Hiace Radiator Repairs

When I needed to get my 86 Hiace radiator repaired it was a bit of a nightmare to find anyone willing to do it, I finally found Bundoora Radiator Repairs where a brand new core was installed, something I was quite happy about. You can find the business by doing the Google search for Bundoora Radiator Repairs However I must warn you that the bloke was quite rude when I rang to let him know I could not pick up when arranged, seems he is a "one man show" and my courtesy called may have spoilt his plans for the day, but S##T happens and I did give him fair notice in regards to the one day's delay in my radiator pickup. Having said that, I was very happy to spend $750 for the new core ... basically a new radiator for my auto hiace. Hope that helps someone with an old hiace needing this service. Some won't touch the old stuff if they can't simply plug and play a new part.

Hello DataGlasses

Sounds like you’ve had a hard time. I also struggled to find anything definitive for a radiator replacement so I also opted for a re-core. I had a generally very positive experience with the company I went with, though not all plain sailing. You can read about my experience in the longish post on my show us yours section on cooling. I got a three-layer core fitted rather than the original two, but I think the radiator was (is?) original.

I approached a local, one-man-band company whose quote was very high and I’m really glad I went with the place further away. It did involve shipping, but they do industrial and plant machinery radiators as well as trucks, vans and cars so they know their stuff. They also said that many of the modern plastic and aluminium don’t last at all long, an experience I’ve encountered with more modern cars.

I’ve also had the Hiace’s front heater matrix re-done. Unfortunately the company lost of the pictures of that. I was going to use its condition to also assess whether the rear heater needed doing, but don’t now have that luxury. It does seem a lot better than the front one, which had quite a lot of rust due to Hiace not having a very good moisture trap or filter for cabin air. While the rear matrix is a bit hard to get at in a campervan so much has to come out to do the front and I’m not taking that risk.

Cheers.

LOL, my simple radiator repair would go on to cost me a couple of thousand, after dealing with the not too friendly gent at the radiator repair shop, I put the now heavier radiator in, via underneath, which ended up with me dropping the sway bar to finally get it in, beforehand I had rested the vertical radiator on a couple of tin buckets, which unbeknownst to me had perforated the auto fluid membrane at the bottom of the radiator, so when the radiator was finally in place and sway bar jacked back to re-fit, I went for a drive. Quick look underneath, hey no major leaks! Ripper! However, what's that clunking with the steering??? Turns out I had jacked the van on too much of an angle and killed the pitman/idler arm bushes! F*&k, ok now let's check the fluid in the radiator ..... looks like cream! So I wrecked the pitman arm, stuffed the radiator, and now the auto was contaminated.. not good. I could not easily find a replacement pitman arm and in the end had to pay $350 for one from a wrecker in Nsw, I am in Victoria. The trans was flushed and nearly ten litres of fluid went through it as the mechanic fitted the replacement pitman arm. Plus an external oil/fluid cooler was fitted for the trans fluid, as I refused to go back the radiator shop! Turns out that although I only drove 5-10 kms before I discovered the fluid in the transmission, even though flushed, 650 kms later on, the transmission went! To my surprise, Toyrolla had a old 3Y tranny in the factory, $650 to purchase, $400 to fit at a rough as guts mechanic around the corner, on top of the $750 for the initial radiator and the $400 for the transmission flush and external cooler. So my costs were over $2000 in the end, had I bothered to spend about $40 for wheel stands at supercheap, I could have avoided all the transmission costs! The secondhand trans is not as good and had no overdrive solenoid, luckily I have grabbed a few over the years from pick a part and jollys up in dandenong. In fact I just replaced one last week as it failed and I wanted overdrive for the trip up to Creswick to go prospecting, I got 2 kms before the car petrol "starved" My old 410,000 kms carby needs a rebuild and is currently in the post to get a birthday. Funny to say, of all of my breakdowns, they have all happened within 2 kms' of home.