all metal radiator failure

[Jon Robertson]

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 .

 

[Gary Heston]

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

 

[James Sweet]

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.

 

[Leftie]

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.

 

[Jon Robertson]

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 .

 

[Tim McNamara]

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.[/QUOTE]

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

 

[James Sweet]

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?
[/QUOTE]


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.

 

[Tim McNamara]

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.