Another Flatbed Ride for my car today

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gtgto

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Well took my car to work today since it was supposed to be a nice day. Started out great, went to get some gas and then bring my son to camp. After arriving at work and parking my car I see steam coming out from under the hood so I lift the hood and I see a little P stream of antifreeze coming from my re-cored radiator. I went into work and let it cool down for a couple of hours. I then went outside with some water figuring I would fire it up and drive it home......I live less than 10 miles from my job. After putting the water in i still saw a constant drip of antifreeze coming from the lower radiator hose. I reached up to where that hose meets the water pump and squeezed it and the drip became running water. Not sure if the hose is bad or if me the dumbass does not have it tightened down and seated properly. So I got on the phone and made arrangements for a flatbed ride.

Does a pinhole in a radiator happen because of too much heat? I'm not sure if I'm going to be fine after tightening down the lower rad hose clamp and replacing the radiator. Do I have to bring it somewhere to have the cooling system totally flushed? The car is pictured below in an all to familiar place ......
IMG_3709[1].JPG
 
From what I'm reading you've got two leaks. Most shops I've dealt with in the past would pressure check the radiator in a water tub after working on it. Personally I'd contact whoever did the recore and let them know what you had. Normal coolant temps would not melt the solder. They probably didn't get the soldering done correctly. The hose leaking at water pump is more than likely a clamp not tight. I personally recheck hoses and clamp tightness after I drive the car for a while as the heating and cooling cycles will loosen the clamp due to exspansion and contraction of the metal and hose itself.
 
Pin holes in brass radiators occur because of corrosion. One common reason for corrosion is the radiator shop did not flush all of the acid flux out of the radiator after soldering, or the radiator was so far gone it shouldn't have been repaired. Did the shop pressure check the radiator after re-coring? Aluminum radiators corrode also, my experience is they fail at the welds,
 
Pin holes in brass radiators occur because of corrosion. One common reason for corrosion is the radiator shop did not flush all of the acid flux out of the radiator after soldering, or the radiator was so far gone it shouldn't have been repaired. Did the shop pressure check the radiator after re-coring? Aluminum radiators corrode also, my experience is they fail at the welds,
I will be removing the radiator this weekend and bringing it back to the shop. I paid good money and got a radiator with a leak. I'm a purist so I will not be putting an aluminum radiator back in. Looking now to buy a replacement. Any companies make good replacements at a reasonable cost? I've seen a few online for $200 and I have also seen a 3 core that looks like the stock one for $462
 
You might find this article interesting
Aluminum vs. Copper/ Brass: Article by US Radiator | Hotrod Hotline , I found it on the US Radiator web page. I've run both brass and aluminum radiators, my thought is if you buy quality, either is good. In my case with my LS3 motor it was all aluminum so a aluminum radiator made sense. With my BBC it was cast iron so brass was the deal. In my Dart it's going to be aluminum.
 
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