Apparently, aftermarket radiators for this engine are, for whatever reason, sometimes supposed to be thicker than the OEM radiator. The radiator shop gave me a part that was mismarked for my vehicle (I'm assuming maybe it was for the W/o A/C pickups?) Either way, went back to the supplier, got about 5 minutes of "you don't know what you're talking about" until the manager opened the box to another radiator and realized how much thinner the one they gave me was. Apologies were the order of the day.
When they gave me the first radiator, it looked identical to the original in terms of rows, thickness etc. so it didn't send up red flags for me or my mechanic.
Long story short, exchanged it for another radiator, slid it in, locked it down, bled it and she runs cooler than when I bought her. The lesson: parts suppliers and even good mechanics do make silly mistakes.
Thanks again for your input and time guys.
The Following User Says Thank You to adammj For This Useful Post:
Apparently, aftermarket radiators for this engine are, for whatever reason, sometimes supposed to be thicker than the OEM radiator. The radiator shop gave me a part that was mismarked for my vehicle (I'm assuming maybe it was for the W/o A/C pickups?) Either way, went back to the supplier, got about 5 minutes of "you don't know what you're talking about" until the manager opened the box to another radiator and realized how much thinner the one they gave me was. Apologies were the order of the day.
When they gave me the first radiator, it looked identical to the original in terms of rows, thickness etc. so it didn't send up red flags for me or my mechanic.
Long story short, exchanged it for another radiator, slid it in, locked it down, bled it and she runs cooler than when I bought her. The lesson: parts suppliers and even good mechanics do make silly mistakes.
Thanks again for your input and time guys.
I'm glad you solved the problem. But I can't figure out why thickness would be an issue. I gather that by thickness, you mean the wall thickness of the channels. For the purpose of heat transfer, you want to make this as thin as possible. What would be purpose be for a thick-walled radiator?
I'm glad you solved the problem. But I can't figure out why thickness would be an issue. I gather that by thickness, you mean the wall thickness of the channels. For the purpose of heat transfer, you want to make this as thin as possible. What would be purpose be for a thick-walled radiator?
He's referring to the number of tubes. If he had a radiator with 4 rows of tubes and they gave him a replacement with 3 rows, the cooling capacity would be decreased. The physical size of the radiaotr can be the same but the number of rows makes a big difference.
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