Keith;
You are right the "radiator" is aluminum, but the side tanks are plastic.
These tanks are crimp sealed to the radiator with either a gasket or epoxy
(depends on the supplier). This type of construction builds-up a lot of
internal stresses in the plastic, hence the susceptibility to
cracking/splitting. Just imagine how much stress is related to heat-up and
cool-down. The coefficient of expansion for plastic is much, much greater
than most metals.
----------
> From: Keith R Wanderi <keith.wanderi@fsg.deluxe.com>
> To: 'dakota@ait.fredonia.edu'
> Subject: RE: Plastic Radiator??
> Date: Wednesday, April 02, 1997 7:39 AM
>
> Plastic?? Are you sure you don't mean copper or aluminum? My 97 has
> aluminum and the only drawback I noticed is that it takes a little longer
> to start throwing heat on cold mornings. Of course when it's -30 or lower
> as it can get here in Minnesota, those few minutes are important.
>
> ----------
> From: Greg Opland
> Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 1997 5:42 PM
> To: dakota@ait.fredonia.edu
> Subject: Plastic Radiator??
>
>
> Geeze, I must be out of it.
>
> From what the Dodge dealer here in Phoenix just told me,
> my TWO AND A HALF YEAR OLD plastic radiator has a split
> in it. So...I can either pay $525 for a new PLASTIC radiator
> or I can get an aftermarket cast iron one for $364 (this is
> all parts only). In the desert, plastic has a crappy shelf
> life, so the fact that it got brittle and split isn't a
> big surprise. I'd rather not do another two years only to
> have to replace the overpriced cheapo plastic radiator
> (assuming I have the truck that long), so...
>
> Can anyone give me a good reason NOT to go with the cast
> iron version?
>
> TIA.
> G.
>
>
>
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