all metal radiator failure

My wonderful all metal radiator had a small leak .About 4 years old .It was
where the bottom hose fits on to the radiator tube,But as well the
surrounding frame had sprung open on the opposite side at the top .Lousy
soldering poorly shaped to the frame .Me thinks Volvo Plastic might have
been better even if you do replace it every 10-12 years .

In article <4b729e1d$0$5420$(E-Mail Removed)>,
Jon Robertson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>My wonderful all metal radiator had a small leak .About 4 years old .It was
>where the bottom hose fits on to the radiator tube,But as well the
>surrounding frame had sprung open on the opposite side at the top .Lousy
>soldering poorly shaped to the frame .Me thinks Volvo Plastic might have
>been better even if you do replace it every 10-12 years .

Have it resoldered. Small leaks are always better than sudden catastrophic
failures.


Gary

--
Gary Heston (E-Mail Removed) http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

"It's kind of hard to rally 'round a math class."
Paul "Bear" Bryant

Jon Robertson wrote:
> My wonderful all metal radiator had a small leak .About 4 years old .It was
> where the bottom hose fits on to the radiator tube,But as well the
> surrounding frame had sprung open on the opposite side at the top .Lousy
> soldering poorly shaped to the frame .Me thinks Volvo Plastic might have
> been better even if you do replace it every 10-12 years .
>
>


I've never had a metal radiator fail, but nothing is infallible, perhaps
it was a manufacturing defect. The reason I hate the plastic radiators
is when they fail, they fail catastrophically and empty your entire
coolant supply before you realize anything has happened.

Jon Robertson wrote:
> My wonderful all metal radiator had a small leak .About 4 years old .It was
> where the bottom hose fits on to the radiator tube,But as well the
> surrounding frame had sprung open on the opposite side at the top .Lousy
> soldering poorly shaped to the frame .Me thinks Volvo Plastic might have
> been better even if you do replace it every 10-12 years .
>
>


That's possible. I bought an all-metal one and discovered that with
a little too much twisting (to position a small hose) one of the nipples
pulled partially out. The dealer replaced it for free, though. What the
others are saying has merit too, however: metal rads rarely fail
catastrophically, while plastic ones often do, at least when they are old.

I did resolder the radiator the output at the bottom was too loose as the
solder fell through ,did a fine job on that though .There was little solder
to start. With casing or frame was different it was not the right shape to
fit around the curves of the railing where the small return tank nipple is
so reshaping it to a closer fit and carefull soldering fixed it up .Your
right when the pastics go they completely go but often if you clean the
plastic out of the hose you will still have enough inlet pipe to drive
carefully to where you need to go if you just lossen off the refill cap a
little thats what I did when my plastic tank went .





"Jon Robertson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4b729e1d$0$5420$(E-Mail Removed) ...
> My wonderful all metal radiator had a small leak .About 4 years old .It
> was where the bottom hose fits on to the radiator tube,But as well the
> surrounding frame had sprung open on the opposite side at the top .Lousy
> soldering poorly shaped to the frame .Me thinks Volvo Plastic might have
> been better even if you do replace it every 10-12 years .
>

In article <dWLcn.18849$(E-Mail Removed)>, Leftie <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> Jon Robertson wrote:
> > My wonderful all metal radiator had a small leak .About 4 years old
> > .It was where the bottom hose fits on to the radiator tube,But as
> > well the surrounding frame had sprung open on the opposite side at
> > the top .Lousy soldering poorly shaped to the frame .Me thinks
> > Volvo Plastic might have been better even if you do replace it
> > every 10-12 years .
> >
> >
>
>
> That's possible. I bought an all-metal one and discovered that with a
> little too much twisting (to position a small hose) one of the
> nipples pulled partially out. The dealer replaced it for free,
> though. What the others are saying has merit too, however: metal rads
> rarely fail catastrophically, while plastic ones often do, at least
> when they are old.

Hmmm... mine dates from 1990 AFAIK. What's "old" in this context and
are there early warning signs to watch for?

--
"I wear the cheese, it does not wear me."

Tim McNamara wrote:
> In article <dWLcn.18849$(E-Mail Removed)>, Leftie <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>> Jon Robertson wrote:
>>> My wonderful all metal radiator had a small leak .About 4 years old
>>> .It was where the bottom hose fits on to the radiator tube,But as
>>> well the surrounding frame had sprung open on the opposite side at
>>> the top .Lousy soldering poorly shaped to the frame .Me thinks
>>> Volvo Plastic might have been better even if you do replace it
>>> every 10-12 years .
>>>
>>>
>>
>> That's possible. I bought an all-metal one and discovered that with a
>> little too much twisting (to position a small hose) one of the
>> nipples pulled partially out. The dealer replaced it for free,
>> though. What the others are saying has merit too, however: metal rads
>> rarely fail catastrophically, while plastic ones often do, at least
>> when they are old.
>
> Hmmm... mine dates from 1990 AFAIK. What's "old" in this context and
> are there early warning signs to watch for?
>


That's running on borrowed time for sure. I've seen them last longer,
but I've seen much younger ones fail. I would personally not run one for
more than 10 years. There's really nothing to watch for, that's the
problem, everything is fine and then a hose nipple snaps clean off or
the tank splits apart. The plastic heater control valves in the 700/900
series are prone to this as well, and I suspect newer models use
something similar.

In article <hl2hop$bdg$(E-Mail Removed)>,
James Sweet <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Tim McNamara wrote:
> > In article <dWLcn.18849$(E-Mail Removed)>, Leftie
> > <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >
> >> Jon Robertson wrote:
> >>> My wonderful all metal radiator had a small leak .About 4 years
> >>> old .It was where the bottom hose fits on to the radiator
> >>> tube,But as well the surrounding frame had sprung open on the
> >>> opposite side at the top .Lousy soldering poorly shaped to the
> >>> frame .Me thinks Volvo Plastic might have been better even if you
> >>> do replace it every 10-12 years .
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >> That's possible. I bought an all-metal one and discovered that
> >> with a little too much twisting (to position a small hose) one of
> >> the nipples pulled partially out. The dealer replaced it for free,
> >> though. What the others are saying has merit too, however: metal
> >> rads rarely fail catastrophically, while plastic ones often do, at
> >> least when they are old.
> >
> > Hmmm... mine dates from 1990 AFAIK. What's "old" in this context
> > and are there early warning signs to watch for?
> >
>
>
> That's running on borrowed time for sure. I've seen them last longer,
> but I've seen much younger ones fail. I would personally not run one
> for more than 10 years. There's really nothing to watch for, that's
> the problem, everything is fine and then a hose nipple snaps clean
> off or the tank splits apart. The plastic heater control valves in
> the 700/900 series are prone to this as well, and I suspect newer
> models use something similar.

Thanks to all for the heads-up on this.

--
"I wear the cheese, it does not wear me."