Radiator tank

[Dave123]

Right then Gents,

      A few months ago I fitted a new radiator to Earl. The radiator I pulled out was old, battered, leaky and clogged but had a black tank down the side of it which I can only assume is some form of either a header tank or a condenser. The new Radiator I purchased did not have this tank nor did it have a pipe coming down that looked as if it were to go into this 'Tank', It did however have a clear hose that went down to the very bottom of the Radiator.
       
      So what I was wondering was; is this 'tank' needed? Or is it something else fit for the tip? If it were a header tank then I'd need to get ahold of a new lid because the one currently fitted is cracked which leads me to presume that it will not be causing a vacuum and will not be functioning correctly.

      However, If it's not a header tank and is a condenser then is it recomended to keep it for it's intended purpose or leave the steam to go into the atmosphere?

      As some of you may know Earl is currently not on the road so if it is a vital piece of equipment for the cooling system, It shouldn't matter too much because it's very rare that Earl is ran too full temperature and is unable to go anywhere due to the lack of MOT, Tax, Insurace etc etc.


Many thanks,
 
Dave

[Panda]

Do you mean one of these?



If so then its the Expansion Bottle and yes its needed. You can buy new cap...new hose and bottle if needed from Paddocks.

Here is a link to the page ;) http://www.paddockspares.com/page2/scp/SERIES/Cooling.html

[Dave123]

Do you mean one of these?



If so then its the Expansion Bottle and yes its needed. You can buy new cap...new hose and bottle if needed from Paddocks.

Here is a link to the page ;) http://www.paddockspares.com/page2/scp/SERIES/Cooling.html

Cheers Panda, Just the answer I was looking for! :clap:

Dave

[Panda]

Anytime mate  ;)

Ive just replaced my rad but i just kept the old tank as i couldn't see anything wrong with it.

[S188]

Early rads with big caps don't have the expantion tank, its a later thing.

Early systems push water out (onto the diff/road) as it expands so when the system is cold the water level in the header tank tends to sit just above the cores when cold, thats normal.  You won't be able to keep it full to the brim.

On the later system with smaller rad cap the overflow was piped to an expansion tank instead.  This means when the completely full header tank expands the excess water is saved in the expansion tank (which should be 1/2 full when cold I think).  As the system cools back down again a one way valve in the rad cap (all rad caps have this feature, though you probubly haven't noticed it) alows it to suck water back into the header tank meaning it is maintained 100% full at all times, which is better (they are smaller header tanks than early ones though, so its more important they are full).  The outer ring on the rad cap has to seal properly for this to work well as otherwise it'll just suck in air from around the cap instead of water from the pipe.  This is a different seal than the main presure seal.  Early caps don't seem to be designed with a really good seal in this place so probubly won't work very well if an expansion tank is fitted, they'll catch excess coolent in the tank but they probubly won't suck it back.

If all's well levels shouldn't change between checks so long as its all at the same temp (cold) and the early system has been alowed to "find the level its happy with".