Skip to main content

Help with ideas would be great! I'm on my 3rd radiator after 15 years of ownership. the OE rad leaked after a few years and I tried to have it fixed but the rad shop said no chance it was beyond repair. Then I bought a Fluidyne and it worked great with the stock fans but it started leaking after 2 years. So frustrated I put stop leak in it as last resort and it sort of worked. For years I put up with leaking coolant on my garage floor. I got tired of filling it back up all the time so last year gave up and bought a new Hall radiator. Guess what? Now its leaking! I can see the leak coming from the fins have maybe cracked away from the side tank just like the Fluidyne radiator did. Do I have bad luck or is my car chassis maybe twisting too much? My car is pretty rust free in all the usual bad spots. I don't have any aftermarket chassis bracing. I used the rubber grommets that mount the radiator and didn't even really tighten it down in hopes of helping with not tweaking it. Maybe my 408 stroker engine is torquing the body too much? or can just jacking the car up on one side bend the body enough to cause radiator issues?
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Aluminum rads are particularly sensitive to internal corrosion from acidic local water. Many aluminum radiator suppliers now include a bottle of No-Rosion or something similar to counteract this. We humans can tolerate acidic drinks but alloys are less able to. 'Coke' will DISSOLVE a piece of aluminum over a short time. Note also that Corvettes & Z-28s have had aluminum radiators since about 1969 as stock. 'Vette owners often use sacrificial anodes of magnesium or other active metals suspended in coolant, for corrosion protection.

You can check your car for galvanic corrosion quite simply: from the 'Vette guys, pull the radiator cap and stick a probe from a good VOM, set on the lowest possible amp setting, in the coolant while grounding the other lead. A reading of over about 75 milliamps means ALL the light alloys in your cooling system are actively dissolving including radiators, aftermarket water pumps etc. But it DOES have to be a good VOM; $5 meters from a generic auto supply are just not sensitive enough. pH paper from a swimming pool supplier will also work: it should show above pH 7. Note this also applies to copper rads as well.

Another interesting thing: with the good VOM still connected and showing a high reading, turn on the headlights: if the meter reading increases, you also have grounding issues in your Pantera. You can progressively pull fuses while watching the meter to help trace the problem. Our '72 has had the same Fluidyne rad' in place since 2002 with no issues; N. Nevada water analyzes as nearly pure H2O, though. though. Good luck-
The water here is not hard. The new Hall radiator is brass/copper so I thought it would last longer than 1year before leaking. Not likely that corrosion is a problem. Like RRS1 replied its possibly just a bad radiator. If so I have no luck now on my 3rd radiator and maybe needing to buy another one. Would like to eliminate all issues if any with my car that could be causing radiator leaks.
soldering tends to be a better fix for cracking vs corrosion.
are you are completely confident there is no mechanical stress on your radiator?
everything lines up well no tweaking to get a bolt in? rubber bushings in place and effective?
crossmember solid, no body flex?
my hall radiator still tight 11 years on.

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×