Aluminium Radiators
 

About a year ago my stock radiator split its end tank. I promptly bought a 40mm alum replacment from ASI Performance on Ebay...its a 'SABER' unit...

Fitment was pretty good, had to file out the bolt brackets on my fans to get them on, and slightly bend out one of the 2 smaller outlets at the top to fit on the hoses. Once fitted all was good, hadn't had any problems what-so-ever.

Until now.. There is a bit of a crack/pinhole in one of its end tanks! The hole is somewhere in that circled area, kind of on the edge of the end tank.
Not really losing much coolant, but its making a mess and putting bubbles in my coolant, stopping it from building pressure.

Now, my options are to either take the radiator out and get it welded up by an engineering mob in Malaga (will cost around $40-50)... or simply buy another one and drop that in there instead. But I don't really want to weld it and simply wait for it to crack etc again.

Here's the one I bought - [URL="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Dual-core-alloy-aluminum-radiator-Subaru-WRX-STI-GC8-/300495244749?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item45f6e98dcd"]ASI Performance[/URL]

Here's the one I'm looking at - [URL="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ALLOY-ALUMINUM-RADIATOR-SUBARU-WRX-STi-GC8-GF8-MT-92-00-/280583843364?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item415419ae24"]"radiatorwarranty"[/URL]


Has anyone had any experience with alum radiators dying? Also looking for opinions as to what would be best to do in this situation.
I know these radiators are fairly cheap, but unless an expensive unit had a lifetime guarantee etc etc, I dont think I could justify spending over triple the price on a very similar product.

For something as important as cooling - I'd spend the money.

But I do go "bush" - failure is not an option.

You use Toyota long life coolant or Dexcool in your wrx?

Isn't that an OAT (organic acid technology) used in epoxy sealed & crimped radiators?

[QUOTE=Rossco;514365]You use Toyota long life coolant or Dexcool in your wrx?

Isn't that an OAT (organic acid technology) used in epoxy sealed & crimped radiators?[/QUOTE]

Toyota...

And I have no idea actually. Have always used it in all my cars...

I have pretty much the same issue with my rad Jezza. Put in an ebay alloy one 3 years ago or so when I did my conversion. After a few months I could smell coolant when I pulled up, especially on hot days. Used very little coolant and from what I can see it appears my leak is same spot as yours. I am still yet to fix mine. I top my coolant up every few months with maybe 100ml of coolant. I used genuine subaru coolant in mine. Thinking my next step might be a new rad from Parts West. $245 is pretty decent I think.

I personally would never risk something as important as a radiator, to save a few bucks.

OEM, Koyo, or nothing.

agreed with above. you get what you pay for and there is no such thing as a bargain with car parts. If your not spending $600-800 on a radiator you are getting crap.

The koyo radiators are OEM fit, no cutting, chopping, etc
Even the hoses are straight fit

And they aren't as expensive as you'd think
I bought mine (when the $ to yen was around .9) and landed for under $450

I can't find a local distributor though (to suit Foresters)
I'd be interested to know if someone can find a local distributor for the Forester units

Plenty of people have paid $800 for PWR rad only for it fail after 3 months with no support from PWR.

China spec rads have come a long way. Using genuine coolant also helps.

I've had my China spec all alloy rad (also from ASI) in my car for at least 2 years now using only genuine coolant. No leaks. No problems. And it bolted up perfect.

I'd try getting another china rad, either by warranty from ASI if its been under 1 year, or just buying a new one. Flush all the old coolant out of the block and use only genuine Subaru coolant.

I think it's just the luck of the draw. Iv'e been using a Chinese radiator for the last 2 years no issue. I have a mate who had a hole in a Koyo on install. Point is it's just so damned hard to get quality stuff these days even if you do spend the money.