You guys have given me amazing advice on my cooling issues so I am here to bug you again. I have the cooling issue almost licked here in Cairo by getting a "new" (used and fixed) radiator. Initially I noticed a leak, had it fixed and rodded but now it's leaking again. As the leak developed I noticed that I was measuring about 210 while moving and 220 when in gridlock whereas before I was 190-200 in almost all circumstances.

So I am going to bite the bullet and ship one in, I've found that the price point on the plastic+aluminum ones are about 200 US for me whereas the all metal ones are 300 US+... I'll splurge the extra $100 if I have to but was wondering if any one here is running a plastic + alum radiator and if they work and are durable enough. The initial cost isn't the biggest thing but since the cheaper one is plastic I don't get clobbered in shipping costs as much. I tried to get the rad fixed another time but now the guy just wants to add stop-leak to it which will make the issue worse I am sure.

I have yet to take it for serious off-roading but would like to soon so I don't want any parts breaking up on me. The funny thing about Cairo is that almost all radiators leak in used cars so folks look at me funny when I tell them I need a new one.

Thanks as always.

 

Don't think I have seen complaints from guys that bought em, think just about all cars come with Them now days so guess really it comes down to preference unless someone can say for sure one is more durable, d2 guys all have alum

 

All metal is better. Plastic side tanks eventually crack. But if only planning on 5-10 years, won't be much difference. We can get plastic/aluminum rad for D1 here in US for about $240. That said all the older Mercedes you see running about have plastic side tanks. What is your source for an all metal $300 one? Does it have oil cooler and tranny cooler fittings?

I think the radiator stop leakz and coolant booster sales weasels should open a new territory... Pharaoh Pfix Coolant Dust - made from the dust of 5000 years in the royal camel paddock...

 

Dang if you're going to spend $300, you might as well save 2-300 more and just get the org brass one.

 

All cars now days come with the plastic ones, you'll be fine.

 

If your tanks are good any radiator shop should be able to replace the core, lots of times with a bigger core.
On a copper radiator it is all about the tanks, if the tanks are good you should have it rebuilt.

 

Iirc from an earlier thread he had it rodded or recorded already he is in egypt

 

there is a big difference between rodding and replacing the core, when they replace the core the unsolder the two tanks install a new core universal and solder the two tanks back on.
I have to assume the somewhere in that country there is a shop that knows how to replace a core, I would find it hard to believe that every radiator in Egypt is replaced with a new one.

 

Thanks for the advice... So to confirm I am from Virginia and doing some projects in Cairo currently. Landrovers are fairly popular but only the newer ones. When it comes to the D1, D2 you can typically only find used radiators. They also have a bad tendency to poorly remove things, if they'd let me at the old rovers I'd remove the stuff much more gently.

So I have a relationship with BritParts in the UK, they are very cool about my Virginia billing address, Egypt ship to address where others panic. On a side note Magnecore was awesome about this and shipped with no fuss either, so I have my new ignition cables coming too. The $300 metal one was an All Makes I believe and it came from another Brit company, it may have been British Atlantic. The $200 plastic/alum was from BritParts.

So I've had 2 different radiators rodded out and they seemed to improve. My last one I found these pin hole leaks which wouldn't cause major cooling issues but I thought they'd get worse when I was 100's of miles from home. A few spots were welded that were obvious but I later found out that the guy slipped in that no-leak stuff and while I can't find any leaks my temps aren't that great anymore. I suspect that junk has undone all that the rodding did by clogging up the tubes.

A few months ago I had a new of fins redone here and welded onto the side tanks of Radiator #1 but they use an open configuration which the landrover hated. They used my old side tanks and the Rover would work it's way up to about 250 degrees in about 30 minutes no matter what. The new radiator ran about 190 before the no leak was added. I noticed the new fins were designed to allow the maximum amount of air to pass through the radiator. If you look at a D1 radiator it looks like Landrover purposely sends the air up and down in waves and attempt to slow the air down for max cooling. That's just a guess though based on just looking at it...

Perhaps I could go with the plastic / alum one and if it fails in 5 years I can have my old metal side tanks welded to it (I guess the metals would need to match though). One beauty of being in here is that labor is cheap. I think the rodding cost me $17 US last time.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped with my on-going cooling Saga. I had about 2 weeks of awesome temps until goober boy decided to use that No-Leak stuff... SB - totally agree with you on branding that stuff LOL.

I'll post an update once this thing arrives and get's installed !

 

With alum the side tanks eventually crack or seal leaks, easy fix but unsure price of new tank either way it should last you