Radiators and Hail

Author: cfz     01 6th, 2009 in xn--9ou.com     edit

  • http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2006/06-7-19-7163.jpg

    http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2006/06-7-19-7161.jpg

    http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2006/06-7-19-7162.jpg

    I guess this is a good reason to cover your radiator with something or just not drive in hail. That is about 5 years worth of chasing.


  • Those grille inserts look pretty nice. I've thought of mounting those on my car and truck, but I've just never "gotten around to it".

    It seems amazing that most vehicles are designed with no protection for the radiators/condensers at all. They hang right out there in front ready to endure the impacts of rocks, bugs, and everything else flying around on the open highway.

    On the other hand, you'd still get all the smaller bugs eventually clogging up the fins.

    I've had to replace those components a few times the last few years, and I've concluded that it's nothing more than routine maintenance. If you own a vehicle, just plan on replacing them after every 7 or 8 years or 100,000 miles. Your engine will love you for it, too. It will run cooler, like right off the showroom floor. Don't forget, also, that the inside of the radiator always gets gummed up over time, too, as coolant slowly gels. Even if you reverse-flush and brush and straighten your fins and flush your coolant regularly, there's still no way you're going avoid replacing the radiator eventually. Flushing it won't remove the build-up that eventually chokes it.

    Bob


  • Mike, could this be the reason for your car overheating (I seen it mentioned in another thread, I believe)?


  • wow, now that's a smashed condensor.

    The problem with replacing one of those yourself is that you are not *supposed* to release the R134a refrigerant into the atmosphere. BUT lets just say a piece of hail hit it hard enough to rupture it. ;)


    I'm glad though that you brought it to our attention, my new (to me) chase vehicle as A/C and a transmission cooler, i'll be replacing it with a larger transmission cooler and using the current cooler for power steering. (yes a power steering cooler, it does wonders on my trail rig). I'll likely add an engine oil cooler as well. itd be a shame to bust these up with hail. i'll definately be looking into somesort of protective grill that wont block airflow too much.

    i know all the coolers sound over kill but if you think about it, cop cars have all of those coolers and well, we're pretty tough on our chase cars. excessive heat is the number one enemy to your vehicle.


  • Yikes! That'll definetally do it! It's actually the air conditioning condenser (if the car has A/C of course) that's all blasted like that and why your A/C kept stopping when you stopped; high pressure cutoff switch activated.

    The best thing to do and something I recently did to my vehicle is purchase some 1/4 inch (1/8 inch is even better but hard to find) hardware cloth at Home Depot and make yourself a grill grate to stop rocks, bugs and hail from damaging the A/C condenser. Window screen is a bit too restrictive in my opinion, especially if your condensor already has many damaged fins and is clogged with bugs and pebbles. It will also fill up with nats and small bugs and stop airflow if you live in a high bug area.

    You obviously have a brand new condenser Mike, but for people with the original, I also recommend taking the electric fans and anything else in the way, off the car, and reverse flush the rad and condenser to rid them of bugs and rocks, then use a fin comb or knife to CAREFULLY straighten as many fins out as you can, THEN install the hardware cloth. A/C performance will be better and you'll have less chance of an overheat possibly while out chasing.


  • I had my Ford Windstar for about 6 years and I noticed my finns were REALLY damaged. I thought it was vandalized and someone took a stick to it. I got it replaced and loved how new it looked. About 2 weeks later I saw a bunch of dents in it again. I thought there is no way this is from normal driving conditions. Then I thought back a couple days to when I was chasing and drove through some hail. Ugh. There is a pretty good sized hole in the grill of the Windstar. Thinking of putting a screen over it. Will that restrict too much air, does anyone think?

    Doug Raflik


  • You know, you CAN buy fin combs to help straighten out those fins somewhat which is MUCH cheaper than replacing the condenser. They sell them for like residential/commercial AC units, but would work fine for that.


  • Could try something along these lines:
    http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Browse/...0002181/c-10101 (http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Browse/tf-Browse/s-10101/N-111+10201+600002181/c-10101)

    Little sportier look than something homemade! :D

    Put something like em on my grandfathers truck. Got his from Lund I believe. Likes to cross fields full of johnson grass and such and was having overheating problems. Solved it with just a 5 minute job. Look pretty good too.
    http://www.lundinternational.com/lund_int_...Screen_car.aspx (http://www.lundinternational.com/lund_int_car_product_detail_objectname_Plastic_Scr een_car.aspx)

    Even though they are plastic...still pretty tough...believe me. That truck has seen some hell and they are still holding on!

    Nick

    EDIT:> Seaching over that Lund site some...found the same thing except stainless steel
    http://www.lundinternational.com/lund_int_...screen_car.aspx (http://www.lundinternational.com/lund_int_car_product_detail_objectname_Stainless_s creen_car.aspx)


  • Hey Mike, I used to have a Mustang and installed an aluminum grill insert that fitted right behind the pony in the front. I did it more for looks than anything, but it was strong and would keep the hail nailing your new grill. It was very easy to install. I think I bought it off of www.mustangworld.com if I remember correctly, but many Ford sites probably sell similar kinds.


  • Yeah it is the condensor coil like was mentioned and is why the car was wanting to overheat when it wasn't moving and it was extremely hot out. The condensor coil is stacked infront of the radiator so the areas it is blocked up the radiator will be blocked up from moving air. The fan is on the inside and blows through both. Andrew is right about the ac as well. It would always kick off when I would idle because the pressure was getting too high.

    The fin combs really didn't want to work on that. It was even hard to open any areas with a knife. It's a lot better now but still looks pretty bad. My dad had some coil cleaner so we used that on it and WOW did that boil some crap out of there. If you've never done it to your coil/radiator you may want to. It'll be interesting if I can now idle and have my ac keep running or not.

    I looked at my parent's coil/radiator on their van since it is older now and seen many gravel roads and it is fine. It is even really low to the ground like mine and has large openings. It's hard to find any dents in it. So I'm thinking 99% of those smashed fins are due to driving in hail.







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