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radiator support rust issue
I have found a problem that looks real bad, but not sure if it looks worse then it is. The large metal support that the radiator and Charge Air Cooler (CAC) rest on is very rusty. To the point where large chucks of rust are flaking off. Looks like the metal is actually delaminating. I tried taking pictures, but they did not turn out with enough detail to really show the extent of the problem. So I have a few questions.
1. Has anyone replaced this part?
2. Can the CAC be removed off of the front of the radiator to gain access to the mount? The CAC hangs down and makes the mount very hard to get to. If I remove the CAC I think I could access the part of the mount that looks the worse and maybe clean it up and not have to to replace it????
3. How hard is it to remove the entire radiator and CAC?
4. The radiator support from prevost is $275. Not sure if it is actually available of if there would be a wait time to get one.
I am not even sure I should attempt this project, but I would hate to see what prevost would charge to fix it.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
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4 Replies
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Sounds like something we should all check.
My CAC is sitting on top of the radiator. I’m surprised mine would be any different.
I haven’t looked at the mount but would assume it’s pretty heavy gauge steel. If so, a bit of flaking may not be something that will lead to failure. If it can be salvaged I’d clean it good and apply POR-15. If you have to remove the radiator and CAC to do any repair, then it may make sense to just replace it. My guess is that the radiator and CAC can be removed through the side door after removing the plastic shround. If not, it would seem to me to be a big job having to remove the fan, transfer case (or whatever it’s called), and dash air compressor.
Best of luck,
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Andre, How serious this is will not be known without some detailed inspection, but when I was in Prevost a couple of years ago they had a 2001 or 2002 in there for replacement of that entire section of “floor”.
The repair work was extensive and involved a lot of cutting with a torch and then a lot of welding to replace the parts that had been removed. If there is any way for you to determine the extent of the problem, and with luck determine the damage does not rise to the level of requiring a complete replacement you could probably mitigate the progression using the various rust converters sold to folks who restore old cars.
If you ever have a reason to pull the radiator that is when a plan for remediation needs to be put into effect. On my 87 when I had the radiator recored I worked in that area for two days with a pneumatic descaler, some grinding discs and sanding before refinishing the area. It intially looked bad, but it turned out the steel was pretty thick and once I got the surface rust and scale off of it and refinished the area with gray paint it held up pretty well considering we subjected the coach to the salt and crud of the snow belt road treatments.
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Good post Andre, mine has some rust in that spot also, although it doesn’t appear to need anything more than a good clean up and some rust protection as Jon suggested. I think every one I’ve owned has had some rust on the mount.
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Thanks everyone for the comments. As of right now, I am leaning towards removing just enough hardware that is in the way to gain access to as much of the mount as I can. Then cleaning it up as much as I can then sealing it. I think I can get the CAC off and leave the radiator in place. Will start working on it this afteernoon and will take some pictures as I go. I am not in a postion where the bus can be down for more then a few days.
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