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New rad needed ASAP

Chris

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Well, thought it was too good to be true. Had a puddle under the car at the Esso garage the other day. Wet on the bottom of the rad. Bottom hose clip needed a tighten and I thought it was probably leakage being flirted up by the fan that was then running back down. Been dry or so I thought until today the bottom of the rad casing was definitely wet. Going on hols in it next weekend so I though I had better put the unit out. Fins falling off like fish scales. Looks like there is a small leak from the core. No point putting it back in. It's fubared.
Milner have them at £205 and of course they are ten mins from me. I have done the usual Gurgling and not come up with anything special. Does anyone have an secret super supplier that they can tell me about? It'd need to be substantially cheaper to be worth it really. I know Milners and will probably get them to sharpen their pencil a bit. I have to go to Croydon tomorrow until Tuesday night, so can't do anything with the 80 anyway.
It's 4.2, 1994, auto.

Sigh, the perils of old cars. I hadn't budgeted for this.

Chris
 
The rad I had off Milner for my old 80 seemed decent quality and was all metal instead of the OEM plastic tanks which I liked.
 
Well, looks that I shall have to go that way Jon. Easy enough to get out other than those two stupid front bolts in the rubber vibration sleeves. Why on earth there isn't a head on the inside part, I'll never know. I shall replace them both with proper bolts. Shame I had filled it with new Toyota Red. Caught most of it, but the drive is a bit wet.

C
 
Might as well make some drop plates while it's out ready for the body lift :mrgreen:
 
Chris said:
Shame I had filled it with new Toyota Red.

Why red? My friendly parts man at local dealer said we should all use pink, not red. Pink is apparently good for 100k miles and now replacing the red.
The 120 has pink coolant as standard but it looks pretty much like red to me.
 
D'y know, Jon. I'm not actually contemplating a BL on this one. Is there any particular advantage to doing so? I have no real desire to, but I know that it can make some maintenance jobs easier. It looks pretty good I guess, but I'm happy with it as it goes.

Chris
 
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Seen the price of pink?

I think that Halflods antifreeze would be just fine. I read the FSM and it said 'any glycol based coolant' or something along those lines.

C
 
Oh, yes. I forgot to mention that. It's pretty bloody expensive
 
I use Unipart Super OAT or something like that, seems to work and is a pretty colour.
 
Chris

It's a long while back now but I had mine re-cored down Portsmouth for around £70. That was I think three years ago and it is still fine.

There used to be a comercial vehicle re-core place in Sheffield might be worth looking up.
When I had mine done they told me the core was the same as an IVECO truck and if I remember rightly, the place in Sheffield is the same company as the one in Pompey.
I'll try and find my recipts if you want for the company name.
 
Les, I don't have time, I'm afraid. I have to go down Saarf this afternoon and not back up until Tuesday then We're off at the weekend. I am out and about during the week too and have to find time to drop the new read back in. Maybe I could re core the old one when I have time and hen sell it. So details would be useful with that in mind.

Chris
 
Chris said:
Les, I don't have time, I'm afraid. I have to go down Saarf this afternoon and not back up until Tuesday then We're off at the weekend. I am out and about during the week too and have to find time to drop the new read back in. Maybe I could re core the old one when I have time and hen sell it. So details would be useful with that in mind.

Chris

Roger that one mate

I'll have a look through my paperwork and see if I can find the info.
 
Right dude, this is what I found;-

Serck Intertruck (part of Unipart) re-cored mine and posted it back to me within two days

They appear to be all over the country but my local branch couldn't do the job (Crawley West Sussex) so I had to take it to Portsmouth.
Their main office is in Birmingham Tel. 0121 717 0007/0071 but I just phoned the local branch.

They appear to be in Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds and Preston near you so the place in Sheffield must be another company.
 
Well, got home last night and started to fit the rad for my trip this weekend. Not good. Firstly I didn't think that it felt like £200's worth of rad. Maybe it's made of special space age material? The 'frame' that the core sits in is too wide for the gap and I had to squeak it in. Not good, but I didn't want to start cutting metal away until I had ensured that it would go in. I need to trim about 5mm per side to be right. Had the same issue last weekend with a Hilux rad from MIlner.

The studs for the bottom brackets were diagonally opposed to the originals for some reason. Fortunately the OEM bracket has four holes. Great, other then the spacing on the studs was way out and I had to drill the holes out to get them to fit. Dropped the rad in and the top mounting holes were 1/2" too low, so I had to pack the bottom rubbers to get it high enough.

When I came to refit the battery carriers, they wouldn't go back in either. I had to start cutting away the sides of the tray to get them in. Pretty cross really. Mailed Carl last night and he's replied already this Morning. Nat had any other complaints in 60 rads old of this model. I expected that. Maybe people don't give feedback like I do. He's knocked a tenner off the price, but really that's not what I was after. I guess these parts come from a wholesaler and the suppler can change overnight without Milners knowing. Maybe this particular copy is not a good one. It's all gone in, water tested fine. I'm sure it will outlive the truck. But it was a frustrating installation that I really would not have expected. If I have to pull it for any other reason, I might see if the old outer frame will bolt onto the new rad. That way, I will have the proper spacings. What's the idea with the stupid top bolts though. I don't that that. Long bolt with no head, just a thin flat washer on the end and nowhere to use a spanner? It's like an anti theft fixing. I welded a nut on.

I can't tell you if any other suppliers do a better rad, but unless you have no choice OR you are happy to make the mods, I would not buy the Milner one. Then again, next week that may have some different ones.

Chris
 
Done mine a while back, used a genuine yota one, £348 good quality fitted perfect.
 
Well one would expect that it would. But £348? I don't think so. Not the same week as we go away.
I will look into getting this one repaired and then see about selling it.

Chris
 
How frustrateing :evil: Lucky you did that welding course :)

My local rad specialist has always offered a re-core when I've been in for a new rad :) Hope you manage to get the old one fixed & back into some good calmer :thumbup: @least you're up & running for you Hols :thumbup: Be able to let all that tension slip away :)
 
Tension? You see, you are back to that blond again. Rad might been shot, but her headlights seemed ok.

Oh right stop it. That's enough!

C
 
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