Ok got the new radiator in and sorted the other night.
Had to do the job twice cos of the leaks. Took me forever to get the whole front end of the Jeep apart to get the rad out, but the second time took me 1 hour to have the rad on the ground! Amazing what knowledge and experience does for ya
. For anyone that needs to do this, don't be put off, it is a really straight forward job, just follow the dots so to speak and you're there, just daunting the first time you do it.
I bought this rad:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320644571...84.m1497.l2649. They were good guys to deal with and it arrived to me in Perth in 3 days.
The new rad is almost identical to the old stock one, its weird actually how similar they are.
The only fitment difference was the new rad didn’t have any holes along the bottom of the core for the ‘rubber strip’ to connect to. No big deal. The rubber strip normally attaches to the rad and closes off the 30-40mm gap between the bottom of rad core and the lower rad support.
Here’s what I mean:
That’s the rubber strip in the black part on the bottom with its plastic screw/clip thing that would normally match up to a hole in the bottom of rad core:
You could drill the necessary holes to fit it but I didn’t bother.
Otherwise all the ‘hardware’ on the old rad has to be transferred over to the new rad (i.e. mounts etc)
After fitting the new rad I had x3 leaks. From thermostat housing, lower trans line at rad end, and overflow bottle hose leaking at rad end.
So I went to Supercheap and got these:
Blue RTV was for the thermostat – just apply to the outside of the thermostat itself on both sides of it so it seals to the housing surfaces.
Thread sealant was for the trans line – it was the inserted brass fitting that was leaking (it’s supplied with the rad, but you have to screw it in yourself) so applied it to the threads of both upper and lower (BTW these are slightly tapered fittings). Then also applied some to the actual trans line itself just to be sure (which from my research suggested that this was not necessary).
The small hose clamp was for the overflow bottle hose.
The larger hose clamps was just to replace the stupid factory clamps that having to pull everything apart the 2nd time gave me the opportunity to do.
After putting it all together and finishing about 12am, I left it to sit and not fill it with coolant to allow the sealants to dry/set overnight.
Next morning filled it with Nulon’s Long Life 50/50. Made sure I got all the air out the system etc.
After a few days now of driving, no leaks from anywhere, and temps are stable between 94-96 degrees when driving. If stationary at traffic lights on 30 degree day, then temps can rise to 102 degrees, but drop massively fast when the vehicle gets moving (or as soon as the revs rise spinning the clutch fan faster, or the AC is on and the aux fan comes on). So all good
Strangely enough, even with my old radiator in and leaking coolant everywhere (and importantly not holding pressure) and having to add approx 2-3 litres to it everyday the Jeep actually ran pretty much the same temps as I mentioned above. Makes me think the cooling system is quite efficient and has a fair amount of ‘headroom’ should things go wrong.. Makes you wonder about how far people go with neglect when you hear about a WJ that’s overheated (and usually results in head sealing issues)…
, so glad to be back in one.
