Time for a tally on bad radiators

[Jerry0312]

2014 Anthem 44B replaced at 35,985 August 2018. Managed to get some relief from Spartan on radiator but labor was on me.

[RayPillar]

2016 Anthem with about 36000 miles just 6 weeks our of warranty they paid for the part labor on me.

[DoggieDaddy]

Not sure how/why all these folks got help from Entegra and/or Spartan with the radiator but we didn't. They told us we were on our own claimed we were out of warranty. We took ownership of our '14 in November 2013 one of the first 44Bs off the line. A mistake. Radiator started leaking October 2017 at a little over 20,000 miles.

Here's what it cost us in November 2017

$1735 for radiator shipped from Spartan to Alabama
$1965 for labor to replace radiator at Foley Auto, Foley, AL
--------
$3700 Total

[Victory Blue]

Originally Posted by DoggieDaddy

Not sure how/why all these folks got help from Entegra and/or Spartan with the radiator but we didn't. They told us we were on our own claimed we were out of warranty. We took ownership of our '14 in November 2013 one of the first 44Bs off the line. A mistake. Radiator started leaking October 2017 at a little over 20,000 miles.

Here's what it cost us in November 2017

$1735 for radiator shipped from Spartan to Alabama
$1965 for labor to replace radiator at Foley Auto, Foley, AL
--------
$3700 Total

We were still well within our 3 year warranty when our radiator started leaking. Your warranty would have run out in late 2016 based on the dates you posted. I believe Spartan should have helped you out in light of what was/is a systemic problem that to my knowledge they still haven't owned up to.

[Johnontheroad]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

.... The Cornerstones tended to be unique. ......
Gary

Just for completeness, our friends 2015 Cornerstone received a new radiator in 2018, covered under warranty.

[DoggieDaddy]

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

We were still well within our 3 year warranty when our radiator started leaking. Your warranty would have run out in late 2016 based on the dates you posted. I believe Spartan should have helped you out in light of what was/is a systemic problem that to my knowledge they still haven't owned up to.

And we did ask for some relief because of all the bad radiators at the time. We were told that they did not want to get into replacing radiators out of warranty. Entegra did not want to get involved either.

[bobcor]

First radiator replaced April 2013 on 2013 Anthem with 6500 miles. Second replaced 2016. Third replaced 2017 with 28000 miles.

[Will travel]

Sadly the ,Number one reason not to buy a new Diesel Coach .
We don’t hear of New cars and trucks having Radiator problems anymore.
So why is this a problem now with newer Diesel Coaches.
Older Diesel Coaches didn’t seam too have these problems.
Feel bad for peoples RV dreams going badly.

[MRUSA14]

Originally Posted by Will travel

Sadly the ,Number one reason not to buy a new Diesel Coach ......
Older Diesel Coaches didn’t seam too have these problems.

Not so. My 2003 Beaver purchased new in 2003 also needed a new radiator within the first 5 years.

[Victory Blue]

Originally Posted by Will travel

Sadly the ,Number one reason not to buy a new Diesel Coach .
We don’t hear of New cars and trucks having Radiator problems anymore.
So why is this a problem now with newer Diesel Coaches.
Older Diesel Coaches didn’t seam too have these problems.
Feel bad for peoples RV dreams going badly.

You’re not drawing a valid conclusion. Spartan, the chassis builder, chose an OEM making a substandard product; this can happen on any type of RV and is likely much more prevalent at the lower end of the RV price range. The failure rate wasn’t 100% (or even close) and the problem has since been rectified.

Far and away the number one reason people don’t buy DPs is the price. Whatever’s in second place is a very distant second.

[uncnavy2000]

2016 King Aire, radiator replaced 2017 at 13k miles

[kerrvillepil]

2016 Entegra Anthem 44B; 21,000 miles; replaced at Spartan in May 2019. Spartan claimed it wasn't under warranty and wouldn't cover the costs. Luckily I had extended service warranty from NIRVC and they paid almost $6K.

[brobox]

Originally Posted by Will travel

Sadly the ,Number one reason not to buy a new Diesel Coach .
We don’t hear of New cars and trucks having Radiator problems anymore.
So why is this a problem now with newer Diesel Coaches.
Older Diesel Coaches didn’t seam too have these problems.
Feel bad for peoples RV dreams going badly.

An internet friend lost his radiator in 2005 or 2006 on his Country Coach in Alaska. The repair in Alaska was $11,000. with freight etc. It happen back then too.

[Gary.Jones]

Well, the RV industry has done an excellent job of “selling” the idea that after a lifetime of hard work, just buy a motorcoach and spend the last years of your life riding around in one of these wonderful machines in a carefree existence. Part of that is true, and all of us have bought into this concept. What the RV industry does not dwell on is is that these beasts cost an arm and a leg to maintain and use. As DebbieMH’s recent thread made clear, these things are not cheap to buy, or worse, to own and maintain. The RV industry does not dwell on that.

As Bill said, the problem with radiators was that someone at Spartan made a bad decision on a manufacturer of radiators it installed. Spartan has done a good job in eating the cost of that mistake for 3 years, but now seems to want to duck out of responsibility for that bad decision at the end of their warranty period. I understand that, but in my opinion, the responsibility for that decision should continue for the reasonable lifetime of a good radiator. Obviously, this problem screws the owner whose radiator lasted 4 years. This is the same situation as AquaHot which included junk low quality pump motors. Luckily most of those pumps were SO BAD that most Of them failed quickly.

Gary