When to replace radiators?

[BMWTurboDzl]

I detailed my car this past weekend and noticed that my oil and aux radiator are both looking the worse for wear. After 7 years and 63k of mostly highway /intra-urban hwy miles they've taken a beating. They're full of pebbles and small pieces of debris which have wedged themselves within the vanes. Without taking off the bumper I can't really clean them other than using a wand to vacuum leaves and large pieces.

Q: At what point would you just replace them? Both would run me about $500 total.

 

[edyvw]

I detailed my car this past weekend and noticed that my oil and aux radiator are both looking the worse for wear. After 7 years and 63k of mostly highway /intra-urban hwy miles they've taken a beating. They're full of pebbles and small pieces of debris which have wedged themselves within the vanes. Without taking off the bumper I can't really clean them other than using a wand to vacuum leaves and large pieces.

Q: At what point would you just replace them? Both would run me about $500 total.

Not sure, I would leave it as is. On BMW IMO after 10y-100k,coolant hoses, coolant reservoir are a must.
On N55 I would replace ASAP Mickey Mouse flange with aluminium one.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-aluminum-coolant-hose-flange-rein-chc0609

 

[bdcardinal]

I detailed my car this past weekend and noticed that my oil and aux radiator are both looking the worse for wear. After 7 years and 63k of mostly highway /intra-urban hwy miles they've taken a beating. They're full of pebbles and small pieces of debris which have wedged themselves within the vanes. Without taking off the bumper I can't really clean them other than using a wand to vacuum leaves and large pieces.

Q: At what point would you just replace them? Both would run me about $500 total.

They make hose attachments to clean radiators. here is one I bought recently.

 

[Lubener]

I would remove the radiator to do a complete cleaning and evaluation. I wouldn't have a problem reinstalling it for continued service if it looks decent after cleaniing it..It's not leaking or having any issues, save your $500.
That radiator is probably better in quality than the aftermarkets and you might want to have it looked at by a radiator shop if its that bad or get a new one.

 

[rob1715]

At what point would you just replace them?

The trite answer would be as needed. Ask 10 people and you'll get 10 answers. It's a personal call on your part. As long as they're doing the job, keep them. When they don't do what they're designed to do, change them out.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

when they leak

 

[The_Jeff]

When you nearly overheat or at least start running warmer than you used to. Nobody can guess what amount of reserve capacity is engineered in to your car.

They sell fin straighteners.

 

[Audiman]

Normally once they either start to leak or the lower cores start to expand and sag as this can suddenly fail when driving and I don’t want to be ringing recovery! If you can get it on a ramp or the front end up and you don’t mind getting wet, and the only issue with it is some debris then try and blast it back out the way it came in

 

[JMJNet]

Let me try to understand.
You don't want to take of the bumper to clean but want to replace the radiator?
You probably need to take off the bumper to replace it?
So, IMO, take of the bumper and clean the radiator, it is part of the maintenance anway.
Otherwise, get a car with easier access to radiator to clean it.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

I would remove the radiator to do a complete cleaning and evaluation. I wouldn't have a problem reinstalling it for continued service if it looks decent after cleaniing it..It's not leaking or having any issues, save your $500.
That radiator is probably better in quality than the aftermarkets and you might want to have it looked at by a radiator shop if its that bad or get a new one.

These are tiny. Sitting at the lower L/R front corners of the front end. I was going to reolace them with OE. .

 

[2EHA]

when they turn brown

 

[Donald]

I would remove the radiator to do a complete cleaning and evaluation. I wouldn't have a problem reinstalling it for continued service if it looks decent after cleaniing it..It's not leaking or having any issues, save your $500.
That radiator is probably better in quality than the aftermarkets and you might want to have it looked at by a radiator shop if its that bad or get a new one.

Are there still radiator shops? I thought they went the way of carburetor rebuilding shops once radiators went aluminum and plastic.

 

[supton]

How much effort is it to remove and straighten fins? I'm wondering about the effort to R&R, and what might get broken in the process, and if it's cheap money to just swap it out for new and not have to think about this for another 7 years.

I've only replaced on radiator so far, I think it was 17 years old and the fiberglass tank on top looked like it had a crack that had weeped at some point. Was it bad? would it have gone bad soon? I think it was $100 to swap and I decided to not run the gamble ($100 for a Denso at that). Otherwise these days I'm not sure that they wear out all that much, I mean, plug up from corrosion. Maybe rot away but I haven't seen that either.

 

[Malo83]

Take it to a Radiator shop, still around.

 

[Chris142]

When I worked at the radiator shop we kept track of radiator failures. The average for a failure,usually a cracked tank was 100k.

Didn't matter what brand. All failed around there. Did see the occasional one with much more miles but that was rare.

The original in my Jeep was plugged up internally@62k.

 

[timtupper]

I take them off. Pressure wash from the backside. Don’t get water inside the oil cooler. Use a small flathead screwdriver to straighten up the fins. If it’s leaking then replace.

 

[Donald]

When I worked at the radiator shop we kept track of radiator failures. The average for a failure,usually a cracked tank was 100k.

Didn't matter what brand. All failed around there. Did see the occasional one with much more miles but that was rare.

The original in my Jeep was plugged up internally@62k.

What kind of radiators fail at 100K? Plastic tank?

 

[Chris142]

What kind of radiators fail at 100K? Plastic tank?

Yes the ptr ones

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Yes the ptr ones

Japanese OEM seem to go 200k+

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

How much effort is it to remove and straighten fins? I'm wondering about the effort to R&R, and what might get broken in the process, and if it's cheap money to just swap it out for new and not have to think about this for another 7 years.

I've only replaced on radiator so far, I think it was 17 years old and the fiberglass tank on top looked like it had a crack that had weeped at some point. Was it bad? would it have gone bad soon? I think it was $100 to swap and I decided to not run the gamble ($100 for a Denso at that). Otherwise these days I'm not sure that they wear out all that much, I mean, plug up from corrosion. Maybe rot away but I haven't seen that either.

Car on stands and then remove both front wheels and remove front section of the wheel well liner

They're located at the bottom left and bottom right air scoops. Oil cooler is on the passenger side and aux coolant radiator on the driver side.

Here's a pic of the driver side one, Only about half is exposed to the road