Well, that’s too long.
While Kevin and I were working on Phil’s car, he told me about his car overheating. He pulled the radiator and looked at it and it was a mess. His was mostly plugged up where the air was being drawn through the radiator by the fan. Once cleaned up, it cooled the motor just fine. You could see a circular pattern of dirt on Phil’s radiator.
I’m in the process of getting my car ready for a Texas summer. This involves changing the one year old coolant and I’ve added a good radiator cleaning to the chore. Like last year, I’m using 50/50 Extended Life (5 year/150K miles) Prestone Antifreeze/coolant and distilled water. The important non-ingredients in the coolant is its lack of silicate and phosphate. I don’t need sand in my coolant, thank you very much.
Then I broke my radiator! Just before I removed the radiator, I loosened the hose clamp on the overflow tubing. I gave the hose a good twisting pull and ripped the PLASTIC nipple right off of the PLASTIC tank. Oh, you should have seen the light show of sparks flashing through the all metal garage as I loudly chanted all of the USMC Sergeant magic words I remember.
I highly suggest that you remove the OTHER end of the hose – the end that connects to the overflow tank. Then remove the radiator. <sigh>
Needing the car for our Monday commute, I found a local radiator shop that had an aftermarket replacement. $245 and one hour later, I have it in the back of the truck and am about to install it. In theory, the replacement radiator is got a forever warranty against leaks, or until the radiator guy I bought it from dies, whichever occurs first. I wished him a long life.
I hope I don’t regret not waiting for Torrie to ship me an OEM replacement.
While Kevin and I were working on Phil’s car, he told me about his car overheating. He pulled the radiator and looked at it and it was a mess. His was mostly plugged up where the air was being drawn through the radiator by the fan. Once cleaned up, it cooled the motor just fine. You could see a circular pattern of dirt on Phil’s radiator.
I’m in the process of getting my car ready for a Texas summer. This involves changing the one year old coolant and I’ve added a good radiator cleaning to the chore. Like last year, I’m using 50/50 Extended Life (5 year/150K miles) Prestone Antifreeze/coolant and distilled water. The important non-ingredients in the coolant is its lack of silicate and phosphate. I don’t need sand in my coolant, thank you very much.
Then I broke my radiator! Just before I removed the radiator, I loosened the hose clamp on the overflow tubing. I gave the hose a good twisting pull and ripped the PLASTIC nipple right off of the PLASTIC tank. Oh, you should have seen the light show of sparks flashing through the all metal garage as I loudly chanted all of the USMC Sergeant magic words I remember.
I highly suggest that you remove the OTHER end of the hose – the end that connects to the overflow tank. Then remove the radiator. <sigh>
Needing the car for our Monday commute, I found a local radiator shop that had an aftermarket replacement. $245 and one hour later, I have it in the back of the truck and am about to install it. In theory, the replacement radiator is got a forever warranty against leaks, or until the radiator guy I bought it from dies, whichever occurs first. I wished him a long life.
I hope I don’t regret not waiting for Torrie to ship me an OEM replacement.