Well this was unexpected.

Joined
Jun 5, 2003
Messages
27,887
Location
Apple Valley, California
Got a nearly brand new dump truck where I work. Driver was heading out to do a job and smelled coolant so he brought it back to the yard.

I found a split tube in the radiator so I had to tear it down to get the radiator out. Truck has 23000 miles!

Technically still under factory warranty but Peterbilt said that it would be 2 weeks before they could touch it. So in order to get it back on the road faster I pulled it out and took it to a radiator shop.

I have never done one this big. Not as bad as it looks plus I have access to a forklift.

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Plastic/composite radiator and intercooler connections seem to be a weak link on a lot of vehicles since they started using them. The heat up, heat down cycling eventually takes it's toll on the plastic.
 
the "plastic" end tanks are prolly big $$$$$ savers + like everything today lower cost trumps higher quality!!!
 
It replaced a perfectly good truck that the state outlawed due to age.
"the state" is whackadoodle.

As far as the truck is concerned, sounds like it's time to order a new radiator, install, and send the bill to Peterbilt.
 
Had to get a replacement radiator from another supplier. Got most of it put back together. I didn't feel like lifting 5 gallons of coolant up to the bottle by hand so I used a forklift and a siphon hose instead.

Btw I did clean the inside of the bucket. Just left the outside dirty. Thing holds about 15 gallons of coolant.
 

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Calling Peterbilt lol.. any time you say Peterbilt, caterpiller or John Deere the price is automatically 4x what it should be.
Depends on the parts. I worked with John Deere for 12 years. The common stuff like bearings, belts, filters, etc. they were competitive on prices. The "captive" parts were where they jabbed you in the back side.
 
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