Thread: What radiator should I buy?

Dave,
in my 130 i was finding overheating when loaded up between Cooktown-Cairns especially the Byerstown Range...

radiator was a 4 core and okay condition but took it to Allans in cairns for a rodding, he ended up converting it from 2 pass to 4 pass while the core was being rodded, didnt cost much. Had to move oil cooler out of the side tank so it is now infront of rad. The nice thing about that is I now just have flex hoses to oil cooler rather tahn those terrible OEM ones!!! Anyway it seems to be working okay, Ill still get a temp rise when really working it but not as severe as before and cools down much quicker.

Only problem with 4 passes is a little bit of blockage will cause major restriction so maintenece cant be ignored.

An option?

Another option i looked at was to put in a county full width rad and then mount the IC in front to increase cooling capacity. Doable, but you will need to move the inlet / outler of the county rad and will need a front mount oil cooler.

anyways its starting to heat up again so will test the old girl out again this summer!

Steve

Originally Posted by jbarracl

I think you can use a multi-meter and stick one probe on the neg terminal of your battery and the other in the coolant in your radiator and check the reading. What an acceptable reading is, I dont know, you may need to check that out.

Best to just get an earth strap and connect it from your radiator to either a point on your chassis or engine just to be sure.

Maybe if you put a query in the tech section you may be able to get some info from someone with a bit more knowledge than me.

Thanks for that idea.
I have used this method before to check the brake and clutch fluid. The higher? (can't remember, have to double check) the reading on the volt meter, the more water is in the fluid so the less effective it works. use as an indicator as to when its time to change the fluid.
cheers
Dave

Gidday Steve,
have ended up going to Natrad in atherton and he will put in a 4 core (brass) and partially solder up the bypass hole for me. All up $560. I now a new one (OE) is $430 from Karcraft but Natrad will give me a 2 year warranty on the work as well.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Dave

are they alley in a fender?

I have not had the need to measure the impedance/resistance of the radiator to earth. Unless the radiator is plastic you should be able to get a good contact on a metal part of the radiator without sticking your multimeter probe into the coolant. I don't know what range you would be expecting to read if you did that. Before sticking any unnecessary earth straps onto your cooling system check with your radiator place if this is an issue they normally deal with.

Mine is copper/brass.

Originally Posted by jbarracl

Was the last radiator earthed properly ?

That can cause problems apparently with alloy radiators.

Curious why would you earth the radiator

Originally Posted by clankilpatrick

Mate, I had the right coolant at the right concentration. The green stuff at 50:50. Our water isn't that bad either. Were on a bore and its better then town water thats for sure.

This water is something I would suspect. On a poultry farm where I did some contract work, water for the chooks came from a bore. Tasted very nice to drink. Someone else in the same district was selling bottled bore water that was probably similar.

However, the first storage tanks installed for this, which were of corrugated galvanised iron apparently only lasted about 18 months before rusting out. Regarding fittings, this water even corroded brass gate valves and they had to be replaced with plastic ones.

Obviously everyone around the place was made well aware that if water was needed for a radiator, a rainwater tank was the place to get it.

This corrosive bore water would probably quickly neutralise anti corrosive additives, which normally deteriorate over time and need replacing even when good water is used.

For emergency use, it would be preferable to use dirty but most likely less corrosive water such as various forms of ground surface water.

Mick