Will new radiator help run cooler?

joew623

Registered User
I know the stock temperature guage isnt very accurate, but mine goes past the m by one character. So if the guage read normx, the needle sits on the x most of the time. the high speed fan does kick on. i decided to flush the radiator and where you pour the coolant in, the radiator looks about 95% clogged. Should I replace the radiator? Will it run cooler with a new one? Will it hurt anything leaving it like this?
Thanks,
Joe
 
I would definately either:
-replace the rad
-have it cleaned out professionally
-have it cleaned and another core added.

I had the same problem- my temp gueage was always just past the "M", no change after flushing, new radiator brought the temps down considerably.
 
Joe
I am also going to replace my radiator before long. Did you go with just an oem style radiator? I had a recore with one more core added a few years back. I was never really that happy with it. I know there are some high flow units available, but the car is very stock so I think I can go with just an oem type. Does anyone know anything about the Radiator Express units?
Thanks
Denny
 
Yes, I went with an OEM replacement. The brand is Valeo. It came with plastic tanks as opposed to the metal (brass?) tanks that were stock, but it also has a lifetime warranty. So far it has held up. I went from a letter and a half above the "M" in NORM to the "R" just by replacing the rad. I don't remember where I got it but I called around- I think it was "The Radiator Store".

What don't you like about the extra cored rad? I just rebuilt my engine and anticipate it may run hotter and was thinking of a 3 core "stock" rad.
 
my rad is still going after 217 k miles i put stop leak and bars leak in when the headgaskets went i figured it would be clogged i dont change coolant much either but she still runs cool around 1/4 on the guage with 180 thermostat unless im climbing penn view mountain it will go up to half
 
Joe
When I had the new 3 core installed I didn't see a lot of decrease in temp. I had thought there would be quite a change. The engine at the time had about 100,000 miles. I just removed that engine (172,000 miles) with the orginal head gaskets. I installed a brand new 1990 crate motor. (Found on e-bay last Oct.) Thought I might as well start with a new radiator too. Keeping everything stock. I have it running now with about 100 miles on the engine. I installed extra gauges under the hood and it shows I run close to 200/210 most of the time after everthing comes up to temp. I think that you should be able maintain around thermostat temp most of the time instead of taxing the fan and system so much. Radiator Express has an all metal oem type (brackets included) that I might try.
Later
 
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