Thread: Aluminium Radiators - are they good or prone to failure?

Originally Posted by GrahamH

It was this one (yes, yes, on fleaBay) that took my attention initially:

Attachment 189391

If I do go with this, and I'm still undecided, I'd be inclined to buy it from ASI themselves rather than one of the resellers because I would expect it would be easier to handle any warranty issues. I'd be pressure testing it before I put it in even though the description says they're all pressure tested after manufacture.

Just went back through my receipts to check, That is the exact radiator I bought ASI.Pro. 4 core. Also did a search for ASI performance radiators, nothing came up but fleabay sellers.
So I guess they are all made in china, sold under different brand names in Australia. Who knows.

The best radiator my D1 had (and mine was making 300kw with a 5.0 stroker kit, Supercharger and Haltech injection) was the factory unit.

Tried alternative radiators, tried electric fans… nothing could keep the engine in check temp wise as well as the factory radiator and factory viscous fan.

II bought a 2005 WRX STI new and within the 3 years warranty the connection where the aluminium core was clinched to the plastic tank a leak appeared.
Unsurprisingly it was right under the inlet hose where the clinching tool could not access the tangs and clinch them over.
Subaru replaced the radiator under warranty and 12 years later I sold the car and it was still functioning perfectly with 217000 klm on it.
Original radiator, not good, but replacement was perfect.
During this same period I also owned an EG Honda Civic which I bought two years old in 1997.
It’s aluminium/plastic radiator started leaking between the core and the plastic head in about 2010 and was about $1300 to replace from Honda.
I bought an aluminium replacement from a company in Melbourne for $130 delivered to Sydney. I have no doubt it was a cheap import, but the welding did look very good.
That radiator was still in the car when it met an untimely demise in 2020 with 362000 klm on it. There was no electrical bond between the radiator and anything else in the engine bay.

It all comes down to “quality”.

If the radiator in the RRC that I am restoring fails, I will likely replace it with an all aluminium one.

As an aside, I have worked for an Australian company for many years and we had equipment manufactured in China where I visited on a semi regular basis, and provided we kept an eye on quality, the products we imported were first class. However, let your guard down and things could turn sour quickly.

Regards
Phil

Well I've taken a chance and bought an aluminium radiator - the ASI PRO one I posted about above.

It's arrived and the build quality looks good - the welding is by hand but it's very consistent and the welds are all even and clean. I've tried it in the car and the mounting spigots seem to be in the right places and it certainly fits.

It'll be a few more weeks before I can say any more about it as it's going to be 3~4 weeks before the car is running again. Unfortunately the top-end rebuild has not stopped with the top end. I have the new cam shaft + bearings, and lifters, and oil pump gears, but the block and heads need to be skimmed and surface ground - they're not bad but they're not good enough, for my and Neil's standards, to put back together. And it needs a full set of new valves.

And then we've also now taken the pistons and crankshaft out. The crankshaft front main bearing journal is slightly scored, and is probably beyond linishing, so it'll probably mean a crank grind, and all the shells are worn thru the white metal so there's a full set of shells to buy. The flywheel is a little scored and needs to be refaced, and it needs a new clutch.

On the positive side, the pistons and bores are beautiful. The original hone marks are still plain to see, and the pistons are only slightly polished on bottom of the skirt on the power stroke side - I think that's quite remarkable for an engine that has done damn near 400,000Km. They should only need a set of rings (which are definitely EoL). So I'm happy that it's worth spending the money on doing it up, and ... I love the car. The manual V8 is a true joy to drive!

So the block and crank are off to Southcotts next week for the machining and I need to find a bunch of parts (good quality at reasonable prices), so it will be a while before it's back together and running again. I'll keep you posted on progress (maybe I should start a new thread). It should be a job that will be up to the standards of Christian and Vera!

Good luck! So many negative reports on the ASI units.

Split cores, one Jaguar guy had 4 units in 2 years

The flow isn’t always sorted in certain models, so if they don’t bother to sort that then what else don’t they bother to do.

And the KEY part of an alloy radiator is the Alloy… welds can look nice, mounts can look good…. It’s the quality and type of alloy that matters.

The next part is the thickness of each component, how mounts are braced, especially in a 4wd with potential for high vibration (which the plastic tank OEM handles a LOT better).

And finally, tube size, flow and cooling properties including internal tube fins, external fin count and number of rows.
More rows can often be a negative.


Hope it works for you and doesn’t let you down when you need it most like Blinman or the Desert.

Points taken on board Tombie!

I'm doing it as an experiment. If the ali radiator sh!ts itself I'll buy a real one to replace it. But since all new cars are supplied with ali radiators with plastic tanks crimped on these days, they must have something going for them. And the Chinese are capable of making good stuff - after all Australia has handed almost its entire manufacturing industry over to them (not a great idea in my opinion but then no-one who makes those decisions cares what I think).

The D1 is just my daily drive and the mobile dog kennel these days, and I don't take it off road any more ... that's what the D2 is for and it's awesome at it. So I'm not too worried if the D1 has a medical episode as long as it's within the RAA's towing distance limit.

Once the car is up and running I'll keep you all posted on how it works out. Worst that can happen is that it leaks and I have to replace it. I have an engine saver fitted so I don't think I'm risking cooking the motor - I'll know soon enough it the rad is leaking. And I've had a couple of episodes in the past with the copper-brass radiator (and the engine saver saved me) so I'm not particularly enamoured of Cu/Cu-Zn either. Will this be worse? Maybe. You'll be the second to know!

Well the engine rebuild is complete and the car is back on the road ... with the ali radiator fitted.

Fingers are now firmly crossed!

Look, the bottom line is that if it does in fact s**t itself, it hasn't cost me a fortune and I'll replace it with a brass/copper radiator and consider it a lesson learnt. And you guys will get to know the result so you can learn from it too.

I've had the car running for a little over a week now, and it's just clocked over 500km so I've given it its first real oil change - the running in oil is now dumped and it's got real oil and a new filter. I have yet to cut open the filter to check for the dreaded glitter effect. The oil came out without any sparkly bits.

The only issue I've had with the car so far is a cooling system one, but not with the radiator. Rather it's getting all the new hoses to seal up on the spigots. This is, of course quite normal for new, soft, hoses, but it's been bloody frustrating. I find one leak and tighten it up, then it leaks somewhere else, and eventually the first leak comes back and I have to tighten that up again. It's only been weeping so nothing major, but yesterday I came out to in in the morning and found the plastic beneath it dry for the first time. What I have learnt from this is that it's a really good idea to replace all the jubilee clips so that they all have the same size drive nut on the worms ... it's really frustrating having to find the right socket for each clip every time I tighten one, and now I have replaced them all with 8mm head clips so I only need to carry one socket. The little bugger under the expansion tank has been the worst one to get sealed actually.

So watch this space, and I'll let you all know how it goes over the next few months.

Oh, and you're wondering how the engine is running? Like a Swiss watch! It's smooth, freeing up nicely and all the torque is back (it has a high torque cam shaft now). Before it died at 398,000 km with a blown head gasket the cam shaft was well and truly shagged and all its get up and go had got up and gone. Now it's all coming back and it gets better every time I drive it. I love the car and I'm very pleased with the outcome - thanks for all your effort doing the engine rebuild work Neil, mate!

Cheers, Graham

Originally Posted by GrahamH

Rather it's getting all the new hoses to seal up on the spigots. This is, of course quite normal for new, soft, hoses, but it's been bloody frustrating. I find one leak and tighten it up, then it leaks somewhere else, and eventually the first leak comes back and I have to tighten that up again.

This is the main reason constant tension spring clamps are used on automotive cooling systems. Worm drive clamps are just not the right tool for the job where thermal expansion is involved.