Customs OPL radiators. Warning

I have an Opl aluminum radiator in my car and after 3 years it started to leak. The company states they have a 10 year warranty so I emailed them about this and they shipped me a new one In January for the $15 shipping cost. I just put it in two weeks ago and have less than 300 miles on it and found it to be bulging on the right side so I again contact them and now they want $80+ dollars to ship a new one . So I call them and they won’t budge on the shipping the shipping is now to cover their cost of the radiator so I guess they don’t honor their warranty anymore .


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Sucks.

 

Nice to know!

 

I'll never understand why anyone would buy these Chinese pieces of shit. How much quality do they think their going to get for $150 ? Learned a long time ago that when it comes to Brakes, Steering and Cooling is to buy the best. Got 20 years out of a Walker radiator in my 46 Ford Convertible and still going strong when I sold the car.

Gary

 

Like Gary said, what do you expect from a cheap radiator, these old cars never came with a aluminum radiator, they were made from copper & brass and were meant to last, I realize they a more expensive but you won't be replacing it often.

The Walker Radiator in my 1932 sedan is now 31 years old and thus far I have never experienced a problem. HRP

 

It sucks the big one
Even worse that it has a supposed warranty.

Fast.
Cheap.
Good.

You can only pick 2,

 

Sometimes you get none! I just ordered a new copper/brass radiator for my '63 T-Bird; it seems like all the suppliers use the same one. It showed up in a "Made in China" box and had epoxy plugging some of the lower tubes. I paid over $500 after shipping. It cools fine, not great. It took a week to get here, which in today's world is slow. It certainly wasn't cheap. And I'd call it "OK" instead of good. So I guess I lose on this particular transaction.

I would have bought a cheap aluminum radiator for it, but the ones I found for the car looked extra suspicious, so I thought I'd do it right. Oh well.

 

Walker Radiator was founded in 1932 and they make a high quality product, they come in a box that says made in Memphis, Tennessee in the good old USA. HRP

 

Aaron65, I'd be real worried if I spent $500 for a radiator made in China by small children. Most Chinese radiators go for less then $150. You do know that radiators with epoxied cooling tubes are throw aways as they can't be repaired like those that are Tig welded like a quality USA made radiator.

Gary

 

Yep...Count this as a lesson learned. I've been dumb before and I'll be dumb again in the future. Now I just have one less dumb thing to do next time, and I saved my old radiator in case I have to get it recored.

 

$150 for a supposed 10 year warranty still beats $998 for a walker or griffin.


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How’s that concept working out for you at the moment?

 

Just spitballing here, but if you keep the car as many years as I have owned my deuce sedan (31 years) and you continue to buy Chinese radiators and if they stay 150 bucks and you get 3 years use out of them if your lucky you will have spent 1,500 bucks not counting the 15 bucks here and 80 bucks there does the 998 dollar price sound that high? HRP

 

Guys...really?

Not everyone has 700/800 bucks laying around...so many of us try to get by with the 150 dollar part.

Hey...I'd like a 25K paint job on my ride...in the mean time tractor supply paint will treat me fine.

Then again, if anyone wants to step up and pay my way....

My inbox is pretty empty, I'll wait for replies, or would you rather just paypal it to me?

Here... [email protected]

Edit:

Before some knuckleheads start paypal'ing me 50 cents...I don't even have a PP account. Just getting my sarcastic side on.

 

BTW, I just checked the Walker site and a Model A radiator list for 749 bucks.not 998. HRP

 

Exactly , my point was simply they don’t stand behind there warranty claims . Just trying to save someone else from the same problems from this company.


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Lets see if I have this right. A China crap aluminum radiator made by 12 year old kids and made with recycled and recycled again aluminum that is held together with epoxy is better than a Walker radiator??? There is no warranty. They are just going to replace your crap radiator with another piece of crap. Take Hot Rod Primer's advice and go get a Walker radiator. American made and guaranteed to last. I have a Jim Babb's radiator in my roadster. American made and will likely outlive me.

 

The rad in my 36 was made by a local shop, using the stock tanks, twenty years strong now, cost me $600. Go see what your local shop can do for you, saves complaining to us about inferior quality.

 

You get what you pay for. If you're Lucky.

 

A Walker radiator for $749, a 10 year warrantee and you might get lucky and get 31 years, like HRP, and a Chinese POS for $500 with a BS warrantee they won't honor. That Walker radiator looks like a No Brainer to me. Then again I don't buy any Chinese auto parts.

I think Economic's 101 training is in order for anyone who can't understand this.

Gary

 

To the OP -
Thanks for warning your HAMB brothers. One of my pals is considering an AL radiator for his '57 and showed me some cheap ones in catalogs. He's going to see this thread first.
Good ain't cheap and cheap ain't good holds true in this case.

 

Agreed that not everyone has extra cash laying around, but that leads right into "you get what you pay for." Pay $150 for a cheap radiator? You likely get a cheaply made radiator. Pay $800 for a quality radiator? Likely receive quality parts. Hell, even paying 4-500 to have an original re-cored at a good shop is worth the money in my book. Keeps my money local and lets me go back to those guys when I need something else done.

I'd venture to say we've all been there at one point, but sooner or later you learn to save your pennies and pay for the good stuff. - Mike

 

not a fan of walker i bought one for a 30 sedan lasted about a yr and started leaking at the top tank they said send it back and they would make it right, I did and 4 weeks later it was back that one lasted about 2 yrs i have a brice rad now 1/2 the price and no problems for the past5 yrs

 

What I've found is, whenever I try to cheap out it usually ends up being pretty damn expensive. This holds true in just about everything in life, not just car parts. "Buy once cry once". Easier said than done, sure.

 

I bought a Ford Escort radiator, stood it up and it filled the '30-31 A shell.
Took a couple days to mod. the upper tank, as I learned plastic weld techniques. The AL radiator was $100, in 2010. (Car is powered by an alloy Ford Duratec motor)

 

Happens all around.
My $150 chinese Champion in my unibody works great and keeps my snotty little small block cool with no issues.

We had a walker in dads Model A when it was built, more miles sending it back and forth for warranty repairs than driving the car. Tank leaked, then when the fixed the tank the core would leak. finally 10 cans of stop leak and it quit. Put a new walker in several years back and its fine.

Everyone makes a turd sometimes. Bummer they want so much shipping for warranty!

 

I've been ignoring warranties for a long time. A warranty is either of two things: on really cheap stuff, it's a marketing ploy, they won't honor it, so it's useless. On expensive stuff, it's like buying insurance--you're placing a bet that the part will go bad in a certain amount of time. And the odds are in the house's favor. If you buy a lot of stuff, and don't mess with warranties, over all you'll come out ahead.

As for cheap radiators, yeah, you had one fail. I would have probably just bought another cheap one to replace it, the odds are it will probably work OK for several years. But if you have grand plans of keeping the car for 31 years (at your current age?) then spend some serious money for a quality radiator, which will also be hit or miss, but the odds of it working well for a longer time are a little better.

 

I had US Radiator make me a triple pass 4 row brass radiator for my 34 Ford and it wouldn't cool my blown hemi...The radiator didn't have enough capacity...Also these socalled hipo cores are to dense and they restrict the airflow thru them..The factory in 58 called for 24 quarts in the system...I had an aluminium one built that was a normal single pass but had two tubes that were inch and a half wide....It is like having 6 rows in a brass one...Cools my car fine and I live in Vegas and it does get rather warm here...It was made by TCP in Rexburg ID....was 900$ and that was 4 years ago and so far no issues...They really worked well in helping me with this project....

 

Back in the early 80's I had an old pants pisser fella build a radiator for me. He made upper and lower tanks out of brass sheeting, cored it with a good copper core, and it has been trouble free in a 1940 Ford pickup for 36 years. There probably aren't many of those guys around anymore.

I only intentionally buy chinese when I go to their restaurants.........

 

Radiator in OT Dodge pu. Looked up number it was outta a Belevedere with a Hemi. Found on line an NOS was over $1000! Recore here in El Paso for $240 been great for 2 years 4 wheeling in the desert.