the original radiator...

When it failed, in Spartan's parking lot, they denied it was under warranty (I found out afterwards, it was) since I had the extended service agreement (and NIRVC went to bat for me) I was able to get it replaced with a Modine radiator
at minimal cost to me...

I now believe Spartan should have picked up the entire cost but at least I got it replaced and only spent one extra day at Spartan. If you have a 2016 - 2018 Entegra, I would recommend getting an extended service agreement from your dealer & I would buy ONLY from NIRVC. I purchased used and NIRVC treated me like I had bought a new million dollar coach, I can't say enough good things about NIRVC...

brobox · 12-18-2019, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

Thanks Chuck. I'll check that out when I get over there next time. Today would not be the ideal day to go to the storage unit with more snow and some pretty solid winds.

All my clamps were lined up with the painted on torque marks, but they were barely snug and leaking. I don't why they paint torque marks on loose fittings. A tail-tale sign is any white residue around the hose end where coolant has leaked and dried.
Sorry to hear about your weather. We finally have a cool front that moved in today. High 80's was getting old, and here it is the middle of Dec.

Rollin101 · 12-18-2019, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

You need to know your chassis build date. A 2018 could have a chassis built in late 2016 or early to mid 2017, before the November 2017 date Spartan supposedly changed vendors.

I don’t know about all chassis build dates, but the build dates for the last two of our Cornerstones chassis were within a month of MH start date.

Victory Blue · 12-18-2019, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rollin101

I don’t know about all chassis build dates, but the build dates for the last two of our Cornerstones chassis were within a month of MH start date.

That’s why I said “could have been” built. Our 17 delivered in April 2016 (the first one delivered) is on a chassis built in Oct 2015.

Gary.Jones · 12-19-2019, 06:25 AM

Kerrville

You are not the first owner who has found Spartan denies claims that it probably needs to be honoring and we are hearing from more owners that had service done in Charlotte and then either continued to have problems, or outright failures of stuff that was supposedly repaired while there. Weaseling out of warranty claims has not happened on 2 radiators for me, but has occurred on other systems, and I have been less than impressed with Spartan's recent attitude toward problems. I wonder if there is any chance that their bottom line is looking less impressive in the last couple of years than it did 8 years ago.

Those bad radiators should be warranted for the life of the coach (or ten years would be reasonable) IMHO (or one radiator replaced free (the bad ones) and upgraded to the new manufacturer, regardless of age).

Gary

Bobcombs · 12-16-2020, 04:28 PM

Gary, has anyone considered a class action suite against Spartan. I have a 2017 with big time radiator leak. NIRVC thinks that maybe Spartan will step up to the plate and pay for the replacement radiator but not the installation. After reading some of these issues with the radiator, it sounds like there have been a lot of failures out there. do you know the number of failures?

brobox · 12-16-2020, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobcombs

Gary, has anyone considered a class action suite against Spartan. I have a 2017 with big time radiator leak. NIRVC thinks that maybe Spartan will step up to the plate and pay for the replacement radiator but not the installation. After reading some of these issues with the radiator, it sounds like there have been a lot of failures out there. do you know the number of failures?

Bob, there have been many posts regarding the radiators. A year or so ago someone was doing a poll post on the number of failures to take legal action. That post was removed due to the nature. There are other posts relating to that one and maybe the poster. It would take some research, but the information is there. I have not heard if any legal action was taken. The forum owners frown on anything where they could be involved, called to testify, etc.