G Man

Mt radiator has been leaking fluid slowly for some time now and I am finally getting it taken care of. I am getting the usual coolant leaking from the inlet hose side near the top. I managed to get the radiator out of the car without damaging it so I'm off to a good start. Check out the broken inlet hose connection. I discovered this a short time ago and relocated the hose clamp closer to the tank but I was still leaking. Not sure if I had a leak there or not. I have a new tank that I got from Roger to go on. I will be taking the radiator to the shop I used to work at some 20 years ago to do the repairs. My friend that owns the shop has the correct tools for working on plastic tank radiators. I'll take pics of the process and post them here. I am also going to have the trans cooler hoses rebuilt while they are off the car as I was getting some leakage from them too. The new tank does not come with the metal sleeve that fits inside of the hose connection. Not sure at this point if I will be able to reuse it with the new tank or not. I'll see how it goes once I get the old tank off of the core.

G Man

A couple of questioins. There are thin aluminum flat sealing washers that go between the trans hose fitting and the cooler that is in the radiator tank. Are these seals reusable if they are in good condition? Also do the aluminum seals become work hardened like copper does? If so can they be heat treated to soften the metal like the copper can?

jpitman2

couple of observations, My inlet failed in exactly the same way as yours, but suddenly near the top of a hill...bit more steam than I like to see coming out under the hood. I found a locally made replacement rad (2 coolers $A880, 2 days delivery VS DEALER >$2K). I went for the new unit instead of fixing the old one with a tank because of the concern that if one inlet broke off, how far behind is the other, and also cooler failues can kill an AT box.
It had no way to locate the alloy 'guide tube', so I Had to peg it in place. I have small bolts from R/C modelling , so I used a 2-56, and with the tube in place, drilled through the inlet and the tube, close to the end of the inlet - 1/4 in maybe. I cut off the excess length of the bolt, leaving at least 1/4" past the tube, but dont recall if I fitted a nut. This locaation means its well away from where the hose clamp will go, so the bolt head shouldnt cause the hose any problems. The hose over the top of the bolt will prevent it from backing out, so nothing should mobe anywhere. Have had no issues in 4 years, fingers crossed.
ALSO - be aware that replacement radiators will almost certainly be made for S4s and on , and they are DIFFERENT in a few details. In your pic, you can see that the core runs very close to the shroud mounting tabs - on the later units, the core is at least 10mm clear of the tabs. They are also ~5mm taller, and have different no of tubes at different spacing. Fitting a late rad into an early chassis can give hood/bonnet closing issues in my experience, which cant easily be fixed - thinning the bottom rubbers can lead to the base sitting on the front cross member and producing fatigue. I have written a note somewhere here about the detail differences...
jp 83 Euro S AT 54k

IcemanG17

You can get a new endtank....its hard to find a radiator shop to install it..... San Carlos radiator can do it and have in the past....but you would have to ship it to them..which increases the cost....

G Man

Brian. You didn't read through my thread all the way! I have a new end tank. I am taking my radiator to the radiator shop that I used to work at years ago and installing the new tank myself. I'm hoping the project goes smoothly.

G Man

Went to my friends shop in S. Lake Tahoe today to put the new tank on the radiator. It didn't go as smoothly or as quickly as I was anticipating but I did get it done. I can't figure out how to place text between the pics, so the pics are as follows . Bending the tabs back in order to remove the old tank, the header plate showing how the tubes come through, the trans cooler and retaining nuts, the trans cooler mounted in the new tank, the radiator clamped into the plastic tank jig, the new tank on the radiator with the clamps holding the tank down onto the header plate and tank gasket, crimping the tabs over the edge of the new tank, and finally the radiator in the radiator test tank being pressurized with air to 15 psi. The solution in the test tank is not antifreeze. It's water with a powder that has dye and other stuff that I have no idea what it does. It actually starts out more of a yellow color than green. The solution tends to darken up after it has been in the tank for a while. The dye is there to make it easier to see any leaks that may be present. Air bubbles are harder to see in clear water. I had a few small leaks and was able to stop them by crimping the tabs down a little tighter near the leaks. I didn't make it back home in time to pick up my trans hoses from the hydraulic shop so I will be getting them in the a.m. before work. Now its time for

Dave928S

It's easy when you have the right tools ... thanks for posting.

To insert pics between text you need to host the pics somewhere (photobucket, etc) and insert the link to particular pics in your text where you want them to appear.

G Man

Having the proper tools definately makes the job much easier. My friend who owns the shop has had this equipment at his shop since I worked there back in 88'. It does not work like it did when brand new but still gets the job done.

Bilal928S4

So you did not have to recore the tubes or clean them in any way? You just replaced the end tanks.
Bilal

G Man

I didn't take pics of the cleaning process but the radiator was flushed out. The shop uses a cone shaped nozzle that is placed into the hose connection to flush with water and compressed air through the radiator. I waited until I had the old tank off of the radiator and flushed through the core from the other tank until I got no more crud out fo the tubes. I got what looked like runny pancake batter out of the tubes at first but after a few flushes of water and air they were running clean. The air supply is regulated to a low psi. so as not to damage the radiator when the air is applied. I didn't take pics of this process because I was worried about getting nasty crud on my camera or getting it wet. Aluminum radiators can not go into the hot tank for boiling out at this shop. He uses caustic soda in the tank and that stuff dissolves aluminum, so water only for cleaning. As far as the tank replacement. I only replaced the inlet side tank.

Podguy

I never heard about heat treating copper seals. Since I just bought $70 worth of copper seals how would one go about this??

Thanks

G Man

Copper that has become work hardned can be softened by heating to red and allowing to air cool. I have read that you can cool it in water too but I just let it air cool. I have used this method to resoften the copper sealing washers that are used on the fuel pump and filter. I got this handy tip from Bill Ball.

Podguy

G Man,

Thanks I will give it a go. Makes sense. The same should work for aluminum. Do you use a torch or an oven.

If I remember my body work instruction right. Water cooling ferrous metals shrinks them. Air cooling expands and softens them. The opposite is supposed to be true of non ferrous metals. So if you want to soften up copper or aluminum washers then I would think water cooling would do it.

Hilton

If there's a visible impression in the copper sealing ring, such as from pushing on the side of a banjo, I bother to sand the faces of the copper ring flat again before heating the copper ring. Some 600 or 800 grit wet and dry on a flat surface (e.g. glass) works to ensure a flat face.

It may not be necessary, but I figure sealing is more likely to succeed on a flat surface.

danglerb

And if the heat treat doesn't work you can just take it all back apart and replace the $3 washer.