by Scott Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:11 amAbout a year ago I scored an aluminum radiator at a great price. Now that it's getting close to being installed I took it to a machine shop a few weeks ago to have the cap removed and plugged, plus add little hose connector to feed the surge tank. I started by calling radiator shops, but without even seeing it I got an ear full of how that radiator won't work for me, and that I really just need to buy a new one. So I called a local machine / welding shop that did the work pretty cheap.
Here's the radiator, and a close-up of the plug..
When I picked it up the guy said I should get it pressure checked because he had to weld into part of the old cap fitting and had no way of testing it himself. I decided to check it myself at home because of my previous experience with the radiator shops. I posted a YouTube link the other day on how to do this at home. When I did mine I found a small stream of bubbles coming from one corner, but not where he plugged it. So I went ahead and took it to a Radiator Shop that I had used for years down in Fort Worth. They are the same ones that rebuilt my van radiator before I bought this aluminum one. Anyway, the guy and I took the radiator back, he plugged it, and blew pressure into it. Man there were bubbles pouring out of that corner. He shut off the pressure and tells me the radiator is trash. He didn't even look to see where the bubbles were coming from, just said the core was bad. When asked how much pressure he was putting in he said 20 LBS, and did it again, I just took it back to my trunk and left. At the time I was thinking about all my wasted money on this thing, but after thinking it over I came to the conclusion that he was blowing way more then 20 LBS into it, and probably blowing all those bubbles from that little hole. So I took it home and did the same tub test again and am back to the small trickle of bubbles from that one corner. Hopefully he didn't cause more damage by blowing to much pressure into it. I would like to fix this thing, then go down and talk to the owner. I just want to make sure I'm right before I go talk to him.
Here's the radiator, and a close-up of the plug..
When I picked it up the guy said I should get it pressure checked because he had to weld into part of the old cap fitting and had no way of testing it himself. I decided to check it myself at home because of my previous experience with the radiator shops. I posted a YouTube link the other day on how to do this at home. When I did mine I found a small stream of bubbles coming from one corner, but not where he plugged it. So I went ahead and took it to a Radiator Shop that I had used for years down in Fort Worth. They are the same ones that rebuilt my van radiator before I bought this aluminum one. Anyway, the guy and I took the radiator back, he plugged it, and blew pressure into it. Man there were bubbles pouring out of that corner. He shut off the pressure and tells me the radiator is trash. He didn't even look to see where the bubbles were coming from, just said the core was bad. When asked how much pressure he was putting in he said 20 LBS, and did it again, I just took it back to my trunk and left. At the time I was thinking about all my wasted money on this thing, but after thinking it over I came to the conclusion that he was blowing way more then 20 LBS into it, and probably blowing all those bubbles from that little hole. So I took it home and did the same tub test again and am back to the small trickle of bubbles from that one corner. Hopefully he didn't cause more damage by blowing to much pressure into it. I would like to fix this thing, then go down and talk to the owner. I just want to make sure I'm right before I go talk to him.
