Had to replace my radiator

[RacingFan]

Over the Thanksgiving weekend my '97 K1500 sprung a leak in the radiator. It was in the plastic side post, and since it's plastic I wasn't sure if that's able to be mended or not. My local Autozone had a remanufactured for $200, I figured it was worth it to just replace it instead of monkeying around trying to get it repaired.
The replacement job took about an hour and was really easy. The temp. now runs slightly cooler than it was before which makes me believe the old radiator wasn't working at 100% anyway, so it's probably a good thing to have done it.
The truck has 200K miles on it.
Just wanted to throw this out there in case anyone was intimidated by a radiator replacement. It's very easy to do.

 

[M&P340]

Interesting. I have a couple of questions for you.

Did you replace the O-rings on the oil cooler lines into the radiator (assuming your application has them) or did you just re-install fitings with the old rings.

Also, what pressure rating on rad cap do you use, 13 psi or 16?

 

[RacingFan]

Interesting. I have a couple of questions for you.

Did you replace the O-rings on the oil cooler lines into the radiator (assuming your application has them) or did you just re-install fitings with the old rings.

Also, what pressure rating on rad cap do you use, 13 psi or 16?

I used the existing fittings. I've kept a close eye for leaks and haven't had any.

I'm not sure what rating the cap has. I assume it's listed on the cap? I can check this evening if you'd like to know.

 

[M&P340]

Excellent, thanks for quick reply!

The reason I asked about the fittings is my oil cooler lines are leaking pretty badly ('97 Sierra SL with 5.7L) & this weekend I intend to reuse the AL pipes into the radiator, but cut off the old crimp/pressure hose & replace with 300 psi transmission cooler hose & worm-gear hose clamps. And I do not have replacement O-rings for the OEM hose end hard pipes that go into the rad. I'll just use the existing rings & hope for no leaks.

Don't bother checking the cap. If you didn't specifically change it, I would assume it's the 16psi which is mfg recommend. I had a compromised intake manifold gasket so I switched from 16 to a 13psi to take some of the pressure off the gasket. Contrary to what I had read, the system seems to work even better with the 13 than with the 16 even after I replaced the IMG. I was wondering if any one else had similar experience.

Thanks again.

 

[RacingFan]

Excellent, thanks for quick reply!

The reason I asked about the fittings is my oil cooler lines are leaking pretty badly ('97 Sierra SL with 5.7L) & this weekend I intend to reuse the AL pipes into the radiator, but cut off the old crimp/pressure hose & replace with 300 psi transmission cooler hose & worm-gear hose clamps. And I do not have replacement O-rings for the OEM hose end hard pipes that go into the rad. I'll just use the existing rings & hope for no leaks.

Don't bother checking the cap. If you didn't specifically change it, I would assume it's the 16psi which is mfg recommend. I had a compromised intake manifold gasket so I switched from 16 to a 13psi to take some of the pressure off the gasket. Contrary to what I had read, the system seems to work even better with the 13 than with the 16 even after I replaced the IMG. I was wondering if any one else had similar experience.

Thanks again.

I guess I've been pretty lucky with that many miles not to have any major issues with head gasket or anything like that. Knock on wood!
Good luck with your repairs.