[blue_cheese]

I dont think you will need to remove the fan.
-Remove both coolant pipes from the radiator and try to position the thermostat in an out of the way spot.
-Remove the top portion of the fan cowling.
-Remove the two metal clips at the top of the radiator that holds the rest of the cowling in place.
-There are two plastic pins that i have circled in blue on the bottom of the cowling that allows it to locate, lift the cowling slightly just to pull these pins out of their locating holes.
-Push the cowling back towards the rear of the car so that it hangs slightly over the fan.
View attachment 338522
-Undo these two bolts on the bottom of the radiator. But use plenty of penitrating spray because their nuts are only held in place by the plastic molding of the radiator. Ive circled them in red. Its hiding behind some plastic cover in green, Im not sure what that portion of plastic is though, it should not be there.
View attachment 338523
-Then you should be able to just lift the whole radiator out vertically, it will probably need some jiggling to get it free. Also just make sure the cowling doesnt stab a hole in it while you lifting it out.

Thanks for that - good to know I won't need to remove the fan.

I managed to persuade the first bolt out with a propane torch, and I found the other behind that piece of unknown plastic trim.
Just like the first one, it's also spinning freely so I'll have to get back at it tomorrow with the torch and get it out one way or another.


Thanks for your continuted help

 

[blue_cheese]

Afternoon,
Lovely weather.

Finally got the rad out today - been blasting each entry/exit with a hose until the water runs clear.
I did notice that the flow of water in to the top hose is quite restricted - any mid-high pressure from the hose and it all splashed back out. Seems to take a little time before it comes out the bottom. Is that to be expected?

 

[FEI]

Afternoon,
Lovely weather.

Finally got the rad out today - been blasting each entry/exit with a hose until the water runs clear.
I did notice that the flow of water in to the top hose is quite restricted - any mid-high pressure from the hose and it all splashed back out. Seems to take a little time before it comes out the bottom. Is that to be expected?

The rad should be able to easily flow the amount of water out of a normal garden hose.

You could try: Get some radiator flush, have the radiator lie on its front, fill it with the radiator flush and some water but have it quite concentrated and leave it like that for a while, then flush it again with water.

 

[Datatek]

Afternoon,
Lovely weather.

Finally got the rad out today - been blasting each entry/exit with a hose until the water runs clear.
I did notice that the flow of water in to the top hose is quite restricted - any mid-high pressure from the hose and it all splashed back out. Seems to take a little time before it comes out the bottom. Is that to be expected?

Sounds like it's partially blocked to me.

 

[blue_cheese]

Thanks both.
I've just left some concentrated Holts in it for the last half an hour.
Plenty of little copper flakes coming out.

Here's a video of the flow - you can see that the water overflows from the top before it starts draining out of the bottom hose:



Let me know what you think.

 

[FEI]

Is that with the tap fully open?
That looks very clogged to me

 

[blue_cheese]

Is that with the tap fully open?
That looks very clogged to me

That's with the tap open just a small amount.
Fully open and I get soaked from the splashback out of the top

 

[Datatek]

Thanks both.
I've just left some concentrated Holts in it for the last half an hour.
Plenty of little copper flakes coming out.

Here's a video of the flow - you can see that the water overflows from the top before it starts draining out of the bottom hose:



Let me know what you think.

If there are copper flakes coming out, personally I would bin it and get a new Nissens radiator. Not very expensive.
Sounds like one of the HGF cures has been tried at some time.

 

[FEI]

Im gonna make an educated guess and say that that radiator is the reason you have exhaust gasses in your coolant in the first place

 

[pwood999]

Im gonna make an educated guess and say that that radiator is the reason you have exhaust gasses in your coolant in the first place

+1 on that.

 

[kermit_rr]

Im gonna make an educated guess and say that that radiator is the reason you have exhaust gasses in your coolant in the first place

You mean it's a result of exhaust in coolant.. someone tried to fix it with leak stop.
It's awful stuff and causes more problems than it fixes

 

[pwood999]

From the info in this thread, exhaust in coolant was probably either head or valley gaskets. however probably cause for gasket failure was blocked radiator.

On my project car the prev-owner has bodged the thermostat & over tightened the head bolts in a attempt to solve their issue, but gasket still blew & warped the heads. In the end it was rusty leaking core plugs that were the original cause.

 

[Mark Piercy]

Proper diagnosis is the key, a lot of people don't want to pay for it unfortunately and end up unhappy with the result either way..

 

[blue_cheese]

Thanks all for your input.

Sounds like a new rad might be the best way forward then.
I'm a little bit apprehensive - I'm still not sure if the liners have slipped so spending £100 on a rad seems like it might be foolish before I've ruled out if there's still exhaust gases in the coolant.

Been looking rads - I'm guessing I need the MY99+ one?

 

[kermit_rr]

I put this noise down to a slipped liner

 

[blue_cheese]

I do have a noise when the engine is running, but it sounds like it's coming towards the top side, and it's not quite as loud as that. Hoping it was just noisy tappets

 

[kermit_rr]

I do have a noise when the engine is running, but it sounds like it's coming towards the top side, and it's not quite as loud as that. Hoping it was just noisy tappets

By ear i couldn't really trace where it was coming from but i think that's a result of it being deep inside, so to speak

 

[blue_cheese]

Once the new rad arrives, I'll start it up and record a video for your judgement

 

[kermit_rr]

Once the new rad arrives, I'll start it up and record a video for your judgement

In my case i only got the noise in the vid when it was proper hot.. 90c plus

 

[Mark Piercy]

I'd put the rad back in, run it on water and get a long screwdriver, get it running before you go any further with this... Further that and check all the rocker clearances to rule out a tapping valve. This could go sideways expensively if your not sure about finding the real issue and just throwing new parts to find a deeper more concerning problem that may end the project abruptly!