Radiator

[irowiki]

Car is still running too close to the hot side for my comfort when going up a hill when it is 80 degrees out, I figure I should look at replacing my somewhat plugged radiator soon.

Does anyone here have a spare radiator kicking around they would like to sell me? I have a manual transmission.

Also I read that a Corolla radiator will work as well, what year range?

[dlb]

for questions about years of compatibility, i find the best thing to do it go to rockauto.com or some similar website and look up the part for your car and take note of the part # of a few common brands. then look up the same part and brand for another car and check to see if the #s match. i believe that's called cross-referencing but i could be wrong.

i would suggest buying a new rad, personally. they're not much, usually around $100.

[Petros]

I have a good single row radiator I will sell, but where you are located you might better off getting a double row rad. As DLB noted, they do not cost much if you shop around you might find a good deal, but verify it is the double row radiator core and not the single that came in the 2wd Tercels.

You might also try boiling out your existing one, it will cost only nothing, and if it is no good anyway it would not hurt to try: remove the radiator, back flush with hose in it the outlet, drain, fill with vinegar and let sit for 2 to 4 hours, back flush again, neutralize with baking soda and water. Reinstall. this usually works, if there is enough corrosion so the acid eats through the walls, than it was shot anyway.

[irowiki]

dlb: I was more wondering for the sake of ebay, there was a post about "yeah I got a corolla rad to work, but it was larger" so I was wondering what to search by! For price comparison, is the double row from 4WD tercels, and I wonder if a double row would even fit in mine.

It cooled fine up and down mountain passes etc until I flushed it and it plugged after that, so I think a single row could still work. It's funny, I think only like 4 of the rods are plugged, but I guess it doesn't take much?

I did do the vinegar trick, but only for about 30 minutes, and I don't think I actually filled the rad up. The process helped it not to overheat on normal driving and idling, perhaps I should get some stronger vinegar and try again!

How much for the single row, Peter?

[Petros]

the corrolla one can be made to fit in second gen Tercel but the inlet and outlet are in different locations so you would have to do some plumbing to do, unless you used the RWD corolla rad that uses the 4ac motor (it should be similar).

I just realized you have the first gen Tercel, you may have a different radiator all together, your hood line is lower and the second gen radiator may be too tall to fit. I went and looked at the Rockauto website, and the picture for your radiator has inlet/outlet in same place, and it looks same height, but yours in narrower and the mounting is completely different. If I sold you the second gen tercel radiator you can get it to fit but you would have to find a way to mount it.

[irowiki]

Ah in that case I'll just look for a first gen rad, cause I don't really have the ability (skillz) to custom mount one!

[Petros]

From the Rockauto on-line catalog.

is the first gen (1981) Tercel radiator:


This is the second gen (1985) Tercel radiator:


this is the 1985 corolla radiator:

[keith]

If it gets hot while going up hill, a new radiator won't help unless it comes with a new cap, and many don't. Its actually the cap you need. Thats a classic symptom of a cap that no longer holds specified pressure.

[Petros]

It could be the cap, or it could be reduced cooling capacity. A scaled up radiator will also act like that, when under load the cooling demand is higher, and the temp rises if there is less cooling capacity than the engine is putting out is excess heat. A pinched hose or a partly stuck open t-stat can also case it too. One simple test BTW, to determine if it is a limited cooling capacity, is when under load and the temp starts to climb, turn on your heater on full. If the temp drops, than you have limited cooling capacity.

[irowiki]

The cap has been replaced, the thermostat has been replaced, I can get the car hot, take a temp gun, and a good three inches right under where the cap/inlet is shows 80 F and the rest of the radiator shows 150F.

[Petros]

yup, pretty clear indication the radiator is partically plugged up. If it is in good condition th;ere are radiator shops that can remove the top and run pipe cleaners down the tubes and than put it back together, this costs about half as much as buying a new one. Of course this is only worth while if basic core is in good condition, but it is just plugged up. I had this done to a near new radiator for our MPV4wd, the radiator costs about $240, and a year later the POS remanufactured water pump shreded and sent metal shavings all over the rad, the heater and the rear heater. We did not know it was a problem in the radiator until it got warm in the last spring. Same behavior, heat gun test showed center of the rad at only about 80 deg. I had tried the acid soak and a back flush, but it did not work (it did work on the heaters however, so I was happy for that). They only charged me $80 to remove the top and clean it out. It was an all metal radiator so the top had to be taken out with a torch, and silver soldered back on. They tested the radiator for both flow and heat transfer before and after just to verify it was indeed plugged.

Never will I buy a reman water pump again, the "savings" cost a lot of money and trouble to fix the damage it did. On the MPV, the water pump change is a 5 to 6 hour job, not worth it for that alone, never mind that I had to spend hours cleaning/flushing out the metal shavings from the system, and pay to have the near new radiator repaired. It could have done more more severe damage to the engine as well, but fortunately the 3.0 v-6 in the Mazda is a very robust engine.

[irowiki]

So I took the Tercel over the mountains this weekend with two adults, the baby, carseat, and a full trunk of stuff (it was quite amazing packing that trunk) and light driving in say 65 degree weather had the temp near HOT. Even with me babying her. I was starting to think we'd need to turn around and get my Buick.

I had Petro's post in my mind though about testing with the heater, but I can't turn it on from the inside. By then it was dark and getting cool, so I stopped the car, and opened my new manual heater valve wide open. In the 15 seconds it took me to open it, close the hood and get back into the car, the temp was back down to the middle

After that I stopped babying her and the temp never went above slightly under the middle!

I got quoted $65-85 to take the tanks off and clean the rad out, when I can score a new one for $100-110 shipped (sometimes as low as $80). I might do some more price hunting on the repair. A new one sounds good because the side brackets on mine are busted, one side is being held in with duck tape wedged in there.

[irowiki]

Ended up replacing the radiator (Spectra from ebay) and both hoses. Had to finagle with the hoses quite a bit, but now, on the same uphill climb in hot weather on the way to my work, the temp didn't bobble at all! Temp rises to mid at idle then the fan kicks in and brings it back down.

Had to macgyver the ground for the fan switch, will get a picture later.

[dlb]

what was wrong with the new hoses? i usually compare the new and old hoses side by side. if the old ones were a good fit and the new ones are a bit too long, which is usually the case, i trim a small amount off of the new ones.

[irowiki]

Even after trimming, especially the bottom one, didn't want to fit the way it was before, I think many years of heat managed to remold them or something

There's a slight bend in the top hose, and the bottom hose is routed differently. Will show some pictures later when I am home!