Overheating, but only when going up long hills

[towman]

can't hurt to run a tranny cooler, don't be afraid of the plastic tanks, yes the old ones look better but the plastic tanks will cool as good as the others and will last for a long time

 

[TheBigTater]

Here's a couple pics of the damage I found when I pulled the fan shroud and fan out. Drivers side tank where it meets the core is rotted and leaking all the way down. Also where the zip ties were run for the tranny cooler had 2 leaks there that were losing a good bit of fluid. Looking at the radiator from the front the cooling fins are all rotted to hell. Its like some of the commercial HVAC coils I've pulled where the fins just fall apart when you touch them.

 

[Irishman999]

I went through the same nonsense last summer with my truck. Alot of people forget that cooling systems work by pressurizing the coolant giving it more capacity to cool. If you have a bunch of pin holes or a bad cap the system never gets pressurized and it will run at half its capacity of cooling.

I almost got an aluminum radiator from carquest and it had a big ass hole knocked in the plastic tank right out of the box from the factory, it was sealed from the manufacturer in its original box. No damage to the box so that means wherever that thing was made they have no quality control and don't test for leaks.

 

[jake wells]

Here's a couple pics of the damage I found when I pulled the fan shroud and fan out. Drivers side tank where it meets the core is rotted and leaking all the way down. Also where the zip ties were run for the tranny cooler had 2 leaks there that were losing a good bit of fluid. Looking at the radiator from the front the cooling fins are all rotted to hell. Its like some of the commercial HVAC coils I've pulled where the fins just fall apart when you touch them.

check your phone book for a radiator shop in town or the next town over you are better off having it boiled and new cores put in and it is cheaper than one of those Chinese radiators from autozone or advance auto.

 

[TheBigTater]

Yeah, the weather is so mild here that the only time it would overheat is going up long hills so I never noticed until recently. We've finally had weather over 85. Well, I'm not getting my radiator till friday (no hurry I'm on summer break), but since I'm going to be in there I'll spend the next couple days cleaning/painting and chasing down a couple of other small leaks. Good times! Thanks for all the help guys, I'm new to the square body trucks. Everybody drove them in high school (Oklahoma) so I always did Jeeps and Mustangs to be different. I've always loved these trucks tho

 

[TheBigTater]

@Jake- I called around to see what boiling/recoring would cost and everybody wanted at least 200 bucks. I was going to buy a new core and braze it in myself (Done it plenty with HVAC coils), but they wanted 180 bucks for a core. Guy said that the cores have been more than a new radiator for like a year now. (could be a local thing)

 

[dhamp]

can't hurt to run a tranny cooler, don't be afraid of the plastic tanks, yes the old ones look better but the plastic tanks will cool as good as the others and will last for a long time

I know they'll cool, but I've known so many people that have put plastic tank radiators in and either the tank splits at a seam, or they blow out around the drain ****. Meanwhile, my 24 yr-old radiator is still doing the job, even with a hairline crack at the neck that I half azz soldered up until I do something more permanent. I know a guy that rebuilds them. If I can get mine refurbed for under $200, then that's the way I'm going. If not......guess I'll be going plastic.

 

[dhamp]

@Jake- I called around to see what boiling/recoring would cost and everybody wanted at least 200 bucks. I was going to buy a new core and braze it in myself (Done it plenty with HVAC coils), but they wanted 180 bucks for a core. Guy said that the cores have been more than a new radiator for like a year now. (could be a local thing)

Maybe you could find a decent core on a junk yard nearby??

 

[Irishman999]

While you are waiting for the radiator I highly suggest getting a bottle of radiator flush. I did mine before putting the new radiator in and it cleaned everything out great!

You have to have the cooling system closed when you do it, just dump the bottle in and let it run at operating temp for a while, let it cool off a little and pull the lower radiator hose and all the junk will flow out. Then stick a garden hose in the top hose, pull your thermostat out and let it run with the engine running for a while to flush the rest of the small calcium flakes, rust and acid out of the system.

 

[TheBigTater]

While you are waiting for the radiator I highly suggest getting a bottle of radiator flush. I did mine before putting the new radiator in and it cleaned everything out great!

You have to have the cooling system closed when you do it, just dump the bottle in and let it run at operating temp for a while, let it cool off a little and pull the lower radiator hose and all the junk will flow out. Then stick a garden hose in the top hose, pull your thermostat out and let it run with the engine running for a while to flush the rest of the small calcium flakes, rust and acid out of the system.

Irish, I Picked up a flush kit yesterday. I went to autozone yesterday and looked at their radiators. Just couldn't bring myself to put that plastic crap under the hood of my truck. I'm ordering an all aluminum one from Champion rad- they are $11 dollars more than the Spectra/Plastic unit from AZ. If nothing else, it is worth the money for the bling factor.

Also picked up some aluminum flat stock to make a custom mounting bracket for my tranny cooler since that was a leading cause of the destruction of my radiator.

 

[89Suburban]

Irish, I Picked up a flush kit yesterday. I went to autozone yesterday and looked at their radiators. Just couldn't bring myself to put that plastic crap under the hood of my truck. I'm ordering an all aluminum one from Champion rad- they are $11 dollars more than the Spectra/Plastic unit from AZ. If nothing else, it is worth the money for the bling factor.

Also picked up some aluminum flat stock to make a custom mounting bracket for my tranny cooler since that was a leading cause of the destruction of my radiator.

Good move on the trans cooler mounts fabbing, I did the same thing when I had mine apart. I hate that plastic tie through the radiator crap.

 

[TheBigTater]

Good move on the trans cooler mounts fabbing, I did the same thing when I had mine apart. I hate that plastic tie through the radiator crap.

Yea, the previous owner had good intentions but as far as their skills...

I'm actually going to take pics along the way since I'm actually in no rush for once. I'll post a write up...give me a chance to do some pic *******.

 

[Camo]

maybe hit the local scrap yards. I found a nice factory 4 core a short time back that couldnt be over a year old for $50 out of the local scrap yard. It was a 6.2 powered diesel truck.

 

[TheBigTater]

maybe hit the local scrap yards. I found a nice factory 4 core a short time back that couldnt be over a year old for $50 out of the local scrap yard. It was a 6.2 powered diesel truck.

I checked the yards and there wasn't anything worth trying to save. Just ordered a 2 row all aluminum rad from Champion. $179.00 shipped. Not bad at all. After shipping its about the same price as the auto zone crap would have been with tax.

 

[Camo]

$179 doesnt seem bad. I have an aluminun cross flow 2 corem but the cores are about an inch wide, So its goona cool . I bought it off ebay for a project truck i am working on. Didnt have mounting tabs, but its all amuninum so i just welded some up.