Older MH owners, please read...

[AuburnJen92]

I thought I would share my experiences over the past month in hopes that you will not have the same dilemmas I have had. We have a 1994 Monaco that we absolutely adore. However, it is almost 14 years old. On our trip to Disney this summer, the radiator let go in the overflow parking lot of FW and thank goodness we only live 1 hr 45 min away from WDW, or I think I would have had to take out a loan. Once we got on the phone with our mechanic and he gave us instructions on how to get the MH home without much incident, I had the daunting task of finding someone to take the thing out so I could get it fixed. >3< mobile RV repair guys laughed at me after they showed up at my house. This was quite infuriating because I explained everything to them and they just went on the "sure, no problem premise." To make a long story short here, I eventually got it to the radiator shop that would work on the coach and discovered some pretty interesting things. (He is the only guy in three counties that will work on RV radiators, so please do your homework and find someone that is willing to work on coaches before something happens.) I was told that RV manufacturers make contracts with radiator type people for the model year, and then may or may not go with them the next year, as the guys might be out of business. This makes it very hard to find a radiator when yours gets to the point where the core has failed because of age and the weather conditions in Florida. I, thankfully, had a radiator guy who could save all the parts excluding the core. The core had to be custom made and it was costly. Another thing to ponder is the time it takes to get one of these behemoths out of the coach! (that was a third of the bill, labor) I would recommend anyone with an older coach that is in harsh weather conditions, like we have here in Florida, to really keep an eye out on the radiator core when you get your coach serviced. An ounce of prevention will always pay off. We also got the air cooler for the turbo charger redone as a preventative measure. I am grateful that we did get to spend our week in Disney and that we made it home safely with the water in the radiator tank holding the temps steady for our very slow ride home. DH and I learned a bunch about coach radiators and air coolers for the turbochargers. Personally, I have always been a gas engine tomboy, but this was good knowledge to learn and I thought I would pass it on to my fellow Dis'ers. Good luck and remember, be proactive!