Also just discovered the banjo
bolt on the right and bleeder bolt on the left side don’t fit the
threaded insert of Chinese radiator
With any luck at all, the Chinese used some rational thread. The original
fittings are BSPP, British Standard Pipe - Parallel. See if you can find
something commonly available that fits the threads, and thank the Chinese
for not using that oddball standard.
And put those BSPP items up for sale on the Jag exchange. Somebody will
probably want them.
– Kirbert
Right now, I’m not happy. The transmission cooler lines will not connect to the fittings I bought and can’t find what I actually I need to convert to between lines and Chinese radiator fitting.
The ebay seller doesn’t know anything about the radiator he is selling just in case someone is interesting in buying it.
Until Ford bought the show, an XJ-S had at least 5 different thread forms
in various parts of the car.
China is a metric country so most products have metric fittings.
Your radiator is probably metric.
There is a catch however.
Many U.S. based companies, say Walmart or Kmart for instance, will order
small and large items and specify they must have threads to suit the U.S.
Chinese manufacturers can use non metric threads in things where they think
the major export market does not like metric.
We have Kmart and other stores down here which carry parts with U.S.
threads because they get stock on the tail end of a large U.S. purchase.
Plus many stores still carry stock with imperial threads for plumbing and
air fittings, even though we are a metric country. What a nightmare.
It will be a better world when everything is metric, knowing it will take
at least 30 years to eliminate non compliant threads.
Richard Dowling, Melbourne, Australia. 1979 coupe + HE V12 + manual; 1989
convertible; 2003 XJ350.
Thanks for the info Richard!
I’m surprised your radiator has transmission cooler threads at all. The Chinese radiators I see on eBay all have a little flared pipe that you put a worn drive pipe clamp on.
The transmission cooler inside my radiator was leaking and turned the transmission fluid into a strawberry milkshake. I added an external cooler, and it had flared pipes. I just cut off the transmission lines, extended them a bit, and throw some clamps on. Seems to be fine after three years. The earlier XJ12’s didn’t even have threaded transmission cooler lines.
Thanks for this info Kilbert
John6
The Chinese ebay Co. sent me these fittings on the right.
That’s seems what they want you to do. You’ll find the hoses are probably a touch short once you cut the end off… so cut the entire hose off both ends. Chuck the radiator end of the old hoses. The take a propane torch and burn the remaining hose out of the fitting side you’re keeping. Take the little pipe stub to AutoZone and get some transmission cooler line that fits to run from the old end to the new ones. Get GOOD worm drive pipe clamps… like Breeze brand or Norma or Ideal or Tridon or anything not made in China. AutoZone pipe clamps are Chinese pot metal crap. Anyway, with even Chinese clamps it won’t leak but the Chinese kind don’t respond well to over tightening. Transmission fluid isn’t anywhere near the pressure of power steering.
Your transmission lines have threaded connections at the radiator. My '83 did not; the radiator had hose barbs, and the transmission lines were clamped directly to them. There was probably some theory that you could just loosen the clamps to remove them, but the hoses had gotten hard (underhood temps combined with British nonmetallics) so they would not come off. You had to cut them if you were gonna do anything, including just taking the radiator out for cleaning. I dunno when they changed that, but be glad they did.
I do concur with John6 that what you want to do here is cut the hoses off at the other end and install lengths of new hose. I dunno what pressure these lines run at, but I do know that regular hose clamps will work.
And I think those fittings should have come with the radiator.
FYI, latest update:
I was able to use the 6 AN -6AN fitting from ebay and a brass 3/8 female FIP thread to barb from Home Depot to work on the existing transmission cooler lines which needed to be extended after cutting off the existing connectors.
Not very professional looking but everything is leak proof.
The seller from ebay winner_racing doesn’t have a clue of the product he is selling.
He doesn’t know any of the sizes of the fittings on the radiator he is selling.
Sent me a bunch of very stupid emails trying to resolve it but basically just doesn’t know anything about radiators
The threaded holes on the top are not opening in the radiator for the bleeder bolt and the banjo bolt.
I had to spend a lot of time pouring antifreeze slowly, warming up the engines, then cool down, then pour in more antifreeze trying to get all the air out. The existing thin piping on the top of the radiator, which is acting as a bypass, I believe, you can’t use any of it
The metal frame with the fan openings doesn’t not line up to bolt back on so I had to use plastic straps for now.
My opinion, this Chinese radiator isn’t worth the frustration. There hasn’t to be better options.
the fitting on the right of the picture, sent by the ebay seller, were too small!
Jdere,
When I needed a replacement radiator for my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible (5.3L V12 w/ Marelli) I got one from the local Jaguar dealership’s parts department. The part number was MHE4190BA and the total cost to me was $813.15 including CA taxes and the discount they offer for JCNA members. There were no shipping charges because I picked it up. It fit perfectly and it is working great. When I shopped around $813 was a very good price since shipping and handling charges from some of the usual sources was quite expensive for such a large heavy item. Plus there was a delay with the usual sources because no one seemed to have any stock on hand when I needed one and they couldn’t give me an availability date. Jaguar had stock at a regional warehouse and I only had to wait a few days for it to arrive. I have purchased aftermarket parts for my Jaguars and sometimes they are OK and other times not so. I have seen the debates about aftermarket radiators, aluminum radiators, and more. For a part as important as the XJ-S V12 radiator I believe it is necessary to get the right part. The right OEM part was available from Jaguar and the price was comparable, if not cheaper than some of the other options I considered, because of the JCNA discount and no shipping costs.
Regards,
Paul M. Novak
1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA USA
The threaded holes on the top are not
opening in the radiator for the bleeder bolt and the banjo bolt.
Lemme get this straight: The threaded holes are THERE, but they don’t
open up into the header tanks? That not only makes no sense, you would
think it’d also make it much harder to tap those holes! Just the same, it
wouldn’t seem difficult to just drill the holes on through. And it might be
possible that this was done deliberately, giving the buyer the option of drilling
the holes through or leaving them blanked off and omitting the air purge
system in entirety.
Those hole are a really odd thread, British Standard Pipe - Parallel. IIRC, it
comes out to something close to 19 thread per inch. Any chance at all they
tapped them to the correct thread?
I had
to spend a lot of time pouring antifreeze slowly, warming up the
engines, then cool down, then pour in more antifreeze trying to get
all the air out.
Yeah, I woulda drilled the bleed hole out. And I recommend a cleanout fitting
at the high point in the heater hose to help get air out of that loop.
The existing thin piping on the top of the radiator,
which is acting as a bypass, I believe, you can’t use any of it…
It’s not a bypass, it’s an air purge. Too bad you can’t use it.
The
metal frame with the fan openings doesn’t not line up to bolt back on
so I had to use plastic straps for now.
Sounds like more drilling!
My opinion, this Chinese
radiator isn’t worth the frustration. There hasn’t to be better
options.
Is this rad a single-pass or a 1-1/2 pass like the OEM? And yeah, there
probably are better options, but they’re also more expensive, and they STILL
involve fiddling to make right. It’s the nature of the beast, I’m afraid.
– Kirbert
Thanks Paul for the advice!
Yes Kirbert, the threaded holes do not open up to the header and they are too small for the banjo bolt and bleeder bolt.
I am now wandering if the air purge is being eliminated on purpose or a design flaw. I haven’t driven it yet. Just ran it 20 minutes at idle a few times in the driveway.
It’s a 1.1/2 pass like the OEM.
I wanted to warn everyone about this rad before they purchase. I kept old rad and might have it cored or buy a new OEM rad.
When I have more time I will add information I discovered about interesting issue with the thermostat switch that had been driving me crazy but now seems to be solved.
Just purchased my Chinese radiator this afternoon to do up my system (details on the “Too hot or not too hot” topic) and the information here scares me a bit. However my shop guy knows the model and year of my car and he went through his regular supplier and he says it’s all go. If it doesn’t fit, it wont be the first time he would have been in that situation I think. So hopefully (for me) the problem lies with your e-bay man and what he is selling is not fit for purpose. I will let you know what problems mine brings after the fitting in about ten days. China is a big place and there may be more than one supplier.
Watch this space.
Trev
I have cancelled my purchase of a a new Chinese radiator… As the radiator looked new I emailed the PO a few days ago and asked if this was the case. He replied me this am to say the radiator was re-cored and water pump replaced just prior to me buying the car and the temps were all normal then. I have had the car 3 years under restoration and with new coolant in it and not many mile have been done so I’ll concentrate on other parts of the system.
Trev
FWIW, i bought my aluminum radiator from Wizard cooling. They have a website. Direct fit into the 95 6 liter. Very happy with the outcome. And i have no affiliation other than satisfied customer
pknelle, I realize you canceled installing a new radiator.
I wanted to confirm that the radiator I purchased and referred to in this thread does fit where old radiator was.
One would need to make modifications which I haven’t completed decided as the right course.
