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drain valves in radiators

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 8:09 pm
by ozy1
just a warning, keep your eye on the drain valve in your radiators, not sure if this has happened to tohers but i had mine blow out on sunday, th threaded end was still in there, so for some reason it broke off,

causing me to stop with no water, aboit 2 hours later my old lady bought me my spare radiatro which i swapped over, filled up and ran, no signs of head gasket failure, thank god,

Re: drain valves in radiators

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:40 pm
by bogged
wow, thats different.

was it a replacement core - eg sorta newish, or an old rady?

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:00 pm
by ozy1
radiator is an older unit, it has been in there the 7 years i owned the truck, so not sure on its age, there isnt anywhere for it to hit, no broken or missing radiator mouts that may have caused it,

not sure why, truck is runing a treat with a second hand radiator in it now, i had a spare in the shed, and seems to cool better now as well,

Re: drain valves in radiators

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:18 pm
by GQ Bear
ozy1 wrote:just a warning, keep your eye on the drain valve in your radiators, not sure if this has happened to tohers but i had mine blow out on sunday, th threaded end was still in there, so for some reason it broke off,

causing me to stop with no water, aboit 2 hours later my old lady bought me my spare radiatro which i swapped over, filled up and ran, no signs of head gasket failure, thank god,
Why'd you have to go and mention that for?

Less than 12mths ago i got new core for radiator. Shortly after top hose connection split, bodged it up with quicksteel.

Couple of weeks ago cap connection split and i bodged that with quicksteel

Last week top hose bodgy failed and i couldn't repair it again.

Just got both tanks resoldered resoldered the other day. They broke a wire on temp switch.

Took temp switch back on Friday and they got auto-elec to fix it. Finished work too late Sat to pick up so thought i'd grab it today...



...and the bastards are closed for the long weekend :bad-words: :twisted: :x :bad-words: :twisted: :x :bad-words: :twisted: :x :bad-words: :twisted: :x

Knowing my luck the bloody drain plug will shite itself next :bad-words:

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:30 pm
by ozy1
i mentioned it, cause mine broke, on the putty road 20ks or so from a town, luck we hadnt gone out of reception range yet to make a call,

when pulling radiators out to clean them like you should every year, check them, and if hey look sus replace them, or even find a brass plug to plug it, like i am going too,

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:13 pm
by GQ Bear
Brass plug's a good idea. where would i get one from? Radiator joint have one ya reckon?

pita to get at drain plug anyway when rad fitted to vehicle. I usually just remove bottom hose and drain from there.

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:40 pm
by ozy1
GQ Bear wrote:Brass plug's a good idea. where would i get one from? Radiator joint have one ya reckon?

pita to get at drain plug anyway when rad fitted to vehicle. I usually just remove bottom hose and drain from there.
im gunna look around when i get a chance his week,
i always tak bottom hose off too, never removed drain plug,

easier to fix at home, than find your self stranded with limited reception

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:46 pm
by Patchy
its funny this has come up, my truck is being built up at the moment so hasent been drive for about 2months. i came home on sunday morning after a long night and notice a small puddle of coolant under the front right. same thing had happened to mine thread still in the side tank just the wing nut part had come off it.
very strange

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:49 am
by canuck
Patchy wrote:same thing had happened to mine thread still in the side tank just the wing nut part had come off it.
very strange
Funny, last year when I drained and flushed mine, I had to put a pair of pliers to get that plastic wing nut to move. I was afraid that I was going to break it. Then, it took for ever to drain. The bloody thing is pretty useless IMO. When I installed an inline coolant heater, I did as was said before. I drained the coolant by removing the lower rad hose. It would have been easier had the *&%#@! guys installed the clamp in a manner I could get at it with a socket or driver. :x Oh well, next time it should be a quick drain. When I get the rad redone, I will have a decent brass drain installed.

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 12:33 pm
by gqswb
Same thing happened to a mate of mine in his GQ, we just cut a small section of hose from somewhere off the truck and then found a bolt to wedge/thread between the hose then filled with river water for the ride back. Worked 100% and the bung is still there today, bar the dirty water!