Why is my US Radiator cooling better than South African?

[szacsi72]

It's interesting how radiators from different places can perform differently, right? When it comes to fitment and cooling, it can sometimes come down to the specific design and build. If you're ever on the lookout for radiator solutions, whether for your car or any other application, you might want to check out Radiator Village. They're the go-to source for all types of radiators and could provide you with some insights and options.

Brother those are... house radiators

[Shawn D.]

Brother those are... house radiators.

This spam is so hilarious I'm leaving it!

[1st 5er]

Brother those are... house radiators.

This spam is so hilarious I'm leaving it!

[Ju@n]

Reviving this thread

It seems the nissens rad I bought 10 years ago finally died.... in a really weird way, making a long story short, I had some fan clutch issues (or so I thought), after chasing issue after issue I conducted a test: heated up the engine with no fan, after the thermostat opened, and the radiator heated up, turned it off.

Measured the temp of the fins of the radiator, from the center top to the center bottom.
Noticed a sharp dip in the middle 5-6 rows (flattened pipes). Those are exactly before the fan clutch, which makes it not work (changed it thinking it was the issue).

So... back to the topic at hand, looking to change the radiator. I see 4 alternatives (I think).
My car is now a manual, so either AT or MT rads will work.

MT OEM: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-ra ... 7111712448 439USD
MT NISSENS: https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/17111712448 223USD
AT OEM: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-ra ... 111712447a 489USD
AT NISSENS: https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/17111712447 185USD

Does anybody know what comes as oem? Is it the south african behr with tubes instead of flattened pipes?

Thanks in advance!

[Mike W.]

Odd the center cooling problems.  Personally I've had good luck with Nissens Radiators so I'd go with them.  I'm a cheap SOB so if an A/T radiator was significantly cheaper I'd go with it.  Rockauto which often reams you on shipping, so I don't know, shows MT about the same as AT pricing.

On the other hand, given your location, people do or at least here in the US, did, work on those radiators.  Labor likely being cheaper where you are there might be people who take them apart and rod them out, like used to be done with the old Copper/Brass radiators.  That's assuming time isn't an issue as it's obviously quicker to slap a new one in than take one out, have it worked on, then reinstall it. 

Edit. 

Also, depending on your time/originality ratio, people have used E36 radiators which are widely available, generally inexpensive and very similar in size. 

[Ju@n]

Thanks for the response Mike!
Yes, the issue is quite weird, if other tubes had become blocked instead of those, I probably wouldn't have really noticed.
Checked the shipping on Rockauto, and you are right, in total it came to about the same as FCP.
Thx for the feedback on the nissens, it's the one that I had, and 10 years is not that bad haha.

Unfortunately these radiators with plastic caps are not workable here in Uruguay only copper tanks can be removed.

I'm not in a huge rush, but I'm going to wait and see if anybody has feedback on the oem one, to see where it's from and if it works correctly.

[Mike W.]

Unfortunately these radiators with plastic caps are not workable here in Uruguay only copper tanks can be removed.



 

 

 

That surprises me.  I have the sense here in the US, especially where I live, shops want to change parts, not fix things.  But heading south I would have guessed, and I've heard, of more creativity or willingness to do more, different repairs.

Now the failure rate may be too high, but the Al/plastic radiators can be worked on.  I've had it done.  But perhaps nobody wants to do it. 

[Ju@n]

That is for sure a possibility, it could be that the caps sometimes break while removing and they don't want to handle the client if that happens.

[vinceg101]

Reviving this thread

It seems the nissens rad I bought 10 years ago finally died.... in a really weird way, making a long story short, I had some fan clutch issues (or so I thought), after chasing issue after issue I conducted a test: heated up the engine with no fan, after the thermostat opened, and the radiator heated up, turned it off.

Measured the temp of the fins of the radiator, from the center top to the center bottom.
Noticed a sharp dip in the middle 5-6 rows (flattened pipes). Those are exactly before the fan clutch, which makes it not work (changed it thinking it was the issue).

So... back to the topic at hand, looking to change the radiator. I see 4 alternatives (I think).
My car is now a manual, so either AT or MT rads will work.

MT OEM: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-ra ... 7111712448 439USD
MT NISSENS: https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/17111712448 223USD
AT OEM: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-ra ... 111712447a 489USD
AT NISSENS: https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/17111712447 185USD

Does anybody know what comes as oem? Is it the south african behr with tubes instead of flattened pipes?

Thanks in advance!

It was my understanding that the OEM units Behr makes for BMW in their SA plant were still of the older design and therefore a better performing unit. I have no direct confirmation of this, but I had read it somewhere and it stuck in my mind. The consumer Behr SA (i.e. the one every online retailer sells) are the ones of the newer design and therefore the underperforming units.
I put in a Nissens about a year ago and it solved a bunch of wildly fluctuating engine temperatures immediately. Right before my trip to Reno in September I replaced the thermostat back to the 80C unit in a hope to improve fuel economy and engine performance. I ran it through the heat of Central CA and over the mountains into Reno and the engine temps were rock solid at 3/8" and only climbed to 1/2" in extreme situations. This was with the A/C running as well.
Then without explanation right before our local SoCal Vintage meet on 11/2 (the morning of actually, at 5:30am) while driving up to the event, the engine temps started to rise inexplicably past 1/2.  It shouldn't run that hot in the cold dark early hours (ambient temp outside was in the low 50'sF). I have since been trying to troubleshoot this (cooling system bleeding several times, checked all the connections, cluster grounds, etc.) to no avail.  My next step is to pop the T-Stat out again to see if it's working properly and/or swap it out with the cooler unit I removed last year.
I suppose it's possible there is a blockage of some sort in the radiator but what would cause that? I hadn't driven the car from the end of the September trip to November 2nd nor touched anything in the cooling system, so there shouldn't be any outside cause.  It could be a wonky sensor/switch (I do have replacements I could try swapping out) or even it might just be the temp gauge itself.  I also have to do exact engine temp readings as well.
The mystery continues.

[Ju@n]

I know you probably haven't had time yet, but I'd check with a laser thermometer or similar to see if it's actually running hot.

Btw: this is the video from the test I conducted, it's in degrees C. 


Edit: ended up buying the OEM one... let's hope it works and lasts a long time!

[szacsi72]

I swear to god, next time I need to replace one I'm buying a random Toyota unit and just adapting the hoses. I have a literal stockpile of shit BMW radiators. In my E39 the Nissens gave up after 5 years.

 

[Ju@n]

I can confirm the FCP Euro BMW Genuine radiator is a Behr made in Germany, with the modern style "flattened pipes". It's from 2012.
I set it up yesterday in the car and all is good an well for now  

[Mike W.]

I swear to god, next time I need to replace one I'm buying a random Toyota unit and just adapting the hoses. I have a literal stockpile of shit BMW radiators. In my E39 the Nissens gave up after 5 years.

 

There's always E36 radiators. A bit of work to fit them, but very close. And inexpensive. All aluminum for cheap too.

[szacsi72]

I swear to god, next time I need to replace one I'm buying a random Toyota unit and just adapting the hoses. I have a literal stockpile of shit BMW radiators. In my E39 the Nissens gave up after 5 years.


 

There's always E36 radiators. A bit of work to fit them, but very close. And inexpensive. All aluminum for cheap too.

I had an E36 radiator in my E28, nissens. I had to throw it out. Haha.
I have a used E34 race rad, all aluminium. I'll cut that up next time. 

[gadget73]

Sure you don't have an electrolysis problem?  Might be worth doing a voltage check in the coolant to make sure something isn't causing them to fail.  Friend of mine went through this on his car, finally worked out that the main ground cable was bad and causing enough voltage to flow through the coolant that it ate the radiator up.