Radiator Wore Through $$$$$$

[brianidaho]

Radiator Wore Through-$$$$$$

Hi everyone, I did a search but haven't found anyone else with this problem...



A couple of weeks ago the radiator in my '03 q-cab 2500 started leaking, badly. Talked with the dealer, they indicated that they can't repair an aluminum core, would have to replace. Do to work constraints and need for transportation I had them do it, to the tune of $800+.



I had them give me the old radiator, the cause of the failure???

THere is a obvious spot on the back side of the core near the bottom on the passenger side, where a hole has been worn in a tube. More checking revealed that this happened under the fan shroud. There is a cable going through this area, towards the center of the fan... not sure what it is, temp sensor? fan cluch? doesnt matter... Over this cable, where it passes the fan shroud, is a plastic clip or cover, in contact with the back of the core... it can't help but wear through the core.



My rig had 59K when this happened, I talked with DC today, thinking they might help pay the bill, since this is an obvious design problem. No go, off warranty (SP-yeah). Explained to them that I had sold 2 of these rigs word of mouth, and that I used to be the manufacturing engineer for GMs radiator plant, there is no way that an aluminum core should fail with these few miles, obvious design issue in my mind. No dice changing their mind.



This is something the rest of you might want to check, I'd be interested to see if anyone else has the same problem, or is seeing wear in this area. You have to look in from the top on the pass side, look inside the shroud, you can see the cable I'm takling about. Might have to check from underneath.



My rig gets quite a few miles, and about 5 miles of gravel road a day, on my commute, so rubbing/vibration caused failures are more likely to hit me than someone who only travels blacktop. However, from what I see of this design, it is not a question of if your radiator will be worn through, only when. Will be looking for a way to band-aid, either grind down the clip or put in padding. Red neck engineering a $40k vehicle doesn't impress me.



This is my first non-GM vehicle, and until 59K i had been very happy, no failures of any kind. One day the u-joint failure bit me, and then the very next day the radiator craps out, I'm not impressed anymore. I wish GM still made a decent looking rig, and would dump the Isuzzu (sp?) in favor of the Cummins. At this point I can't really recommend this rig to others, especially if DC won't stand behind it.



Done venting, if anyone can relate similar issues please let me know.

Brian

 

[Tony T.]

Brian, thanks for the heads up on the rad. Like you I would have not thought of a rad cop out at this low mileage. Sure may be a design flaw, I'll check mine out soon. Gives me another excuse to crawl under the truck and scope things out.



Tony

 

[brianidaho]

Tony, I hope this isn't a cronic problem, I didn't see any other posts about this issue, still, looking at how they have done things, I don't see how it can't be. The worn area on my core was about 1" square, and was through the tube through this whole length, I'm supprised it lasted this long.



I'll try to post some pics soon, probably over the weekend. In my experience, an aluminum core should be good for at least 200K, maybe more. On my last truck, it was the plastic tank that failed, rather than the core.



I think I'll chase down some aluminum solder rod and try to fix the old core, we'll see how it goes. This radiator was around $600, ones for an auto, with a trans cooler, probably are even more.



Still an OK rig, but somewhat bummed now, it was perfect for 59k, then the u-joint and rad. It feels/sounds like another u-joint is going, will have to hit NAPA per the posts here.



Bri

 

[rbattelle]

Red neck engineering a $40k vehicle doesn't impress me.

Yeah, you should've spent 150k, then I'm sure you'd get a great vehicle with very high quality, just like this. :-laf



I appreciate the heads up, and I will certainly check mine when I get a chance.



-Ryan

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

A good aluminum welder should be able to fix it. Check motorcycle fabricators and industrial aluminum fabrication shops.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I checked my radiator and saw a bright spot where the temperature sensor was occasionally touching the fins and maybe the core tubes. I zip-tied a piece of weatherstripping at the bottom to space the shroud away about 1/8". I was able to run the tie from an existing slot about 1/2" from the bottom to the bottom of the shroud.

 

[rbattelle]

Okay I just checked mine. The only electrical line I can find that goes up to the fan clutch is enclosed entirely in a plastic shroud that's secured in the lower fan shroud and held away from the radiator by at least 1/8".



Do I need to remove the fan shroud to properly inspect the area?



-Ryan

 

[JFaughn]

Don't use the solder it will not hold the pressure and deffinatly find some one to weld the rad. check prop. shops also.

 

[magothy1]

Can you guys see the chafed spot without removing the fan shroud ? Just crawled up under mine and looked,

I can see what I'm guessing is the wire that might cause the leak but can't see if it's chafing or not. Only have 15,000 on this '03, tho, the first owner didn't drive it much.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I crawled underneath. Look at the bottom of the shroud on the passenger side and you will see an electrical connector. The molded in sensor housing extends upwards several inches. Mine was not touching by 1/16" to 1/8" but with the hood up in daytime I could see the light reflecting off the shiny spot near where the top of the sensor might touch the radiator core if there were enough body flex--and there must have been at least a few times to get a rub mark. You can look up between the shroud and the radiator to see if there is a shiny spot. I didn't disassemble anything and took less time that reading this thread takes.

 

[Briman]

I went and looked at my '04 built 10-22-03. It does not have any thing rubbing on the core with regards to the fan clutch control cable. I'll have a look at a friends early '03 that was built 08-02. Maybe it is an early design change thing.

 

[brianidaho]

If you have an 1/8 inch clearance or more, things might be all right. I need to see what I can do to shift mine away, might just try Joseph's weatherstrip approach. I've been out of the industry for a while, but if I recall correctly the tube material would be around . 012-. 015 thick, with the braze cladding and base metal. Not much room for wear. I hope no one else runs into problems here, tolerances in the assembly might be such that some clear, some touch. The shroud is a big injection molded plastic part, some variation is expected.

 

[HOBrian]

Brian when was your truck built?

 

[rashwor]

Thanks for the heads up. I will try to get mine checked and report back what I find.

 

[brianidaho]

HO, I bougth mine mide DE of 02, not sure just when it was built, but one of the earlier ones.



Brian

 

[HOBrian]

I went and looked at my '04 built 10-22-03. It does not have any thing rubbing on the core with regards to the fan clutch control cable. I'll have a look at a friends early '03 that was built 08-02. Maybe it is an early design change thing.

You might be right BrianIdaho's truck was brought in Dec 02 which may mean exactly what you are saying. Early design change because of this very problem.

 

[stanrat]

Brian- I just had exactly the same prob on my 71K '03 2500! Really bummed me out. I bought it with 64K miles Cost me $790! I also kept the radiator & am going to go to dealer with a beef about the design of the wiring harness. My techs did a mod to get that part of the harness away from the core.

 

[jsimpson]

I repaired my Corvette aluminum radiator with JB Weld and had no leaks for the four years I owned it. I repaired another radiator by shoving JB Weld into it from both sides of the leak in the core and never had the leak reappear.

 

[ImCooter]

Thought that I would report the same problem on mine. Wore a hole through the radiator at 47K miles. Mine is an early build '03 2500.



I have a very good friend that owns a shop and he found an aluminum welder to repair it for me after he pulled it. Total cost to weld it was around $75. Thank goodness for friends, because I know he saved me several hundred bucks this time.



My buddy also secured the plastic away from the radiator and added a little padding behind the plastic piece in case the zipties break in the future to avoid a repeat problem.



Stacy

 

[MFalkinham]

FYI, I checked my radiator back in March when these posts first came out, and there is adequate clearance on my truck, which was built in late March, 2003. Sounds like they fixed this problem mid-year?