Replacement coolant reservoir

[Penmaenmawr]

I had looked for a suitable replacement coolant overflow/recovery tank for the 345 for quite a while, and was sent one supposedly suitable one, by a well known Airstream supplier, which was tiny and I turned out to be paying $70 plus shipping for what I could have bought for about one sixth that price elsewhere! Anyway, I thought I'd share with other P30-based MH owners that there is a very suitable one for not a lot of money, it is the Dorman 603-100 tank.

Dorman 603-100 Coolant Reservoir Bottle : Amazon.com : Automotive

Very similar volume to the OEM, same heavy plastic, and the original cap is a nice tight snap fit in this container. Only mods are #1. blank off the lower tube (I used a short piece of 1/2" coolant hose, a sawn-off (unthreaded portion) of a 1/2" diameter bolt, and 2 hose clips (see picture below) and mod #2. slot the driver-side mounting hole by about 1/4" towards the passenger side and drill a new 3/8" hole on the passenger side..... the mounting bracket on the MH is on 6" or 153mm centers. It's a snug fit, but with clearance to all components and body..... could have been made to fit in the space.

[kidjedi]

Is it safe to assume the lower port on the Dorman 630-100 could have been used as the coolant return instead of the return line on the original cap (so the return doesn't need to be "sucked up" through an additional tube inside the reservoir)?

My reservoir just crumbled into a billion pieces, so I'm getting ready to replace it.

[bobmiller1]

It’s been interesting that the well known Airstream supplier that you are referring to shows the original coolant reservoir but sends you the $6.99 reservoir that you could buy at Advanced Auto. Regards, Bob

[kidjedi]

Originally Posted by bobmiller1

It’s been interesting that the well known Airstream supplier that you are referring to shows the original coolant reservoir but sends you the $6.99 reservoir that you could buy at Advanced Auto. Regards, Bob

Is there really any reason to be so cryptic? Why not just say which supplier you're talking about so others can be aware of the potential issues? Isn't that the point of these forums? Is someone from this mysterious and sinister Airstream supplier going to come after you?

The Dorman 630-100 in the original post is $17.99 at AutoZone, and I'd still really like to know if I can use that bottom port instead of the "uptake hose" to the cap from the original. It seems like letting the reservoir "drain" makes more sense than pulling it up through a hose in the tank (that could fail or fall off) and sending it out from the cap.