Wow, this burns my biscuits. Radiator rant.

[Sycostang67]

Five years ago, I bought a new radiator for my 93. I got it from O'reilly Auto parts, Ready-Rad, part number 432194. Two days ago the top tank started leaking around the seam. The radiator has a lifetime warranty so I just planned to replace it. I brought home the new unit, same part number and brand name, open it up and about throw it out the door. When I replaced this the first time, I was pretty annoyed I had to go from a 4 row to a 3 row core. The 3 row worked well though, not a single heating problem in 5 years. Apparently they redesigned it again. The unit I just brought home only has 1 row and tiny tanks. The filler cap has also been shrunk to the size you might find on an 80's import car. It's going to take forever to feed 8 gallons of coolant through a hole the size of a straw. It's not even painted, just bare aluminum...no wait, the side mounting brackets were painted. I find this infuriating, I refuse to put that abortion in my truck. I am taking it back in the morning and will have my current radiator repaired since I know it's clean, it just needs the tank resealed. I also found that the description of the unit is way off from it's actual appearance. The description says 2 row, with plastic tanks when it actually has 1 row with aluminum tanks. I find neither appealing. Am I out of line to expect a replacement of the part I bought and not some cheapened redesign that doesn't appear it will handle near, if any of the abuse of the previous version? I will have one more ordered just to make sure this wasn't misboxed, but I have little hope that is the case. I did the same thing when I got my current radiator as the computer still said 4 row when it was now a 3 row.

 

[chris142]

Could it be mis boxed? I sell tons of rads and have never seen one like you describe.

 

[icanfixall]

Sounds suspect to me because I can't see this working very well in our rigs. Aluminum is the way of the future that we have gotten into lately. I do prefer the 4 row brass radiators but they have come and gone mostly. A good aluminum with 2 rows that have turbes around 1 1/4 inches wide and 15 fins per inch of tube will cool very well. Its really a combination of fins per inch and rows of tubes that will cool. A 4 row 15 fins per inch brass radiator is wht we had oem. Too bad some bean counter felt they could save some bucks and lesson the rows and fin count to make more per core.

 

[vegas39]

I bought mine at O'reilly a year ago and its not like the new one you describe. Mine is an aluminum two row with large plastic tanks and a normal size filler cap.
Like the others said, double check to make sure you got the right one.

 

[Sycostang67]

I got another one out of Oregon and it was at least as the system described, aluminum 2 row core with plastic tanks and a normal filler neck. The other one will be returned to the manufacturer as misboxed. When the replacement for that one comes in I will check it as well just to see if they aren't doing another redesign as it did have the right mounting brackets for our trucks. While the 2 row is definitely beefier than that puny 1 row, it still worries me. Maybe I'm still just stuck in the bigger is better mentality. I'm also worried about cracking the top tank as I tend to lay on it a lot when working on the truck.

I bought mine at O'reilly a year ago and its not like the new one you describe. Mine is an aluminum two row with large plastic tanks and a normal size filler cap.
Like the others said, double check to make sure you got the right one.

So is it working ok for you then? No heating issues?

 

[chris142]

The 2r aluminum should have two 1 inch tubes per row.the 4r usually has four 1\2 tubes per row. So as you can see both have 2 inches worth of tubes. And both will transfer heat very well with the aluminum being slightly better.

 

[chris142]

And dont worry about the plastic. Almost every car and truck made in the last 20 yrs has plastic. Its designed to last 100k.

 

[Powerstrokin350]

And dont worry about the plastic. Almost every car and truck made in the last 20 yrs has plastic. Its designed to last 100k.

I don't know about 100kmiles, my '88 k1500 I had with the stupid plastic tank would end up with a swollen tank every 20K-40K miles. I replaced a few in that sucker before I got rid of it. I guess I'll stick to getting mine repaired as needed. Lucky I still have my original from when I got one off of CL, maybe I'll have that rebuilt and keep it for backup.

 

[chris142]

Im the head cheese at a radiator and ac shop here in the desert. Swelled up tanks are from too much pressure.often a bad cap,thermostat that opens too fast or a small head gasket leak. Wasit the tank thats connected to the upper or lower hose?

 

[bab029]

Not sure what the price is at oreilly's, but the champion all-aluminum radiator I have in my truck has served me well pulling a 20 ft enclosed trailer with a 28hp tractor and landscaping equipment inside. it was 250 or so I think, and very well made

 

[helidiesel]

Im the head cheese at a radiator and ac shop here in the desert. Swelled up tanks are from too much pressure.often a bad cap,thermostat that opens too fast or a small head gasket leak. Wasit the tank thats connected to the upper or lower hose?

the head cheese due to smarts... cap is the number one thing to kill a radiator ez to test and replace every 2 years

 

[Dieselcrawler]

regaurding the paint, I would not want my fins painted. that insulates them. just like painting a injection pump. will insulate it slightly. bare aluminum is better

 

[79jasper]

regaurding the paint, I would not want my fins painted. that insulates them. just like painting a injection pump. will insulate it slightly. bare aluminum is better

Definitely not trying to argue. Because I see the science behind it.
But.....
What about equipment radiators being painted? Finned heads like on motorcycles? Etc.. Oh also inter coolers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dieselcrawler]

no need for science. it is a fact. bare aluminum will disapate heat better than a painted one.

 

[79jasper]

Okay. Just wandering.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk