[Boneheimer]

Just a couple of quick questions, had a search and found a little info amongst the sea of peoples heating problems...

Has anyone bought an ebay vit radiator?
If so what was the quality decent?
Would I be better off spending the extra $100 to get an aluminum core from Jas rather than the plastic core?

As for hoses for the hoses for the sierra, does anyone have any recommendations for non-genuine replacements, as I don't want to have to pay more for hoses than I did for my car

Cheers

[royce]

I bought one a few weeks ago, $132 delivered and it arrived in a few days, doesnt leak and cools fine

you mean tanks not core, plastic tanks are fine in my opinion

Whatever repco sell, Gates are probably the only common brand around, for heater and bypass hoses jsut buy a length of the right sizr stuff and some of those bendy spiral things to form them up

[Boneheimer]

It wasn't this one by any chance?

[christover1]

royce wrote:

I bought one a few weeks ago, $132 delivered and it arrived in a few days, doesnt leak and cools fine

Didn't realise they be so cheap, (used to be very dear items)
going to get a new one as insurance for the new engine.
It claims a better auto oil cooler, too.

[royce]

dunno cant see ebay at work seller was radiators121

[christover1]

Boneheimer wrote:

It wasn't this one by any chance?

I just been looking at them,
be careful of the sizes,
there is 2 sizes,
mine is bigger than that,
best to measure.
Looks a good deal to me.

[Boneheimer]

christover1 wrote:

Boneheimer wrote:

It wasn't this one by any chance?

I just been looking at them,
be careful of the sizes,
there is 2 sizes,
mine is bigger than that,
best to measure.
Looks a good deal to me.

From what i've read the shorter size is the way to go when your using it in a SJ413 for clearance reasons, but thanks for the tip

I had a look at radiators121, here and the build quality of the rad looks the same as this one.

The second one has sold more, but i'm more likely to purchase one that someone else has had success with, thanks guys.

[85Drover]

Mate, I work at a radiator shop in Cairns and get LOADS of 'new' ebay radiators with cracked tanks and have leaky tubes. You're far better off buying a quality radiator than an ebay job.

The poor man pays twice..

[christover1]

For us non rad experts, how do we tell good from bad?

[85Drover]

Certain brands really. Adrad, Natrad, OEX etc are all good general brands. A lot of it has to do with construction and quality of materials.. For new ally radiators it can be difficult to tell, with buying any secondhand radiator always look for spots of discolouration around where the header plate meets the tubes, white deposits, fin damage, previous repairs and weight. If it weighs more than what you'd expect, run water through it a sus out the water flow before you buy. For copper/brass radiators, look at the quality of soldering; excessive amounts of solder, too little solder, fin damage, previous core repair etc. I'd advise you to get any radiator tested before installing it, most radiator shops (the one i'm at anyway) will test the radiator before installing it, and after installing it into the vehicle.