Best place to get radiator fixed in North shore (or central Auckland)?

[pagan]

Hi there,

I've just returned from a fail ski trip to Turoa: lifts were broken or closed, **** weather on sunday; speeding ticket for doing 117; unable to do skydiving because of low cloud for several days in a row. However the biggest one was cracked radiator which THANK GOD happened right in the middle of Taupo (and not somewhere on desert road in a ****hole with no cellphone coverage).

With assistance of AA i got home to Auckland and it was the first time when i got home faster then my car. It arrived 15 minutes later towed by ex traffic cop who funny enough towed another VR4 same day from Napier to Taupo.

Now i'm without a car which urgently requires to be fixed as my wife is not too fancy me taking our daughter to school on the back of the motorbike.

So, my question is, can anyone recommend a decent enough place where then can fix radiator?

Thanks in advance,
sad vr4 owner.

PS: To be perfectly honest i'm semi happy that the radiator died: it made celebration of my 30s birthday being just a crap experience a really something to remember.

[Gly]

dont bother fixing it, cost about the same as a new one.
get a new one from silverdale radiators

do the job yourself, only a basic socket set and a hour or 2 spare,
and some fresh coolant

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Car-parts-accessories/Mitsubishi/Engines/auction-297155846.htm

[pagan]

That sounds quite good actually.

My only concern is that radiator from trademe is half plastic. Have anyone used them for long enough period of time?

[wintertidenz]

The standard radiators have plastic end tanks as well - it's basically an OEM replacement.

My friend got one from Silverdale Radiators for her Subaru a year or so back - still going fine, no leaks.

[Rambaud]

Yes, it was much cheaper to replace mine than repair it.

Also, in my case, how long would a repaired 10 year old/150,000 mile radiator last?

[Gly]

what dan said, the stock ones only have plastic top and bottom tanks,

and the all alloy ones from scarles arnt up to scratch yet, a few fitment issues,
and quality to be sorted out

[pagan]

How much coolant would i need? Anything special or just grab some standard one from Replco?

[Gly]

yeh just the norm green stuff, NOT the pink longlife stuff,
i usually just grab a 5l premix from supercheap, (enough to fill the rad+ a little left over)

grab 2 if your gonna do a full flush,

[Ryan]

Assuming that the radiator pictured on the TradeMe link is an auto radiator which can be used in both manual / auto?

[pagan]

With your help radiator now is replaced and it all seem to work :) Thank you guys. Btw, how much coolant should be in expansion tank? I have it on low when cold.

Now, i was told that radiator cracked most likely because it started to boil, not that it boiled because there was a crack and it was loosing coolant as i was thinking. One of the strange things i experience in the last month is a strange car vibration when i come to full stop ie when on traffic lights. It would do it for 5-10 seconds then settles down. Also, what i noticed today when driving around to check if car works after radiator replaced, is that when i break hard to full stop TCL OFF and TCL icon would light up for couple of seconds (right when car becomes stationary) and then disappears. Sometimes it lights up, sometimes it does not. I'm not sure if it is related to the vibrations above.. Maybe i've unplugged something?

Could it be related to a rocket gasket being worn out and leaking oil (something i'm going to get fixed in the next week or so)?

[Gly]

i fill to med at cold, anything extra will just get forced out,

if it boiled either your rad cap is on the way out, or you were giving it ****
maybe time for a new one, only 20-30$ more so not such a big deal

check all the hoses on the canisters on the firewall, (they are part of the tcl/asc system)
and are usually at fault.
some of these tend to get cracks in them/leak a little,
buy some new quality vacc hose to replace it with, (not that bulk pack crap)