Radiator replacement questions...

[ragedracer]

I'm taking my radiator in tomorrow to get rodded out or recored or whatever they want to do to it. It doesn't leak at all, just very crudded up on the inside. Pretty easy to get out, except for the dang upper transmission cooler line. That thing wouldn't break free. I tried a line wrench, regular wrench, crescent wrench, etc. The line wrench finally rounded it off. I had to use a pipe wrench to get it off. Oh well. I'll just use the pipe wrench to put it back on.

Question I have. Since I did drain out some oil and transmission fluid when I unhooked the lines, do I need to top off the transmission and oil? I don't know how much is inside the radiator itself. How much to add if needed?

 

[nhdiesel]

Once the radiator is back in and everything is hooked up, fill the radiator with coolant to your desired blend. I'd suggest a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water. Once full start the truck and let it idle and warm up, leaving the radiator cap off. Watch the fluid and you'll eventually see it drop. Add more fluid and keep it topped off until all the air bubbles are burped out.

While it's running, check the transmission fluid and top off as necessary. After everything seems full put the radiator cap on and take it for a drive. It won't hurt to check the coolant level WHEN COOL the next couple days, just in case more air was bled out of the system.

Jim

 

[ragedracer]

Yeah, I'm good on the coolant side. I was more curious on the oil and transmission fluid. I don't know how much, if any, stays behind in the radiator. If it's just a smidge, I'm not worried about it. But if a quart stays in there, I need to be on top of it.

When I dropped it off, the guy looked at it like

He says this is the original radiator out of an '86 Diesel???? I said yup. He says how is it possible that a 25 year old radiator has never been repaired or replaced. I told him the truck only has 60k miles on it. He was a little shocked. They were going to hot tank it and see what happens. Rod out if necessary. They were closing at noon today with it being a holiday weekend and won't be back til Tuesday. Probably find out then if they were able to get it taken care of. If not, he told me he'd credit me the cost towards a new rad.

 

[nhdiesel]

I usually plan on losing a quart with a radiator change. It's usually less, like half a quart, but I've had it be closer to a quart a couple times.

Jim

 

[ragedracer]

Just an update. Once the got the tubes cleaned out, they found leaks everywhere. Like 20 pinhole leaks all over the core. So, I went ahead and had them recore it with a huge 4 core. Hopefully that lasts me a while!

 

[Stonepicker1]

Just an update. Once the got the tubes cleaned out, they found leaks everywhere. Like 20 pinhole leaks all over the core. So, I went ahead and had them recore it with a huge 4 core. Hopefully that lasts me a while!

I just replaced mine yesterday with a new one that I had on-hand. What did they charge for the recore job? I have 3 other CUCV's that might need the rad replaced due to "old age"

 

[ragedracer]

I just replaced mine yesterday with a new one that I had on-hand. What did they charge for the recore job? I have 3 other CUCV's that might need the rad replaced due to "old age"

$300. You can buy a new one for about that, but I think it's only a 3-core. Plus you have to have it shipped and all that, so I decided supporting a local place was the way to go.

 

[1986Blazerk5]

Yeah, I'm good on the coolant side. I was more curious on the oil and transmission fluid. I don't know how much, if any, stays behind in the radiator. If it's just a smidge, I'm not worried about it. But if a quart stays in there, I need to be on top of it.

When I dropped it off, the guy looked at it like

He says this is the original radiator out of an '86 Diesel???? I said yup. He says how is it possible that a 25 year old radiator has never been repaired or replaced. I told him the truck only has 60k miles on it. He was a little shocked. They were going to hot tank it and see what happens. Rod out if necessary. They were closing at noon today with it being a holiday weekend and won't be back til Tuesday. Probably find out then if they were able to get it taken care of. If not, he told me he'd credit me the cost towards a new rad.

I know what you mean about that look, people ask me all the time how many miles it has and you say 50,000 miles they look like a deer in the headlights