New Radiator

Submitted: Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 18:36

ThreadID: 14738 Views:1983 Replies:7 FollowUps:15

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Member - Roachie (SA)

G'day all,
Just thought I'd let you all know that I've bitten the bullet and bought a PWR radiator for the Patrol.
What a beautiful piece of equipment it is. (Mind you it'd want to be for the price). The thing slotted straight in to the existing position. The only issue i had was that despite the lugs being provided to accomodate the OE plastic cowling, I could not get it to fit. The reasons were more to do with the fact that radiator is noticeably thicker and it's inner face sits closer to the motor than the original. So when I tried to position the cowling in place, it fowled on various motor parts,( but not the fan).
I decided initially to simply leave the cowling off altogether, but quickly realised that without it the top of the spinning fan was easily accessible to any misdirected fingers. So a decision was made to cut the cowling horizontally about 100mm down from the top and just put this piece in place using the 3 screw lugs. Note that the raditor has 3 holes tapped to take 10mm screws, wheras the plastic Nissan unit has 3 self-tappers to do this job. Luckily I had a supply of the correct size bolts on hand.
Hope this helps anybody who is thinking of following this method of solving the 4.2's tendancy to get too warm in the summer months.

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Reply By: Member - Pesty (SA) - Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 18:43

Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 18:43

HEH ANNETTE BILL HAS SPENT SHIP LOADS ON THE TROL AGAIN !!!! LOL

AnswerID: 68174

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 20:19

Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 20:19

Jeez thanks Steve, old mate!!!!
Annette tells me she's sent you a member message while I was out at Moonta collecting the chinese tucker.
I told her it only cost $29.95 from cheap as chips. Now she's not so sure!

FollowupID: 328821

Follow Up By: Member - Pesty (SA) - Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 20:26

Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 20:26

Ship Mate Most of us use a shovel to dig in deeper and you just use your mouth !!! LOL
Chinese Whats wrong with Annettes cooking ? or was it your turn to cook ?

FollowupID: 328824

Reply By: Peter 2 - Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 19:28

Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 19:28

Roachie I would be inclined to fit the whole shroud, just trim the back edge to clear things.
By leaving half of it off you may actually decrease the airflow through the radiator as the fan blades can pull air sideways from the engine bay rather than through the core.
I had this happen on a hotted up holden I had cooling issues with years ago (you may remember that older cars didn't have a shroud ) and it was suggested that I make one up out of gal sheet which I did and it made a huge difference especially when travelling slowly.
Peter

AnswerID: 68180

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 20:07

Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 20:07

Thanks for the tip Peter.
I'll see if I can trim it up so it fits properly and maybe get the 2 halves plastic-welded back together. However, at this stage I'm not too worried;
the fan sits bang centre in the radiator and the shroud extends about 10" either side. However, on the passenger's side it is open anyway. I think this is so that the air conditioner fan (which is on that side too) can blow through the condenser as well as the radiator. The driver's side is fully enclosed, but as i have added another electric fan on the front of there as well, I can always turn the fan on to blow air through from the front. I'll have to wait till later in the year to do more experiments; although I could possibly work it all out in 8 weeks when we head off on a 4 week trip to Cape York.
Cya mate.

FollowupID: 328820

Follow Up By: Peter 2 - Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 20:26

Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 20:26

Put it back together with pop rivets and a couple of strips of aluminium.
Peter

FollowupID: 328825

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:03

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:03

Thanks for the tip Peter,
I'm gunna leave it off for the time being and see how it goes in the warmer weather, given that I have the 2 leccy fans in front of the radiator/air con condensor too.....hoping I won't need the el-cheapo placky shroud anyway....

FollowupID: 328981

Reply By: Truckster (Vic) - Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 23:08

Saturday, Jul 17, 2004 at 23:08

Having spoken to a few radiator shops, and 'experts' they say these things are not worth the coin. And also arent the best option..

so how much was it? Last price I heard someone on here I think was $1200

AnswerID: 68206

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:05

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:05

1100- plus $35- freight....as Goldfinder (below) has said, it has worked for him.....so only time will tell.
Cya mate

FollowupID: 328983

Reply By: goldfinder - Sunday, Jul 18, 2004 at 01:48

Sunday, Jul 18, 2004 at 01:48

Roachie as I have said before I'm very happy with mine and it's been in for a while now and put through it's paces with no problems. In regards to installation mine was a bolt in fit . The only minor mod required was a very minor file of the cowling near the top hose to allow the hose past the cowling properly but the cowling was well clear of all motor parts.

AnswerID: 68216

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:17

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:17

G'day Goldfinder,
Same here as far as slotting straight in is concerned. However, the shroud/cowling seemed to be fowling down near the bottom somewhere and as I was mucking around, I could tell it was rubbing on the fins with a bit of pressure.
As usual, I took the apparent "easy" way out and decided to cut it off. I only put the top bit on to protect fingers from being hit by the fan blade. I also know what you mean about the "sharp" bit needing to be cut off where it came very close to touching the upper hose.

FollowupID: 328985

Reply By: Michael - Sunday, Jul 18, 2004 at 08:28

Sunday, Jul 18, 2004 at 08:28

So Roachie,, What was wrong with the old radiator????? Less that 4 yo!!!

Geee , i hope mine is good for 10 years,,,, cheers Michael

AnswerID: 68228

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:21

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:21

Michael,
Nothing really wrong with it; just under-engineered for the vehicle once shyt-loads of gear get added.....Bear in mind this thing of mine sits in the driveway @3000kg (ie: b4 i load up for a trip and hang 1200 kg off the tow bar). It also has a permanent roof rack on top creating extra drag.
The nissan radiator consists of 2 x 12mm thick cores. The new one has 2 x 26mm cores. The tanks are bigger too and coolant capacity is up by around 2.5 litres. I would imagine that has gotta be a good thing in itself.

FollowupID: 328987

Follow Up By: Michael - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:55

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:55

Hi Roachie, My apologies, i didnt read your post properly, you did mention about summer.. After i posted, i thought that may have been the problem, Was thinking to myself, yeah 3 tonne of truck and camper, family and extras..... yeah 5 tonne would keep it hot .... LOL

FollowupID: 328996

Follow Up By: Michael - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 11:09

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 11:09

Interesting, i have a 1999 GU, 4.2, same radiator as your original, never any probs towing with all the gear up through the middle, lucky i guess. It has a crossflow radiator as you know, very wide and not very tall. I also have a 12 month old GU 4.2, it has a conventional top and bottom tank radiator, narrow and tall and hangs down so low, really stupid, it has a crossmember in front of it to protect it but if you scraped the crossmember on something and went a litt further you would snap of the bottom hose. This was done to address the cooling problem but created more problems in the process. Its the same radiator as the petrol. Nissan say the 3.0tdi has a 30% bigger radiator than the 4.2 and the 4.8, but without the low slung problem, i assume it is a crossflow type. Wouldn't you think Nissan would use one radiator for all models , what difference in price for the volume they buy would it be. Its hard to work out how these guys think,,,,, or maybe we dont have all the facts, Cheers

FollowupID: 328998

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 11:43

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 11:43

Michael,
Nah, the 2000 model doesn't have a cross flow original radiator.....top and bottom plastic tanks. I've got a mate with a 99 4.2t/d and his is the same as mine too. Was your 99 model a T/D or naturally aspirated?

FollowupID: 329007

Reply By: Nudenut - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 09:06

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 09:06

Roachie, Off the subject I know but was it you that had a pedestal fluro at Berri weekend last?
if so where does one go to get ?
regards

AnswerID: 68381

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:38

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:38

Nudie,
Not sure....but I'm guessing you're talking about the one I had set up at the camp fire?
If so, it was made by one of our club members......pretty simple really:
1) steel peg about 15" long with a piece of pipe welded to the side. Pipe sits about 1" below the top of the steel peg so it won't get belted out of shape when you hammer it into the ground. The pipe is the right diameter to accept the bottom end of a telescopic tent pole.
2) telescopic tent pole with the usual spike/pin at the top.
3) fabricated holder made from a fiece of square tubing just the right size to fit over the "pin" (could use round tubing too). This is about 6" long, with a bend of around 45 deg about 2" from the top. The bloke bent up a bit of flat steel in an oval shape to match the handle of a Versa-Lite (not closed at the top, so cord can drop through) and welded this at the 45 deg angle to the top of bent bit of tubing.

FollowupID: 328992

Follow Up By: Nudenut - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:47

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 10:47

ah ah Versa Lite...thats it ...suffering from a little dementia this morning

FollowupID: 328994

Reply By: Member - Chris M (QLD) - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 09:56

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 09:56

Roachie,

From one made accessory spender to another, I hear ya mate!

Do you know if the new TDI 4.2 still heats up when loaded or did the intercooler ease the stress on the block a bit?

Cheers

Chris.

AnswerID: 68391

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 11:14

Monday, Jul 19, 2004 at 11:14

G'day Chris,
Not sure about the result mate, but I do know that the radiator in the TDi is a bit bigger than the one that was in mine. I remember reading in a magazine report when the intercooled model was released....they were a bit critical that the bottom radiator tank hung below the chassis cross-member and was prone to damage. However, haven't heard any reports of damage to it or reports of over-heating. I don't reckon the fact that it has an intercooler would help in the motor running any cooler.

Not long to wait now, eh??

FollowupID: 328999