Pressure

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 06/13/2018 at 13:02 • Filed to: None

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Cooling system holds it (13 psi) and doesn’t leak or drop.

But isn’t getting too much of it warm and running. (11.5 psi) without pulsing.

Pressure caps both failed. The old one because it didn’t pop off, the new one didn’t fit in the tester...hmm.

Got a new cap today and will be testing that. barring that the ONLY thing it could be is the radiator. So...Rock Auto will allow me to return this, but only for a direct replacement under warranty. If it was you, would you pay the $40 to ship it and hope the next one doesn’t suck, or drop $150 on a local one I can return directly if I have a problem?

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 13:08

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With the amount of time you’ve spent smashing your head on this, I’d say pony up the extra $110 for piece of mind. Or if you really want to do it right (expensively), find a place that will sell you an all aluminium radiator. You’ll never have to worry about it again unless you punch a hole in it.

crowmolly > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 13:11

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Local.

Is the one that’s in there now a direct stock replacement? Or just the same dimensions?

HammerheadFistpunch > crowmolly 06/13/2018 at 13:12

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Different make but direct fit

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 13:12

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Guess I haven’t been following along enough, but have you checked the water pump itself? Sometimes the impeller blades rot away and you get all sorts of weird things happening.

I’m guessing what I’ve missed so far is that you had overheating problems and replaced the radiator... close?

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/13/2018 at 13:14

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New pump

crowmolly > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 13:14

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Gotcha. I was just wondering if there could be some jackassery with tubes and fins. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Edit: Oh and one other thing. Just to cover all bases.

Is this a belt driven water pump? Belt is good, no excess drag on the system?

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 13:16

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thermostat, hoses? Air burped out of thermostat housing?

benjrblant > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 13:26

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That’s all I got.

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/13/2018 at 13:34

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Yup yup yup

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/13/2018 at 13:38

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basically I have done EVERYTHING I could do. FLushed, burped a billion times, replaced the t-stat, hoses, belts, water pump, new foam on the rad, checked the shroud and fan clutch, etc etc. Its either this cap or the radiator. My money is on the radiator but im $15 out if the cap doesn’t work so why not.

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 13:40

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What’s the actual problem? Outright overheating? Surging? No heat? Sorry to make you go through it all again.

Even if the cap sucks, it should still do basic cooling. The cap is really just about boilover protection (lbs pressure) and refilling from the reservoir.

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/13/2018 at 13:42

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gettin hot. 226 is AC cutout, and 230 is head gasket danger zone.

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 13:46

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Just dug back found your radiator thread. So the gettin hot part is after a radiator swap - and everything else seems to be new - I’m going with radiator. If it’s a crap radiator it makes a really big difference.

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/13/2018 at 13:48

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My guess is bad unit, though another person on the forums is in the exact same boat...bad batch?

sony1492 > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 14:36

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Its kind of a letdown that it’s not the cap.

At this point I’d get the local radiator because you can take it back easier and it wont cost you $40 to do so.

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 14:38

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If it’s an exact replacement it could be bad. Reading the thread it sounds like it has some slight differences, maybe there are more differences? Things like row counts, row widths, fin counts in between the rows etc can have a huge affect later on. In the old days of copper radiators it was ‘2 core’ for most non-AC cars and ‘3 core’ for AC cars, referring to rows of copper tubes. With most of today’s aluminum radiators there are many similarities but it could be tube width, tube density and fin density that make a big difference, even though they are the same external dimensions.

KevlarRx7 > HammerheadFistpunch 06/13/2018 at 16:00

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HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/13/2018 at 16:20

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3 row copper, 2 row aluminum with plastic tank is oe, but 3 row copper was also an oe standard on this model.

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 11:42

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Sorry for the late reply. Just to clarify, your ‘new’ radiator is 3 row copper, but the oe rad you took out was 2 row aluminum?

Based on what I’ve been through and learned about aluminum vs copper radiators, aluminum radiators usually cool better because they have wider rows and denser fins (even though we know that copper transfers heat better than alum). So a 2 row aluminum should actually cool better than a 3 row copper and is lighter weight too!

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/14/2018 at 11:44

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yes, the OE rad in the FJ and early FZJ80's was a 3 row brass but they moved to a 2 row aluminum for later models. I’m okay with +10 degrees for brass v aluminum, but thats not whats happening, its getting hot and staying hot.

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 11:47

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Is the fan clutch engaging hard? How did you test the clutch? When it gets really hot, the fan should sound like an airplane at takeoff... is it a thermal or non-thermal fan clutch?

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 11:48

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If you leave the radiator cap off are you seeing good coolant flow through the radiator?

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/14/2018 at 11:49

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I see the coolant moving but its hard to see since the flow at the point of the cap is furthest away from movement.

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/14/2018 at 11:50

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its a brand new fan clutch and I hear and feel it driving hard. plenty of flow.

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 13:12

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Do you have one of those IR guns? Wondering if you see a temp drop across the radiator from input vs output sides

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/14/2018 at 13:13

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I can tell with my hand since I can touch both in and out hoses. Its flowing, but Its not flowing enough. Output hose is still hot and soft input hose is rock hard and really hot. (no, the HG is fine, no combustion gases present)

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 13:19

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What if you remove the thermostat? (as a test, don’t want to do that long term). Should see a dramatic increase in flow, but that will help you determine if it’s the thermostat that’s a restriction. With the input (upper?) hose rock hard, it kind of speaks to a restriction within the radiator, although that’s surprising.

Maybe pull it out and try to backflush the radiator? Can you put a scope or inspection camera down into the tanks on the input side? Maybe the rows got crimped down too small at the ends or something or are blocked with crap... I’m envisioning the ‘dirty openings’ 3rd-4th pic down this page: http://www.deansradiator.com/Aluminium-PlasticRadiatorRepairs.html

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/14/2018 at 13:21

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I pulled the t-stat and did a THOROUGH chemical flush and then a backflush and then some more flushing. there was flushing.

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 13:21

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nm

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/14/2018 at 13:22

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Thats what Im picturing. but this rad has only been in since january and so it can’t have gotten blocked with crud in that time.

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 13:23

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hmmm. okay, you’ve got me stumped then. Sounds like it has to be the radiator itself. Any way you can get a peek inside the tank?

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/14/2018 at 13:23

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not likely, there isn’t a lot of maneuvering room and I don’t have a scope.

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 13:24

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Yeah I realized that after I posted it, that’s not the right pic (I edited the post).

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 13:25

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Warranty on the radiator? Can you bring it to a shop to have it flow tested?

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/14/2018 at 13:27

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I can send it back to RA for a replacement, and I have a shop I can have it flow tested but its as much as a new aluminum rad from them so...

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 13:58

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Sounds like you might as well exchange it for the alum at this point. It can’t be worse, can it? ;)

HammerheadFistpunch > deekster_caddy 06/14/2018 at 14:28

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Can’t exchange for aluminum, only this same model. Annoying

deekster_caddy > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2018 at 15:24

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argh! Maybe bring the whole thing over to a good radiator shop and talk it over. There has to be something we are missing... or else they can ‘prove’ that it’s a bad radiator (or the wrong radiator?).