Thread: Aluminum, radiator reliability

I have seen 2.. aluminum radiators fail on cars running on dynos I am crious to their reliability. granted I didn't feel the need to ask what kind of radiators they were at the time and situation. Just curious who is making big power with stock radiators? i. e. over 350 horse power.

Power has nothing to do with the construction of a radiator.

Aluminum radiators are more reliable than the plastic endtank stockers that they replace.

^truth

it could be that the shop didnt have enough are flowing through the radiator to simulate the car moving and the air transfer from the fan through the radiator making the dyno run inadequate to cool the car down moving at rapid engine speeds, thus causing fatigue and stress on radiator and also on the engine, thus causing damnage to the radiator. .

This is a valid point!

Nobody here running a factory radiator that is making big numbers...

Probably not. We all like to keep operatimg temps in full check.

Stratton.

If you see a rad fail on the dyno the motor was the problem. If a turbo motor has a bad head gasket it will blow the boost into the radiator and either pop the radiator open or blow the water out the over fill bottle and then the engine will over heat.

Aluminum radiators are better than the factor aluminum plastic or copper cores.

i agree, also why would you go for big power and run stock? that is just stupid, there are many benifits to the aftermarket radiators that if you invest alot of money into your engine a aftermarket radiator is cheap in the grand scheme of thing. esp like you said statton keeping those numbers in check is a must.

Know what Andre I did notice they kept emptying the coolant overflow bottles..... Only other thing I noticed is they had a lot of smoke coming from the oil blowby canaster ......I do understand how the aluminum radiators can be better, I am just curious would the plastic radiator be just efficient if it was coupled with a lower teperture thermostat and some higher flow fans.



I do understand GT lets say your on a budget though and don't have 3 bills to blow. If additional pressure should not be getting into the radiator I just do see why the oem piece would be less reliable than the other. I don't want to do this I was sort of asking if there was anyone here that is doing it.