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Valeo radiators?


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

Anyone ever buy a Valeo brand aftermarket radiator? I'm looking at radiators for my wife's '91 E30 M42 318. The OEM should be Behr, but it looks like the problem I just had with ours (upper hose neck broke off the plastic side tank) is a design defect that has popped up on a lot of '90s BMWs. I'm not so sure I want to spend $350 on a new Behr with a known defect, vs. $160 on a Valeo that might not be as defective. I'd prefer an all-metal unit, but haven't found one.

Mike

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Guest Anonymous

There's no such monster (all metal) at least not that ive seen, ive worked at an independent bmw shop for 4 years now. Is the radiator that broke original, you cant really complain if you got 13 years out of the old one..... (and i really havent see that many broken rad. necks considering how many of that car ive worked on..) and really, id get behr, although valeo makes alot of OE parts for bmw, but mostly alternators.....

-Ian

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Guest Anonymous

I don't know how old the radiator is, we bought the car a few years ago. The car has about 120k miles on it.

It's not so much that the radiator failed after 'only' 13 years, it's the failure mode that I object to. Old fashioned radiators (copper) can corrode, develop a pinhole, perhaps crack...but pinholes and cracks can be soldered, tanks can be replaced, etc. Here I have a radiator that is 90% just fine; it's not clogged, the tanks are basically in great shape, etc., but the neck broke off, so _everything_ has to be thrown away. I've found references on the web to a systematic problem with E36 and some later 5-series radiators, where the necks break off; also, some of the BMW specialists supply 'wide' clamps to distribute the load across the plastic neck better, to prevent this failure.

Yeah, I shouldn't complain, but we could argue that it's OK for everything and anything to fail after 13 years. Steering rack? Yep, replaced that when it sprung a major leak. 'Only' $400.

Thanks

Mike

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Guest Anonymous

Resada Radiator advertises in Roundel, says they rebuild aluminum/plastic radiators. As for an all metal radiator, if E30 radiators can be fitted to '02s, perhaps the swap would work in the opposite direction.

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Guest Anonymous

Modern radiators and there plastic side tanks/necks often have this problem of brakeage. The side tanks blow out over time and some times you can repinch the side tanks but usualy not. ALWAY check your head gasket with a compresion test to make sure you dont have a bad head gasket. For the broken neck problem one easy fix is some JB Weld and some brass or aluminum tubeing (thin). This should be done when the crack first apears. basicly coat the inside of the plastic port with a small amount of JB weld and a little bit on your thin sleve (ruff the outer surface a little). then slide it in. let it sit for 24-48hrs. then reinstall. this works about 1/2 the time.

OK the rad is bad now what do I do. Well there is no manufacuter producing a drop in replacement all metal rad for any plastic side tank car that I have seen. In my eperence as a parts guy as well as a sale rep for a BMW and Mercedes Benz parts supply company. Basicly what ever radiator you go with and will work best for you is luck. One shop I work for has problems geting bad behr radiators another one cant get an aftermarket one not to leak. I personaly run the aftermarkets and have never had a problem. Behr radiators are the most expensive even at the independent shops. I personaly like the nissin, wolverene silverton and supper rad aftermarket radiators. I know that Behr recently puchased one of the companies. As for Valeo I have never had any experence with there radiators but I hope they arnt like there boat anchor altornators.

Sam Schultz

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Guest Anonymous

By the way, when I replaced my Volvo 240 radiator, which is a cross-flow setup originally with side tanks, I bought an all-metal Modine 3-core radiator. Fits perfect, it's been in there for about 10 years now, works great. If I could find one like that for the E30, I'd do it.

Mike

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Guest Anonymous

I bought ALL METAL 320 Behr clone rad. from " Radiators 911" in southern ca. They advertise ship anywhere in usa for 5 bucks. They dispaly all the correct 320 parts numbers on site, and you receive an all metal black painted 320 clone rad. I installed on my sahara to replace shot Behr al/plastic 320 rad. and have no complaints. I like the all metal, especialy at the hose attachment points. Also, it was cheap. around 120 bucks as i recall. hard to beat that price for a new rad. Made in asia somewhere. if it goes south, ill just get another one. better that 300 bucks a pop, plus shipping for oem in my opinion. good luck///

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Guest Anonymous

There is a shop here in Indianapolis that, among other products, makes aluminum radiators for race cars (Indy, Winston Cup, etc.). One of the local BMWCCA members/racers had these guys design and mfg. an alum. radiator for the E30 M3. I would think that this radiator would fit just fine in a non M3 E30. The down side, these are pricy. I talked with them about making one aluminum radiator for my '73 2002 and they estimated the cost at $600.00. I would think that, since the design work is already done for the E30 cars, that the radiator for your 325 would be a little less. Info: C & R Racing, Inc., 6950 Guion Rd, Indpls., 317-293-4100.

If we could get 10 people together and purchase aluminum 2002 radiators, then I would be willing to approach C & R for pricing information - but the price will not be competitive with the alternatives available for the 2002, and probably only a little less than the $600.00 I was quoted for one radiator.

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Guest Anonymous

I'm not thrilled to buy another plastic-tank job, but apparently there are no 318is all-metal aftermarket jobs. I think it's the same radiator as the E36 318, but it's different from the E30 M3, 325, etc. Anyways, Max offered the Behr for about $180, which is OK by me. I'll patch up the old one and keep it for a spare.

Mike

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Guest Anonymous

Yeah, I'm considering it. But this is my wife's car, and it's completely unmolested...looks like new, though could use a paint respray. We're going to keep it all-stock, she likes it that way. If I could find an all-metal radiator that was otherwise identical to stock, so I can keep the original mounts, expansion tank, fan shroud, etc., then that would be the way to go. Max came through with an OEM Behr for $184, can't do much better than that, even the tanks are crappy plastic. I'm going to fiddle with the old one, see if I can't get some metal tanks made.

Mike

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Guest Anonymous

I wish you luck mike but the side tank pinches usualy fail when you take them apart. Also there is a seal in there. you would have to find somone who was realy good to reseal the tank or weld it. Probably more money then its worth. A custum rad is all in who does it. I have seen some nice work and other jobs look like garbage. A nice original car is a good thing but when it comes to dumping plastic thats pretending to be metal I am all for it. The price you got from max would be very hard to beat.

Sam schultz

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