I drove the hilux to Invercargill and back this morning and although the temperature gauge stayed normal I noticed that some coolant had leaked from around the radiator cap. After filling it up again it was actually quite a lot! Looks as though the top seal of the radiator cap is perished.
Im going to get a new radiator cap to tide me over as I need to get to the west coast on boxing day for our annual new years chamois hunt but if anyone has a good condition second hand radiator lying around (maybe from after an engine transplant or repower) at a good price can you please let me know as my whole radiator does not look flash and will need to sort it asap. If I have to i will bite the bullet and fork out $400 for a new one but would prefer a cheaper option!!
well i orderd a second hand radiator and paid for over night courier to Queenstown and the radiator they sent says it was from an LN130 NOT an LN106.
I think the radiator size might be the same and it will therefore fit my LN106 with the 2.8 diesel however, There are two issues:
1 - there is no radiator cap Even if this fits in the truck how do i get water and coolant into it and how do i check this without a radiator cap?
2- there is no outlet for the radiator over flow - will this negatively affect the truck?
Any help or advice will be appreciated
Overall this does not look the new radiators for the same truck and model motor (3L) and im fuc*ed off to say the least considering i now cant get to the west coast on boxing day unless my mate drives an extra 800km to pick me up and drop me off.
take it into a radiator shop down there and get them to put a different top tank on it. shouldnt cost to much i hope. its a solution. will save a lot of stuffing around i guess.
any radiator outfit should be able to fit a filler neck/cap to the radiator. There will be a flat area on the top tank where they are supposed to go.
I have had it done to my surf radiator after fitting a body lift.
yeah im not sure if we have a radiator specialist down here - and to get that done in time is not feasible considering im working 6 - 7 every day this week trying to get things finished before xmas!
On top of that by the time i pay someone to do that i could have saved a lot of time and hassle and spent the same amount of money on a brand new radiator that is exactly the same as what I have in the truck now
the old one is poked - i took it out to flush it and put new coolant in last week and spraying it with the hose (on low pressure) some of the fins just started collapsing. I cant see any definite leaks in it but since then it has been using water everyday.
No oil in the radiator water and no water in the oil so it must be leaking out of the radiator. along with the perished radiator cap seal it needs to be replaced before i do an y sort of long drive especially the climb up the crown range.
I know it is about 2 hours drive but Muirs Radiators in Gore are brilliant at this sort of thing. They do All Fonterra's tankers and intercoolers as well.
If you can get it down there, I can get it up to Frankton on Christmas day.
This close to christmas, mgiht pay to give them a ring however.
Hey NJV6 thanks heaps for the offer much appreciated but I got in touch with the parts supplier this morning and they said the guys took the radiator off the shelf rather than out of the specific vehicle the were told to hence the wrong radiator arriving.
The correct one is now on its way so fingers crossed it arrives before xmas and i wont have any more dramas!!
a few collasped fins are ok as long as the tubes arent leakin. if you had a leak you'd no bout it thats for sure. the cap will be lettin out the pressure and water
for a new one but would prefer a cheaper option!!
