Radiator Rusted Pipes

[Manuel Kasko]

Hey guys so I got 2 issues that just came about when I put my 2nd hand radiator in.

1st. It has hoses on the bottom of it for power steering I have just left these as my car doesn't have hoses running to power steering from the radiator.

This wont cause any issues will it?

2nd. The outlet from my engine to my radiator is rusted so badly now when I tried to clamp it back up it just crushed and leaks.

I now have no where to connect the hose from my radiator to. Ideas please?

All I could think of doing was pulling the whole thing out and taking it to get a little section of pipe welded onto it.

[StinkyPoo]

Buy a R34 GTR

[Chris Shaw]

Looks worse than the one I pulled off my car.

I ended up having to replace the bottom half of the plenum, which I brought from the forums here. Its a big job as lots of the old hoses connected to it become brittle over time, involves a few gasket replacements too.

But in all, I don't see why It couldn't be repaired, someone should be able to fix it up for you.

Edited February 11, 2012 by Chris Shaw

[Manuel Kasko]

Buy a R34 GTR

Haha thanks mate! I would go 32 GTR

[Manuel Kasko]

Looks worse than the one I pulled off my car.

I ended up having to replace the bottom half of the plenum, which I brought from the forums here. Its a big job as lots of the old hoses connected to it become brittle over time, involves a few gasket replacements too.

But in all, I don't see why It couldn't be repaired, someone should be able to fix it up for you.

Hey Chris

You werent able to get yours repaired??

Im worried about what the hell the inside of the engine looks like

[Sinista32]

wow never seen that bad before. Maybe there's something to puttin distilled water in.

Sounds like your best action would be to do the same as above. I think repairing would be a temporary bandaid.

As for the rest of your engine put your old radiator on and flush it with a chemical flush. (old rad can be used as a filter )

PS. Shouldn't be exy to get another plenum and there is a few old 33's wrecking in canberra.

[Manuel Kasko]

Yeah I will search around for a stock plenum that's going for cheap and just go that road

Thanks for the help with the idea of flushing it out

How does this shit even happen??

[Got a Pulsar]

How does this shit even happen??

Maybe there's something to puttin distilled water in.

That is some nasty corrosion you got there fella.

When my Rad was leaking and I ended up replacing it with an Aluminium one, I did a heap of searching on here to find out what I could.

Being the eternal Noob that I am, I am thinking perhaps it has been caused by:

a) not enough (if any) anti-freeze / anti-boil in the cooling system. There is anti-corrosive additives in it to stop rust etc.

b) Old coolant loses its ability to work properly and therefore can lead to corrosion of the system.

c) Using tap water in the system instead of distilled water. The impurities in the water cause corrosion.

d) air bubbles in the system.

e) stray electrical current in the coolant (caused by bad earthing) can cause electrolysis which will eat away at metals and make them corrode away, especially when there is different metals involved. Brass or aluminium radiator with alloy head, cast iron block and perhaps whatever metal that pipe was made of.

As stated, I am the eternal Noob and some of this info may be a little blurrrred (correct me if I'm wrong), but I reckon there is a good chance that some or all of these things may have killed your pipe...

[Manuel Kasko]

I wouldn't know where to check all the earths

My system has had bubbles in it for the past 3 months that I have had it because of the leaking radiator that I only just replaced

Could have used tap water while it was over in Japan

Someone said they are pretty cheap over there with that kinda thing

It's a stock radiator so Shouldn't have issues like the aftermarket ones might

[Got a Pulsar]

I think stockies are brass so they are still a different metal to the rest within the cooling system.

It would be worth checking for stray current in the coolant to hopefully stop future problems and check earthing in the engine bay to try to eliminate it if it is there. I got Gibbs Auto Electrical Services in Belconnen to install my Rad and they did check for stray current etc... All was good.

Good luck with the fixup though. I hate to hear of broken SKYLINES.

Edited February 11, 2012 by Not a Pulsar

[Manuel Kasko]

I will find a stockie to chuck in there or bang some stainless steel into place of it.

Then I'll take it to the electrical place

How much did it set you back to check for stray current etc?

[Got a Pulsar]

Just checked my receipt, cost $100 labor to fit Radiator, new hoses, new thermo, flush system, check for electrolysis and road test, so It shouldn't be too much.

I found these pdf files which might help you D.I.Y.

electrolysis.pdf

Cooling%20System%20and%20Electrolysis.pdf

[Manuel Kasko]

Thanks heaps for all that info mate

Heading out to the city and will read it tomorrow morning

$100 for all that is dirt cheap

Should only be a few bucks to get it checked if I can't figure it out myself

[Got a Pulsar]

No worries. Sometimes I like to help the humans.

[D.I.Y. Mik]

It would be silver solder or similar so you can unsolder it with an oxy and solder a new one in.

So you need an oxy, some silver solder, multi grips and the new pipe. Easy.

[Manuel Kasko]

Easy.

Hahaha for me or for a professional?

[Chris Shaw]

Hi again, I didn't really look into getting it repaired, I found the bottom half of a plenum for $50 and just went straight to swapping it.

As for whats in the engine, I did a coolant flush and replaced my radiator with an Aluminum one at the same time, have had no issues and it has been a good 4 months too.

If you need a quick fix, I still have the bottom half of my plenum in my shed, it has enough pipe to put a clamp on and seal with no leaks. - Freebie of course.

[Manuel Kasko]

Chris that would be great till I can find a quality one for myself and flush the system.

Going to check out if I can find anything advertised tomorrow.

I'll hit you up with a pm

[J'son]

I have an aluminum radiator in mine that was put in when it got a big service round 82,000kms. It looks good, and i think prob works better than the original.

Radiator fluid is cheap, it is a good idea every year or two to use a hose and flush out the radiator and engine cooling areas and re-do the fluids.

Honestly, do the fuel filter, break fluids, powersteering ect every once and a while too, they are not heaps expensive and the little things make the difference and increase the life of your car.

Best luck with this horrible messy situation!

[RS4-S]

Firstly the lines you're talking about for power steering is an auto trams cooler built into the bottom tank. If yours is manual don't worry about them.

Secondly, DANG! That pipe is nasty! No wonder you radiator was stuffed! Your cooling system and block needs some serious flushing (packed full of rust, scale and debris). I dare say u did t have any coolant in there at all. Get yourself a good coolant (antifreeze/antiboil is not a complete coolant). I would replace that whole assembly and fill the system up with just water and some radiator flush, run the car up to temp for 20 mins with the heater on. Then drain that shit out, replace your thermostat and put 33-50% coolant to water ratio and ya set (unless I get premix which is already around this ratio). AFAIK nissans coolant change intervals are every 40k. When was your water pump last changed cos I hope it doesn't look like that pipe haha