Radiators keep breaking...

[toeout]

All the mounting parts are there. There are two rubber isolators at the bottom and two on the top, attached to the upper half of the fan shroud. The isolators are in very good shape and there is zero possibility of radiator-to-body contact.

The way the last radiator was cracked open, it was definitely pressure induced. Now the question is whether the pressure was normal and the radiator sub-par or the pressure was too high for some reason.

 

[toeout]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Check that the release pressure of the new cap is the same as the factory specified old cap.


It is. 15PSI. They both have identical part numbers printed on them.

 

[Chris142]

Chinese thermostat that opens too fast and a wall of water blows the tank apart.

 

[Lyman]

90% of them are made in China. It's very common these days for them to fail. While I was shopping online a few years ago for a radiator I ran across a website that was selling them by the pallet from China. They were pretty cheap from what I remember. The mark up on the ones for sale retail is a few hundred percent.

 

[Kruse]

Probably just a run of bad luck because they are built on a price point, not a quality point. I miss the good old USA-built Modine radiators from 15 years ago.

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Pro-Vista? AAP? Do I even need to guess the COO?

My mercedes have original radiators - every one. 30+ years, 250k miles? No big deal for a plastic radiator...

That is because Benz radiators are built well.

Don't expect more than 10 years from a Denso radiator, OEM or not.

 

[toeout]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Pro-Vista? AAP? Do I even need to guess the COO?

My mercedes have original radiators - every one. 30+ years, 250k miles? No big deal for a plastic radiator...

That is because Benz radiators are built well.

Don't expect more than 10 years from a Denso radiator, OEM or not.


At this point 10 years sounds like dream.

Rented a cap tester from Autozone, but none of the adapters fit. It's a threaded cap, so it probably has some special adapter that wasn't included in the kit.

 

[wrcsixeight]

I have a Chinese all aluminum Silla.

Started seeping where the tubes meet the bottom tank in 9 months. Been seeping for 2 years now.

No idea what to replace it with. I expect they are all bottom of the Asian barrell.

 

[cchase]

I think there are 2 options here.

Either some kind of mechanical stress is stressing the radiator tank, and no radiator is going to survive for very long or,

you are having bum luck with aftermarket radiators. I remember that when the radiator needed to be replaced on our 944 we went through several aftermarket ones that died in short succession.