Leaking Radiator on 04 Freightliner Columbia Detroit 14L

On my Volvo it what right on the top were the hot engine coolant when into the radiator. I think the plastic was just to thin and weak and the heat over time was just to much for the black plastic. So they got hot and stuff expand when hot so it got like a hairline crack or less and the hot coolant say 200-210 when pulling a hill it would open up. On Volvo back then the plastic radiator tops were smooth so it did not have much of strength I think. I don't think any plastic radiator would be as strong as the old metal ones like the Freightliner FLDs had.

 

I just bought an OEM radiator from Freightliner for my '07. It was $1025.

I did it myself but wouldn't recommend that unless you have a gantry crane or a shop crane with an extended arm (so you don't have to remove the hood). The whole assembly with the brackets and all probably weighs more than 100 lbs and is very unwieldy. You could probably manhandle the old one out, but getting the new one in without popping holes in it is best done with a crane.

 

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Separate issue I guess but in stop and go traffic your engine fan should be cycling keeping it at normal operating temp. It's works in conjunction with the ac compressor when the ac or defrost is on. Radiator leak obviously should be addressed but it shouldn't run that warm in stop and go traffic.

 

200 degrees is not too hot, but the higher the temp the higher the pressure in the cooling system; your leak only lets coolant out at that higher temp and pressure.

It will eventually leak at all running temps, 1 gallon a day is a lot of lost coolant.

 

I just bought and installed an upgraded 3 core radiator from Detroit Radiator. It's an all metal design with non of that plastic BS. It weighs a few lb more but it's well worth it. I'm pretty happy with it so far, about do do my first load with it over the pass so I'll see if it's cooling better the the stock 2 core.

I paid $675 shipped to my door, much better than the $1100 the dealer wanted for another plastic one. Took less than 2 hours to change but I did have my hood off for some body repairs so with the hood on it's probably a 3-4 hour job? Longest part was draining the coolant into buckets. It only has 20k miles on it so I didn't want to dump it.

 

Good luck, if it still uses water with the new radiator it is "pushing water", that means engine compression is finding its way into the cooling system.

 

Also, what temp does your fan come on at? Mine was pretty high before, close to 220 degrees. I installed a manual override switch so I can turn it on whenever I wanted. It's really easy, just need to run a wire from the air solenoid to a switch in the cab.