Cheap advanced auto radiator

[O No 3.0!]

I bought a radiator last Friday to replace the one in my truck that froze & busted a couple of the tubes. It didn't freeze solid but enough to split a couple tubes where they meet the tank. This was an all aluminum radiator with welded aluminum tanks. Put the new rad in Saturday & drove it until yesterday before noticing a small leak that kept getting worse. At first i thought it was the lower hose spring clamp not seated correctly & replaced it with a regular clamp. Then today i noticed the leak again & then it was gone. Checked the coolant & it was low, so i put in a half gallon or so. Drove it several miles, stopped & ate & no leaks when i came back out. Drove to home depot, went in & came back out, no leaks. Checked the coolant & topped off. Noticed the new cap was leaking & i went to tighten it & it just popped off. It was seated in the groove but wouldn't hold on when turned all the way to the stop, so i turned back where it felt tight & didn't leak. Drove it about 20 miles home & lost heat about 5 miles from home. Pull in the driveway, pop the hood to check the coolant again & booom, big cloud of steam & water everywhere. Luckily i was at the driver door when it let go. So i shut the engine off & look to see wtf happened. I thought maybe the cap came loose again. Nope. Tank separated from the core. The whole back side came apart. About 6 to 8 inches separated. Has anyone else had one of these fail like this? Or do i have other problems. I do have a leak at the timing cover/block & i had put stop leak in. But the water was flowing well & it wasn't overheating at all. The cap is a stant safty cap lever vent style. Tried 2 different ones & they didn't fit well & kept popping loose. The same cap fit my original factory radiator & the aluminum one just fine. I just don't want to get another radiator from them & it blow apart again.

 

[RobbieD]

It's a bad radiator that you have just bought. Get them to warranty it. Take your original cap with you, and if it doesn't fit the replacement radiator right, decline it until they get one that'll pass that simple test.

Or if they have a better brand, put some extra cash with the warranty credit and try that one.

Or get a refund, and try your luck with another vendor.

 

[O No 3.0!]

I put another radiator in it today as well as a new tstat & a bottle of block seal just in case. Heat cycled it a few times & all seems well for now. But my luck has been absolute crap lately so we'll see.