I looked at the radiator on my 86 which has the funky side flowing tubes(Gm) like and about mid radiator thier is what looks like white crud on one of the rows. A guy at a rad shop told me that is the tanks leaking. But it does not spray or use coolant so "How much time she got left? Can just that one spot be fixed or does the tanks have to be redone? I called Autozone and The guy confused me with "does it have standard or super cooling" I don't know it's just a 86 F150 Long bed 2wd ext cab auto w/factor air and a EFI 302. How much would it cost me to have new tanks put on it if it can't be fixed?
Dustin

 

The radiator could last 1 day, 1 week or 1 year, its hard to tell. The standard cool rad will be a 2 core and the super cool will be 3 or 4 core. Having the old radiator retanked could cost the same as a new one, the new one from Auto Zone will have a life time warranty.

 

My experience with letting people solder on radiators/install new cores with old tanks is that they are never as reliable and long lasting as new. As for life, well, they are an item subject to thermal fatigue. Every hot/cold cycle fatigues the joints a bit. Myself, I like reliable so I prefer to simply replace them around 175,000 - 200,000 miles. However, I usually put some miles on each time I drive. Lower miles with more hot/cold cycles and I'd lower that miles number.

 

Dustin, If your radiator has the plastic tanks, (which I think it does), it is not repairable if the leak is any where close to the tank. I just replaced the rad in my 95 F150 due to a leak at the tank seal. Got the new one from http://www.autoradiatorsdirect.com for $121. w/ free shipping. Hope that helps. Carl

 

Thank you so much carl,
I almost want to send you a Christmas present The closest offer I got to that link was $170 and I'm a POOR high school kid. They said $132.00
Hows that Gieco commerical go "You just saved me a bunch of money on my RADIATOR" I will have so save a little but that is ALOT cheaper than the others.
It is not split at the tanks, it is at one of the cross-flowing tubes.
Where the tanks join the fined tubes it looks perfect just one of the tubes has whiteness on it.
Dustin