I received the radiator yesterday from the local 1-800-RADIATOR in Vancouver off of Fourth Plain. Their staff was friendly and knowledgeable, and knew just what I needed to convert the cooling system. First things first, the old cooling system needed to come out. On the pre-1993 XJ’s they are outfitted with a closed-loop cooling system, and this system doesn’t have a fill on the radiator. Instead the system uses a coolant reservoir to fill the system, and has a rather large heater control valve and a tangled mess of heater hoses. The new open-loop system uses a new radiator, used on post-’93 vehicles, and a much cleaner heater system. With the open-loop system it is a lot easier to eliminate pockets of air that could cause over heating. The new system also cleans the engine compartment tenfold with the new heater hoses. The new radiator bolted in place with no modifications needed, and the transmission lines hooked up like they should. I replaced the water pump, thermostat, heater control valve, radiator, and all the hoses. With all the new hoses all secured in place I filled the system with new anti-freeze…and with everything in the system new, I was a bit nervous firing up the engine, but it purred like a kitten. I was prepared to start troubleshooting leaks, but none came! With the first real test of the engine done, more nerves were settled and one more thing crossed off my list. I am closer than ever! Thanks again to the guys at 1-800-RADIATOR!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 11:19 am and is filed under Joe's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.