Interesting Mechanical Problem With No Fix In Sight

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The plastic radiator tanks coming apart internally and plugging up your heater core.

Of course the industry will never, ever go back to Brass radiators because they are outrageously expensive.

So what are you supposed to do?

The only thing I can think of is to reverse flush your heater core every year to try and keep as much of that crap out of your cooling system as possible and replace your damn radiator every 3 years.

@tonyshalda2

#cars #repair #mechanic ram heater core plugged

♬ original sound – Tonyshalda85

Something else I learned 30 years ago when I was going to school to work on the newer (Then) cars, your radiator and cooling system hoses rot from the inside out. The friction of the coolant running through the engine gives the coolant an electrical charge and that charge pulls the carbon out of the rubber from the inside of the hoses.

That’s probably what’s happening with the plastic radiator tanks too.

We just paid a shit ton of money replaceing ELEVEN freaking hoses on the Wifely Unit’s 2004 Ford Focus with silicone hoses to eleiminate that issue.

16 thoughts on “Interesting Mechanical Problem With No Fix In Sight”

  1. Get an aluminum aftermarket radiator and heater core. Yeah, those are expensive, but as our host says, the regular maintenance is a money pit. And use distilled water if no 50/50 coolant is available. At the truck shop I used to work at, that was the preferred repair, especially if warranty had expired.

  2. Stop using the newer antifreeze. When GM introduced Dex-cool, it actually ate the gaskets out of the engines. Which would allow antifreeze in to oil, which in turn damage the bearings. I can’t even imagine how many millions of cars died early. The goal for the manufacturer is to get it through the warranty.
    More useless information……..
    For those who remember switch a vehicle from R12 to R134. The R134 molecule is small enough to pass through the R12 hoses. To make it work properly, all the hoses would have to be replaced as well.
    For those who enjoy a rabbit hole, check into R290 and R600. Non-ozone depleting refrigerants.

      • Rules for driving
        1) Don’t crash
        2) See rule #1

        There is a lot of information for using R290 & R600. Just not here in the USA. Almost like we have a crooked Govt that would promote something for money.

    • The heater cores on Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks are now made of very low quality plastic, AND the passages are so small, even small amount ls of contamination will clog them hopelessly. Reverse flushing does not work either. Worse yet, the cooling system runs at 14 pain, while the heater core requires a special relief valve/bypass to prevent the cheap-ass core from bursting.
      One the bright side, the engineers designed everything to be easily serviceable, so you can fork over the $500 right away and be back on the road in two hours.
      Remember everyone, this is progress.

  3. I refuse to own anything Chrysler based on exposure to a more severe possibly deadly issue I was involved in with ram trucks. They never issued a recall, gm not much better, they will kill someone before a recall issued, and I worked for them for 10 years.

  4. So, I need to start marketing a fine mesh stainless screen filter inside a tube that retrofits in the heater core intake line. It should be aluminum or stainless body, that screws apart to remove accumulated debris.

  6. 5 heater cores in the Geo Storm until we ditched it for a Honda Civic, which was a POS too. The Mercedes C230 Kompressor is heavenly. Even at twenty years old.

  8. FORD – Found On Road Dead. The name is for a reason. I have always driven Chevys and my first car I spent a year building in the early 70s was a Camaro. My oldest is a GM Master Mechanic so now that I am retired and in a condo without a garage I have him service my car for free.

    My youngest has a Ford Focus with a manual since their automatics are bad. I never understood why he bought it but he has kept it running and driving to work for over 19 years now. He seems to not have problems with it and maintains it.

    I will never own anything from Chrysler or Jeep. I had a neighbor with a Grand Cherokee and found it was too small inside with problems for the price he paid.

  9. Five months ago my truck radiator was rebuilt. $471.
    Original radiator for 1989 Power Ram.
    Price is less than crappy new radiator.

    It may behoove y’all with late model vehicles to look for a salvage rad and maybe have it rebuilt. IDK, I’m just spitballing.

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