My corolla is going to need a new radiator at some poijt, as the plastic top tank is weeping slightly and all the corrugated elements ahve started corroding and dropping out.
Looked on Ebay and there seem to be several "brands" available, all around the £60 mark.
Nissens are claiming to be "all aluminium doesn't corrode" - what are the corrugated elements on my roriginal ad made of ? I assumed it was aluminium and that was why it was corroding ?
There are other Co's - SLickparts, and Aaron Rad Co. which say they make their own.
Can anyone recommend any of these or another brand which is going to give a few years service ??
There are other co's advertising that theirs are OE quality, but of course don't say which brand, so one can't verify this.
The car is 13yrs old so I'm not sure if it is worth putting on too expensive things. Have done that on old cars b4 and either something big goes and not worth repairing, or someone hits u and writes it off !!! What do people think....
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Aluminium doesn't corrode in the way you believe, but can be affected if you live close to the coast. See:
www.snelsons.co.uk/aluminium_corrosion.html
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I'm a chemistry teacher - I know ally doesn't corrode usually because of the thin layer of hard oxide coating it, but other things like road-salt can hasten this, hence why the bottom of my radiator has dropped out first - closer to the road and hence salt.
Also the structure of the frame of my original rad appears to be copper coloured under the paint - copper is less reactive than ally, and hence also likely to hasten corrosion of the ally in contact with the salt , if indeed the corrugated bits are aluminium and there is copper in the frame.
I just question whether making a radiator all-alluminium is wise seeing as the bottom large chunks of my existing one seem to be all but gone - am I going to get much service out of a completely aluminium one, are the water-carrying sections liable to corrode this quickly as my current one from outside and leak?
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if you think radiators are bad made of aluminium then look at the a/c radiators of a 5 year old korean car
they turn to dust when you touch them never mind wanting to move them to get to things
radiator for your mota? try your local factor and you get a local guarantee not some promise on the end of an email
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I look after a lot of cars that are prone to rad failure (Citroen/Peugeot). I've been fitting Nissens for some years and rate them above most others. They come in superb quality packaging and have been a perfect fit every time so far.
My least liked are local "re-cores".
David
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Serck come with two year warranty;also offer an "exchange" service for some vehicles-most Halfords are agents for them .
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Aluminium radiators certainly do corrode - especially when they get some salt over them.
Serck Marston tend to be good but expensive. Nissen are fine. Last rad I bought for a Toyota was for a Paseo last year - came from my local rad recorer and he fitted it with a Canadian-made core for about £40. It seemed fine.
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I've had Nissens radiators installed in two MBs. Two years on from the first and one year on from the second, there are no problems apparent. It was no contest with the MB OEM price, which was more than three times the Nissens price from GSF. Nissens are a Danish company, which I find comforting in terms and high-quality image & engineering culture -- purely a personal perception, of course.
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I maintain a Peugeot 106 which has the usual French appetite for radiators - in fact it's had two of them.
The original Ordonnez radiator began to leak at about 4 years old and was replaced with a German Behr, from GSF. Looked good, perfect fit.
To my surprise, after another 4 years this unit started to leak with major coolant loss from the centre of the matrix. Examination showed it to be badly corroded, just like the Ordonnez unit. So much for German "quality".
I have now just fitted a Nissens unit which is either aluminium or (more likely) zinc plated on the core - I'll have another look next time I see the car. Fit and finish were first rate and the unit was carefully packaged as has been mentioned. I would expect this unit to outlast the car. OE coolant at 50% strength with distilled water has been used at all times.
659.
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Hi,
sorry to steal this thread but just out of curiousity is external corrosion the main reason for radiator failure????
I have heard of other reasons for rad failure including stones from the road bursting a hole in rad, internal corrosion, causing the rad to choke and burst, the plastic cracking but i would be interested to what is the most common cause of rad failure and wot is a typical life expectancy for a rad???
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