Ebay Radiator??

[mooxie]

Hi All,
Been having some temp problems with my '04 ZD30 Nav.
Runs fine until I go over 2500rpm on the highway then the temp gauge starts rising.
I've put in a high flow thermostat, chemically flushed the cooling system and put good 50/50 glycol coolant back in and not much difference.
Also cleaned out the radiator and air con fins as good as possible with compressed air and water.
I'm thinking the only thing left is a pro flush or a new radiator.
Considering buying a new radiator from Ebay... price is good and they include a transmission cooler, which will help with fitting a forefront intercooler in the near future!
This is one I'm looking at.... thoughts or alternate suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Radiator...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item53f0aae003

 

[mooxie]

I should also add, the the current radiator has a Calsonic made in Japan sticker on it... I assume that's a pretty good way of judging it's the original one!

 

[fourocker]

Yeah the Calsonic is original, same as mine.
How's the bottom radiator hose ? does it still have the springy bit inside to stop it from sucking flat at higher water pump revs ?

 

[d22dave]

There's a guy selling a new zd 30 radiator on fb https://www.facebook.com/groups/NavaraD22/

 

[mooxie]

Cheers fourocker.... I read about the spring thing in the hose somewhere else... where is it? The bottom hose is weird... like it's too parts or something... so it the spring part near the radiator end or the thermostat end? (Or all the way through?) I couldn't get my hand down to the bottom near the radiator to check.... will have to pull the shroud off again and have a squeeze.

 

[mooxie]

Thanks d22dave, Would have been a bargain, except it'll cost me a mint to freight it!

Still keen for opinion's on the ebay radiators... worth a shot or are they just gonna be crap?

 

[bods]

They might be OK, but do you want to risk it? If you are stuck on the side of the road somewhere and have to get a new replacement from somewhere else if it fails....? I'd rather buy one locally and have a local or national warranty on it in case you do run into any sort of trouble with a warranty issue...

 

[unkn0wn]

i spoke to a radiator guy recently regarding GQ radiators, but the principle is the same.

he said generic radiators are rubbish and may cause you more trouble then they are worth.
he said he had a client buy one, then scrap it for a nissan one and his overheating went away.
obviously a brand name radiator, like Koyo should be fine, but generic crap is generic crap.
he quoted me $350 to rip apart the radiator and re-core it and make it good as new

nissan quoted $950 for a new GQ radiator, ex japan and sugested there aus counterpart Adrad do a replacement they also recomend.
this on was $550 ish through nissan, but we got the same one from ebay for about $400. I havent fitted it yet, but it looks good and cost roughly the same as a re-core.

same prince-able for the nav/gq i guess, if your getting a radiator, make sure its a trusted name, you dont want to take risks with your cooling system.

 

[mooxie]

Cheers all!
If it cools down tonight enough I'll rip the bash plate off so I can get into the bottom radiator hose and try and feel the spring thing!

If that feels dodgy, I'm gonna rip out the radiator so I can give it a good reverse flush, clean the fins properly etc then replace the radiator hoses and drive belt while I'm in there.

Fingers crossed that's it, otherwise, spoke to the local radiator 'specialist' he's been doing it for years, but never done a Nav! If I pull the radiator, $120 to rip the tanks of and give it a proper clean including a new top tank.

Half tempted to take the radiator in for a pro clean anyway... it is 10 years old!

 

[amber.2]

I had the radiator replaced in my early model D22 after it keeps over heating once I drove over 110kph , The radiator place in MT Druid did a pressure test and found that half the cores were blocked, The cores in the early D22 Diesels were only 20mil thick and didn't allow that much cooling , they installed a 35mil thick core radiator and I never had any problems of over heating after that and they only charged me $275 from memory .

 

[mooxie]

Thanks amber.2! I'll check the thickness of the core before I put it in for a clean.
I'm on the fence to just replace the radiator anyhow... $270 for a 36mm Koyo delivered. What's everyone's thoughts... get the original cleaned or a Koyo? Really think $900 for a genuine Nissan is overkill!