Has anybody used an automatic radiator in a manual car?

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by Clavurion

Fortunately these are not Mercs with the self destroying cooling system where the combined radiator fails and leaks coolant in the auto gearbox oil before anyone knows it.

Don't overlook the infamous Nissan Strawberry Milkshake of Death!

At one time, before Nissan went wacko and started putting CVT transmissions in everything (before I retired in '15), I had considered getting an early (2002-2007) X-Terra, Pathfinder, or Frontier 4WD as a project car, until I read of all the problems the automatics had with the combined radiator/transmission cooler bleeding fluids together...the Strawberry Milkshake of Death.

The problem ceased in 2010, after Nissan corrected the problem, but my budget said no to those later models, so I didn't get one. I waited awhile, and fixed my attention on a X5, instead. Lucky me! ?? !!

[paramax55]

Originally Posted by 80stech

It looked like the manual plate is just missing half the shell to complete the passages that the automatic one would use so likely not a different part but only 1/2.

That would explain the unpopulated o-ring groove for a hole to nowhere.

[paramax55]

I finished the plug and I think I figured out how to do the pictures. I turned the plug on the lathe. I made grooves for two o-rings (because... why not?). I also drilled and tapped a hole for a #6-32 bolt as a "handle." It took more than 5 1/2 pounds of force to get it in there. It shouldn't be coming out. I JB Welded the plug in afterwards. I tried to shove JB Weld in the groove like I was greasing a wheel bearing. I'll find out if it worked in a couple days when I get back to this project.

[paramax55]

Stupid imjur.com... the links aren't working. Here's the gallery:

https://imgur.com/gallery/radiator-plug-DUxsqrr

[EODguy]

As a former radiator shop tech (40 yrs ago)....

Visit pretty much any non-chain radiator shop and they will most likely give you the correct size plugs for free (or very cheap) if not they will probably be able pull the tank off the header plate and install a manual tank. Radiator tanks are sold by manufacturers to shops only, so you won't find them outside that chain.

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[paramax55]

Originally Posted by EODguy

As a former radiator shop tech (40 yrs ago)....

Visit pretty much any non-chain radiator shop and they will most likely give you the correct size plugs for free (or very cheap) if not they will probably be able pull the tank off the header plate and install a manual tank. Radiator tanks are sold by manufacturers to shops only, so you won't find them outside that chain.

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That's good info. If this doesn't work for some reason, I'll try that. Now... all I need to do is find a radiator repair shop in 2025...

[EODguy]

Originally Posted by paramax55

That's good info. If this doesn't work for some reason, I'll try that. Now... all I need to do is find a radiator repair shop in 2025...

I hadn’t thought about shops disappearing and being only general type shops now.

I'm too old and too long outside of the US.

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[Clavurion]

Originally Posted by paramax55

Stupid imjur.com... the links aren't working. Here's the gallery:

https://imgur.com/gallery/radiator-plug-DUxsqrr

That looks like project Manhattan on E53 radiators. I'm confident it will hold the blast.

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by paramax55

Now... all I need to do is find a radiator repair shop in 2025...

Originally Posted by EODguy

I hadn’t thought about shops disappearing and being only general type shops now. I'm too old

Some rad repair shops are still out there, but not as many as there were, even 10 years ago.

I'm even older than you, EODguy, and remember back when there were all sorts of specialty shops all around my area, and even more out near where my Dad worked, surrounded by a Naval Air Station, and two aerospace manufacturing plants (my Dad worked for LTV-Chance Vought, and my Grandmother had retired from Temco, next door, after 20 years, from '43-'63).

All those skilled workers (mostly trained in WW2) had their own side businesses and shops, and they could repair about everything. Same in our neighborhood, full of the same people and skill-sets. If you needed a car (or whatever) repaired, there was always a shop nearby to get anything done...usually recommended by word-of-mouth (who needed Yellow Pages or the Internet?).

[Masospaghetti]

Originally Posted by paramax55

I finished the plug and I think I figured out how to do the pictures. I turned the plug on the lathe. I made grooves for two o-rings (because... why not?). I also drilled and tapped a hole for a #6-32 bolt as a "handle." It took more than 5 1/2 pounds of force to get it in there. It shouldn't be coming out. I JB Welded the plug in afterwards. I tried to shove JB Weld in the groove like I was greasing a wheel bearing. I'll find out if it worked in a couple days when I get back to this project.

I'm curious if it holds up. 5.5 lbs of force isn't really that much when the cooling system holds 30 psi. That plug is probably like 1 square inch? That's 30 lbs of force.