What size pet-rooster for Spectra 1165?

[MtnHaul]

Howdy. I just installed a Spectra 1165 plastic/aluminum radiator and noticed that to the left of the lower rad hose connection is a small hole with a metal plug approx. 1/2" diameter threaded into it. What is this plug for? Sorry if this question is stoopid but this is the first radiator I have installed. I hope it is another drain point where I can install a petc**k--if so, does anyone know what size/threads it uses? I couldn't find any info on Spectra's site.

 

[79jasper]

Only one? I would've guessed a trans cooler port.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[MtnHaul]

It has two other ports which I assume are for the trans cooler.

 

[Andertusa]

Whar are you getting at with your title for this thread? That there are often petcocks in a cooling system? That's not funny, it's a petcock, not a 'pet ****'

 

[MtnHaul]

@Andertusa--sorry if my sense of humor was misplaced but it was late at night and nearly every post I found on the subject of petcocks involved some level of word-play--just some silly humor. Some things are too serious not to laugh at while others are so funny I have to take them seriously. And I'm sorry if the rest of my post was unclear--I thought it was crystal clear myself.

 

[icanfixall]

When you say lower left side. Are you referring to the passenger side? If so that is a 1/2 inch pipe thread size plug. Thats for the auto trans bypass for the return coolant from the heater. On most all Auto trans equipped trucks they had a coolant bypass from the heater returns so some of the coolant was redirected down there to help speed up the trans atf warmup. I do not feel this bypass did anything useful. The brass fitting that screws into this port is drilled very much smaller than normal 1/2 pipe diameter. Its about 1/8 inch in size. So very little coolant flowed thru it to warm up the trans fluid. These are about as useful as our fuel heaters. The factory explained we needed to turn on the ignition to the first point and leave it there for somewhere around 7 minutes before a cold start... Yeah.. We always do this... Plus the heater is on TOP of the fuel.. Not the bottom like is found on a psd fuel filter. Adding heat to the top never allows the heat to do anything really. Think about a pan on the stove. The heat is on the bottom.

 

[OLDBULL8]

Is this the one? The outer holes, if they are holes are for the trans. lines oil cooler lines. Have no idea what that brass plug is for, but these radiators fit many different Vehicles.

You can put a hose on one of the two spouts blow thru it, if air comes out the other side then they are for trans oil cooler lines.

http://www.autozone.com/catalog/com...itional-prod-images/en/US/adi/C1165/4/image/]

Edit: the brass plugs may be for the same thing, there to screw a fitting in.

Edit #2 Brass plugs could be for power steering oil cooler circulation.

Edit #3 Those plugs may be for a PETCOCK. If so they are probably for 1/4" NPT.

 

[Andertusa]

@Andertusa--sorry if my sense of humor was misplaced but it was late at night and nearly every post I found on the subject of petcocks involved some level of word-play--just some silly humor. Some things are too serious not to laugh at while others are so funny I have to take them seriously. And I'm sorry if the rest of my post was unclear--I thought it was crystal clear myself.

I understod the humor and the context of your post, but I just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page, because I looked at that title and was "what the hell does this have to do with anything?" only to open the thread and see where you were going. Sorry if that seemed ****-ish.

 

[IDIoit]

pet roosters make great target practice.

 

[Andertusa]

pet roosters make great target practice.

 

[ironworker40]

When you say lower left side. Are you referring to the passenger side? If so that is a 1/2 inch pipe thread size plug. Thats for the auto trans bypass for the return coolant from the heater. On most all Auto trans equipped trucks they had a coolant bypass from the heater returns so some of the coolant was redirected down there to help speed up the trans atf warmup. I do not feel this bypass did anything useful. The brass fitting that screws into this port is drilled very much smaller than normal 1/2 pipe diameter. Its about 1/8 inch in size. So very little coolant flowed thru it to warm up the trans fluid. These are about as useful as our fuel heaters. The factory explained we needed to turn on the ignition to the first point and leave it there for somewhere around 7 minutes before a cold start... Yeah.. We always do this... Plus the heater is on TOP of the fuel.. Not the bottom like is found on a psd fuel filter. Adding heat to the top never allows the heat to do anything really. Think about a pan on the stove. The heat is on the bottom.

I worked on a 94 factory turbo that had the coolant line you speak of. I couldn't figure why they would do that. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[larson]

pet roosters make great target practice.

Lol I got kicked out of my folks house for shooting their rooster . Many yrs ago damn how time flies by. I wouldn't change a thing I'd still blow that thing away.

 

[MtnHaul]

Thanks icanfixall--I should have been a tad more specific. If you are looking at the side of the radiator that faces the engine there is, starting from the left, the small plugged hole I asked about, the lower rad hose, two brass fittings that must be for the trans cooler, and lastly the approx. 1 inch diameter black plastic drain plug. The reason I asked about this drain plug is that my old radiator had a small petcock installed on the far left(if oriented as I mentioned earlier) and I found it very helpful for draining a small amount of coolant so that changing my coolant filter wouldn't be an unholy mess and I was able to reuse any drained coolant. With the current setup I will not be able to reuse any drained coolant as it will first hit the bottom of the rad support and be too dirty to reintroduce into the system. I hate wasting toxic and costly fluids like Fleetcharge.

 

[larson]

I'm assuming this plastic drain plug is threaded in in some form or fashion. You can always back out the plug and thread in something that you can open and close like a petcock. At that point you can slip a hose of some kind and run the hose to a clean container to catch a save your fluid.
Just make sure what ever you modify the rad drain with is able to hold at operating temps and pressures.

 

[MtnHaul]

Thanks for all the responses. I know I asked a pretty basic question but I was nervous about compromising the integrity of my cooling system. As usual Oilburners comes through.