'79 classic MH needing water pump... DIY project???

[djurgensen]

Originally Posted by 3Ms75Argosy

Besides, a 30 yr radiator is about due anyway.
sorry!
Marc

Well...... I've got a 50 year old radiator on my 1958 M/B 190SL that is as good as the day it was built. Darn!!! This time I will take the A/C coils off and pull the rad up and out the front. Can probably do it in my sleep.(nightmare)

I would have been much better served to simply take the A/C coils loose and out of the way. That is what did all of the scraping.

Bill, at what point did you take the shroud off? Do you remember? Before or after you pulled the radiator.

dick

[Mike Leary]

Originally Posted by djurgensen

Before or after you pulled the radiator.

My AS book says:
1) Remove engine oil cooler.
2) Remove air conditioner condenser.
3) Remove sheet metal splash panels.
4) Remove radiator.
5) Remove radiator support frame.
6) Remove radiator shroud.

Bear in mind, this is to remove the gas engine, so some things may not be
needed to just pull the radiator.

[345bill]

Originally Posted by djurgensen

Well...... I've got a 50 year old radiator on my 1958 M/B 190SL that is as good as the day it was built. Darn!!! This time I will take the A/C coils off and pull the rad up and out the front. Can probably do it in my sleep.(nightmare)

I would have been much better served to simply take the A/C coils loose and out of the way. That is what did all of the scraping.

Bill, at what point did you take the shroud off? Do you remember? Before or after you pulled the radiator.

dick

dick- i pulled the shroud off first. There should be two bolts, 1 on each top corner, when you have them removed the schroud should be loose enough to lift up and out of the bottom supports. At this point you should be able to push entire schroud back towards engine.
Your probably aware of those radiator support bolts at 3 & 9 o'clock that you can either see or feel but not at the same time.
After lifting the top support out your correct in thinking the rad. can then be pulled up and out. If I remember I left the bottom support in place.

My A/C was already discharged so it wasn't a problem removing the coils.
I think though that if yours is charged any A/C shop can "capture" the gas then when you want to charge it back up it shouldn't cost as much. Not really sure of this though.

[345bill]

Originally Posted by Mike Leary

I prolly would have had the same problem had not a AS dealer that was going
out of business given me the factory manual. Whew!

Hey Mike- I dont mean to change topic here but does your factory manual possibly show where the Onan's electric fuel pump gets its 12V. supply from ? I've posted a thread, in the Classic MH section, asking for help if you can reply. Thanks

[Mike Leary]

Originally Posted by 345bill

Hey Mike- I dont mean to change topic here but does your factory manual possibly show where the Onan's electric fuel pump gets its 12V. supply from ? I've posted a thread, in the Classic MH section, asking for help if you can reply. Thanks

I'll look; have you not heard the fuel pump powering-up?

[djurgensen]

Originally Posted by 345bill

dick- i pulled the shroud off first. There should be two bolts, 1 on each top corner, when you have them removed the schroud should be loose enough to lift up and out of the bottom supports. At this point you should be able to push entire schroud back towards engine.

The rad came off in about 2 hours. Getting the coils out of the way was simply huge. I don't know how you could do it otherwise unless you had a lift and could unbolt the shroud and drop straight down.

Anyhooo, I will take it to the radiator shop and get their opinion. The shroud coming off was awfully difficult... but yes, you have to be able to detach and push it toward the engine to create the space to pull rad up and out the front. Makes me start looking for all sorts of stubby wratcheting wrenches (new toys) that allow me into (and out of) very tight spaces.

Thanks guys....

dick

[djurgensen]

Originally Posted by 345bill

Dick- Mark couldn't of said it any better. As far as I could tell mine was original so while I had it out I took it to the local radiator shop and he installed a brand new core, Made In USA, for $375.86. It wasn't leaking but he did point out some weak spots. According to my temp. guage it now runs almost 10 degree's cooler which is humungus, especially living here in the desert.

Bill... I was thinking that you got your radiator core thru NAPA based on an early post. No? I took my radiator to a local well-regarded fella who wanted $1100 (eleven hundred dollars... say again!!! ... one thousand, one hundred dollars) for a new core attached to the support frame. Yikes!

I looked on ebay and found that radiator cores for Chevy P/U trucks are in the couple hundred dollar range. I think that mine is maybe a 1979 one ton Chevy chassis. Your thoughts?

dick

[345bill]

Originally Posted by djurgensen

Bill... I was thinking that you got your radiator core thru NAPA based on an early post. No? I took my radiator to a local well-regarded fella who wanted $1100 (eleven hundred dollars... say again!!! ... one thousand, one hundred dollars) for a new core attached to the support frame. Yikes!

I looked on ebay and found that radiator cores for Chevy P/U trucks are in the couple hundred dollar range. I think that mine is maybe a 1979 one ton Chevy chassis. Your thoughts?

dick

dick- yes NAPA had everything in stock but I didn't know they even handle radiators so I took my rad. to a local shop that does nothing except radiators. When they re-core one I dont think it matters much to them what it came off of as they use existing water tank, exc. I'm sure mine was right under $400, new and made in USA. I've read some horror stories on these forums where others went for the rad.'s made overseas and had failures within 2 yrs. so the money saved ended up costing them extra in long run. Yikes is putting it mildly for $1100 though, no matter how many cores yours has. Maybe that price included removing and installing?? Do you have option of other estimates in your area?
Really not sure if ours are MH specific but be sure the top and bottom hose positions, water filler neck, tranny oil lines & if yours has engine oil cooling lines are all in correct locations if you go with standard chevy truck.

[djurgensen]

I am going to have to find other options locally. No the price did not include reinstalling the rad. I can do that just fine myself given the "expertise" I have developed over the past few weeks. I've learned exactly what not to do so far. Turn that around and.... bingo! Success.

What exactly is the core? When I look at the radiator cores on ebay, they seem to be the entire radiator including the top and bottom "tanks" but minus the support frame... something you simply bolt back in after mounting/shimming it into the support frame.

Can I find out easily what my chassis type is somewhere? I found an identical '79 24' AS MoHo on the internet for sale that claimied to have a P-30 Motorhome chassis, whatever that is.

dick

[djurgensen]

Found a Radiator Core FAQ website that explained that the core is the portion of the radiator between the top and bottom tanks that contains the "fins" that do the actual cooling. It is braised(sp?)to the top/bottom tanks and can be replaced if/when the radiator is "recored".

My radiator guy has flushed/pressure tested my radiator and has said that it can be fixed without recoring... at a reasonable fee. Sounds more reasonable.

We shall see what we shall see.

dick

[bkahler]

Dick,

From everything I've read the MH radiators on the P30 chassis were different than any of the other radiators used. Just before we sold our 83 Winnebago Motorhome I had the radiator re cored and the cost was around $400 with me doing all of the remove/install labor.

I'm getting ready to re core the radiator in our 74 Argosy MH and I'm hoping the cost will be $400 or less.

Keep us posted as to your progress.

Brad

[djurgensen]

Well the fun keeps on coming and coming. I got the radiator back in w/o a whole lot of trouble, thanks to my new stubby, flex, wratcheting SAE wrenches..... much much better idea for working in tight places (like around the shroud). After some tightening of hoses... and more tightening of hoses... it finally stopped leaking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Buddha!

Then I noticed that my tranie lines were leaking badly where they attached to/under the side of the oil pan. I had wrenched off the fittings/ends that bolt to the radiator when removing the lines (old, rusty, siezed up) and replaced 8-12" of the ends with some flexible brake hose lines and new fittings. Now I realize that more rusty, brittle line has been compromised... and need probably entire new lines from trannie to radiator.

The fun keeps coming!!! Any advise from the peanut gallery???

BTW I love my new wrenches!!!!

dick

[pwhittle]

I replaced one of my lines with a $9 pre-made steel pipe with flares and nuts on each end from Advance Auto. My bends were not as pretty as the originals, but I was pleased with the price.

Paul

[djurgensen]

Paul:

I was able to piece back together the transmission to radiator lines using a combination of storebought 5/16" steel lines with the correct flare&fittings... and some 5/16"ID flexible transmission coolant lines and hose clamps.


Instead of replacing the entire lines from scratch, I was able to reuse the aft sections (about 2') of each hard line that connect to the trannie (still in good shape/not eaten up with rust) and fabricated the forward pieces using steel tubing that I bent to approximate shape and tied together with flexible coolant lines.

The new lines are not quite as stiff as the OEM lines but they are pretty darn stiff and I am not concerned about a lot of flapping around at 60MPH.

dick jurgensen

[vox]

Here is the page with the engine cover from the 79 service manual

[djurgensen]

Originally Posted by vox

Here is the page with the engine cover from the 79 service manual

Thanks VOX for the pic and the info. Great help. I finally got that cover off and access to the engine and hoses/radiator/alternator/ thermostat is much, much improved.

Dick