Inner construction of radiator question


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Old 07-19-17, 04:39 PM
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Inner construction of radiator question

Same truck as always: 92' Ford Ranger XLT with 2.9 V6, 4WD, auto transmission. I installed a new Lynol radiator. See photo below. Notice how the copper or brass looking tube in the plastic body is offset and not centered with the radiator cap opening?

My old radiator also had the misaligned brass tube set up. But the offset wasn't nearly as pronounced. New radiator is functioning well. But is the offset with that brass tube thing normal and will it cause a problem later?
 
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Old 07-19-17, 07:34 PM
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The internals of the radiator are lined up..... it's the neck that is installed off center.
The neck is just for filling and won't affect the operation.
 
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Old 07-20-17, 12:40 PM
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Thanks Pete,

My make/model radiator also provides cooling for the transmission fluid (in addition to second trans fluid cooler mounted just behind front grill).

The new radiator has two brass union fittings for the two trans fluid lines. These two brass fittings were slightly loose out of the box, and the teflon tape was wrapped in the wrong direction too. So I removed the fittings and wrapped fresh teflon tape correctly.

The guy at the radiator place said don't over tighten the fittings because they might damage or crack the radiator. Not sure how critical torque spec is for these fittings. But I tightened fittings only to the point where it required a little muscle to turn wrench.

No leaks anyway.
 

Last edited by bluesbreaker; 07-20-17 at 01:52 PM.
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Old 07-20-17, 03:32 PM
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You did good. As you noticed I'm sure, the metal on that radiator is a lot lighter than a lot of things we lay our hands on, so "snug" is about what you want. It's easy enough to crawl down there and check it a few times to make sure, and it's not like it's going to gush out, so the worst case scenario is that you might have to add a turn. Much better that than having to have it repaired because you went too far.
 
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Old 07-20-17, 07:50 PM
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Yep... you did good.

I was just thinking..... at my old store I had an 89 Ford Ranger with the same V-6 engine. It was a beater truck I just used for plowing. Towards the end all the brake lines were rusted out so I needed to glide to a stop while plowing.

Previously I could never take the truck very far on the road because the plow blocked the little tiny radiator they put in those things. I had to leave the plow just about touching the road or it would overheat.
 
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Old 07-20-17, 09:51 PM
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With your plow obstructing airflow, it almost seems like you'd have to improvise some type of air duct to re-route air to the radiator

Yeah Pedro, the radiator metal doesn't seem very robust now that I look closer.

Probably torqued it a little more than snug..............more like low end of tight.......if that's any difference.

Won't take up too much of your time...........................But if one overtightened those brass fittings, could that cause trans fluid and coolant to mix from a rupture?
 
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Old 07-21-17, 03:00 AM
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Only the trans fluid would leak if you stripped or otherwise harmed the threads for the trans cooler. The engine coolant is a separate compartment of the radiator.
 
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Old 07-21-17, 08:30 AM
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Ok. Thanks. Then the new radiator should be fine.
 
 

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