Radiator Troubles.....US Radiator.

[Bob Lynch]

When I bought my car, it had everything wrong with the coolant system and was overheating badly.
Wrong size and model radiator, no fan shroud, no clutch fan, water pump bad, hoses old and brittle, wrong thermostat, etc....

I worked for months to get it back together, and one of the parts I bought was a 26" US Radiator, top of the line Brass and Copper unit.
Well...it's 4 years old now, and it's out of my car again for the 3rd time to get another leak fixed in the core.
First couple of times, it was the upper and lower tanks leaking.

I took it Monday to an old school radiator shop here in Orange CA, Tom's Radiator, in business since 1965.
When he looked at the US Radiator sticker on the unit, he knew right away it was going to be a problem.
He told me they changed ownership years ago, and quality suffered as a result.
He's seen less than year old radiators from them leaking.
Pretty sure it's in good hands now, and I hope I'm not out too much $$$ to get in back in shape again for a long time.

US Radiator used to be the go to place for radiators and I've owned several over the years.
Not so fast now pal.

Anyone else had the same problems with US Radiator recently ??
I wish I would have know this before I gave up a lot of cash for one of these...
Thanks for reading everyone.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

In general, radiators leak because of old/bad antifreeze, though sometimes they can “twist” and leak if they’re bolted directly to the body without any rubber isolators. The other weak link is the solder. So, what type of antifreeze do you run and how often do you change it?

 

[Don67Satellite]

I think he said that the radiator was 4 years old. Hopefully no one would stuff old antifreeze into a shiny new rad, so I'd assume it to be at most, 4 years old.

That age of antifreeze is not going to cause problems by itself. He also said this is the 3rd repair. Definitely something else going on.

I'd also be figuring quality control based on the info given.

 

[440 4 speed]

In general, radiators leak because of old/bad antifreeze, though sometimes they can “twist” and leak if they’re bolted directly to the body without any rubber isolators. The other weak link is the solder. So, what type of antifreeze do you run and how often do you change it?

None of our original rads have rubber isolators. Our 150,000 67 still has the original rad.

 

[Bob Lynch]

In general, radiators leak because of old/bad antifreeze, though sometimes they can “twist” and leak if they’re bolted directly to the body without any rubber isolators. The other weak link is the solder. So, what type of antifreeze do you run and how often do you change it?

Coolant was changed after each leak, so probably one year old coolant at any time in it's life...if that...
I suspect bad solder joints, and that's the consensus from Tom's Radiator too.

He's going to take it apart and re-solder it back together....Hopefully for the last time for many years to come.
The core center tube section is good, it's not leaking and pretty much new, just leaking around outside joints.

I checked the 4 mounting points, all nice and flat, with some rubber washers and grommets, seemed to work well.
Solid mounting, but a little flexible too.
Thanks for your input.

 

[dadsbee]

The radiator in my Bee had the same fluid in it from 1988 to 2016. Still doesn't leak.. lol

 

[Bob Lynch]

I'm also using basic Prestone in there, Yellow Bottle, 50/50 with Distilled Water.
The inside of the core looks brand new at all the tubes and everywhere else.

 

[TorRed]

Glen-Rays it is I guess. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[dadsbee]

Glen-Rays it is I guess. Thanks for the heads-up.

Everyone here seems to jump to that, but there are still old school radiator shops out there that can recore an OE radiator just as well. Bob's got a shop, he just needs to find an old OE radiator for the next round to have it recored. Cores are still obtainable. I highly doubt GlenRay is making their own cores.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Coolant was changed after each leak, so probably one year old coolant at any time in it's life...if that...
I suspect bad solder joints, and that's the consensus from Tom's Radiator too.

He's going to take it apart and re-solder it back together....Hopefully for the last time for many years to come.
The core center tube section is good, it's not leaking and pretty much new, just leaking around outside joints.

I checked the 4 mounting points, all nice and flat, with some rubber washers and grommets, seemed to work well.
Solid mounting, but a little flexible too.
Thanks for your input.

There’s no absolute need for rubber bushings. You don’t have them, but I have a brand X car with this issue (body flex & radiator direct bolted to chassis). Since your coolant was only about 1 yr old each time, I’d have to agree with your radiator guy that it’s bad solder. Maybe have him just re-solder the whole thing? It’s all the tubes soldered into the header panels & headers to tanks (that’s it). Your OAT prestone should be fine

 

[440 4 speed]

Everyone here seems to jump to that, but there are still old school radiator shops out there that can recore and OE radiator just a well. Bob's got a shop, he just needs to find an old OE radiator for the next round to have it recored. Cores are still obtainable. I highly doubt GlenRay is making their own cores.

RIGHT ON!

 

[gtxdana]

I was going to cheap out and buy a US Radiator, but it's been on backorder from Summit for at least six months now. That might be a sign for me to pass on that one since it will be out of warranty by the time I get the car done. Getting a radiator rebuilt in this area is pretty much out of the question. Top dollar and then some for crap work. By the time you find a junk, overpriced 956 radiator, and then get gouged another $800-$900 to recore it, you're in the new Glen-Ray reproduction price range.

 

[Bob Lynch]

I was going to cheap out and buy a US Radiator, but it's been on backorder from Summit for at least six months now. That might be a sign for me to pass on that one since it will be out of warranty by the time I get the car done. Getting a radiator rebuilt in this area is pretty much out of the question. Top dollar and then some for crap work. By the time you find a junk, overpriced 956 radiator, and then get gouged another $800-$900 to recore it, you're in the new Glen-Ray reproduction price range.

That lead time from Summit was the reason I went directly to US Radiator, and paid a little more.
I had my radiator in 5 weeks, but, I'm paying the price now.
Live and learn, but I'll get through it.

I came across this old school radiator shop close by, and I think I'm in good hands now.
He was doing 3 really old original Ferrari radiators when I was there on Monday, a lot of people trust him.
He's got 40 something years experience doing it, and a lot of old Mopar radiators too.

 

[440 4 speed]

I don’t have a clue about prices on rebuilds. As I have mentioned our record rads have been functioning fine since the first one we had done about 1985. Some were record to 4 rows.
Hope I haven’t jinxed myself.

 

[dadsbee]

Glad you've got a shop Bob! I still have a third generation here in town, as long as Aaron's Father will still come in and do the rebuilds.. as the kid (42) isn't interested in carrying on the trade and is instead making mega bucks selling new cooling units vs getting his hands dirty. I got a core off the forum here and it cost me $400 CDN to have it recored. The radiator his Father did for me back in 1988 is still leak free and cooled just fine, it was just the wrong part # for the Bee.

 

[440 4 speed]

Glad you've got a shop Bob! I still have a third generation here in town, as long as Adam's Father will still come in and do the rebuilds.. as the kid (42) isn't interested in carrying on the trade and is instead making mega bucks selling new cooling units vs getting his hands dirty. I got a core off the forum here and it cost me $400 CDN to have it recored. The radiator his Father did for me back in 1988 is still leak free and cooled just fine, it was just the wrong part # for the Bee.

So 400.00 our money is about 325.00 US. Fairly certain I can still get a rad 4 cored around 400.00 US.
Our dollar might take a severe hit tonight.

 

[gtxdana]

That lead time from Summit was the reason I went directly to US Radiator, and paid a little more.
I had my radiator in 5 weeks, but, I'm paying the price now.
Live and learn, but I'll get through it.

I came across this old school radiator shop close by, and I think I'm in good hands now.
He was doing 3 really old original Ferrari radiators when I was there on Monday, a lot of people trust him.
He's got 40 something years experience doing it, and a lot of old Mopar radiators too.

I had a 10% discount code from Summit which is why I ordered it from them. The backorder date keeps getting pushed back, now it's mid-December. Classic Industries had the radiator I need in stock and just they just got more in last week.

The mom-and-pop radiator shops around here are gone. The big multi-location chain pretty much dictates the price and they are straight up gangsters. Always demanded a discount from me when I had my business, but zero discount in return if I was looking for something.

 

[Bird 426]

From what I understand from our last radiator shop here, like everything else, there's a difference between good brass core and cheap brass core.

 

[lewtot184]

I had the same problem with u.s. radiator. Crummy workmanship.

 

[Bob Lynch]

Thanks for all the input guys.
Nothing worse than walking in your garage, looking under the front of the car and seeing a puddle of coolant !!

I'll post up the results when I get the radiator back with prices, quality, PIC's, website details and links.
Tom's Radiator is a family run shop, since 1965.
I'm glad I found it and I hope everyone else here can try the place for re-core needs.