3row aluminium rads- worth the extra?

Hi.
As per the title.
Are the 3 row aluminium rads- worth the extra on a 300 TDI or is the standard rad more than adequate?
Cheers

tobyd10 said:

Hi.
As per the title.
Are the 3 row aluminium rads- worth the extra on a 300 TDI or is the standard rad more than adequate?
Cheers

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Never seen the 3 row rads. But Tdi are usually a very cool running engine.

Standard rads are very good .. until the fins start breaking, then they aren't good at all. Having said that mine (On the Disco 300Tdi) lasted 120,000 ish miles before it went, and that was a lot of off-roading and towing trailers and caravans. It's replacement is still in my 90, along with the same Disco engine ... and working well ..

Having said that, if I had the money and needed a replacement I'd go for a larger Aluminium rad ... but it'd be a decent make, Allisport maybe, not an ebay one!

Paul D said:

Standard rads are very good .. until the fins start breaking, then they aren't good at all. Having said that mine (On the Disco 300Tdi) lasted 120,000 ish miles before it went, and that was a lot of off-roading and towing trailers and caravans. It's replacement is still in my 90, along with the same Disco engine ... and working well ..

Having said that, if I had the money and needed a replacement I'd go for a larger Aluminium rad ... but it'd be a decent make, Allisport maybe, not an ebay one!

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Think you want's one of these Paul.

https://www.allisport.com/shop/perf...capacity-high-efficiency-alloy-radiator-70mm/

£405 EXCLUDING VAT FFS! Basically it's a £500 radiator, that'll be more than some folk are paying for their Discoveries LOL

Paul D said:

Having said that, if I had the money and needed a replacement I'd go for a larger Aluminium rad ... but it'd be a decent make, Allisport maybe, not an ebay one!

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So what if Allisport sell on eBay?

Well, yeah ... I meant the (I presume Chinese) many cheap ones.

Actually I haven't looked at them properly, no need for them yet, I've just assumed they're shite and I know Allisport stuff is top-notch.

Paul D said:

Well, yeah ... I meant the (I presume Chinese) many cheap ones.

Actually I haven't looked at them properly, no need for them yet, I've just assumed they're shite and I know Allisport stuff is top-notch.

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Allisport will probably be making them in China soon, if they aren't already.

got mine re-cored with 3 rows instead of the original 2 at Wrexham Radiators.
My experience with TDI's is they have undersized radiators and overheat at a drop of a hat when stressed, hence why i wanted the extra row.
Up a steep hill towing 2t in low 3rd it overheated like a goodun with the original 2 rows.

Turboman said:

Allisport will probably be making them in China soon, if they aren't already.

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Its the cost of labour intensive products that drives production offshore, sadly it has blighted our manufacturing industry for decades as jobs disappeared, there used to be a company in Ipswich that made brass fixtures and fittings, closed down in the early 2000s as they couldn't compete with cheap EU imports (factories in Italy mostly) and this was a factory that had been running for donkeys years and employed a thousand plus people at one time, similar with Ransome's mowers, copied (literally blue printed!) And then imported from China.

The pound Sterling goes a long way in other countries!

dieseldog69 said:

Its the cost of labour intensive products that drives production offshore, sadly it has blighted our manufacturing industry for decades as jobs disappeared, there used to be a company in Ipswich that made brass fixtures and fittings, closed down in the early 2000s as they couldn't compete with cheap EU imports (factories in Italy mostly) and this was a factory that had been running for donkeys years and employed a thousand plus people at one time, similar with Ransome's mowers, copied (literally blue printed!) And then imported from China.

The pound Sterling goes a long way in other countries!

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Quality of the better Chinese stuff has improved no end over the last few years as well.

Turboman said:

Quality of the better Chinese stuff has improved no end over the last few years as well.

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Yes, I agree, there have been many an incident where quality control was mere the combination of two words but they have learned a lot exposure to the consumer driven capitalist world, admittedly they are a century behind our air quality and human rights and freedoms but they are getting there.

They'll be shipping production back here soon enough when we've gone bankrupt and our useless governments sell us out to them for the debt they've built in our childrens, childrens, childrens names.

It would be nice to be able to afford some of the rather more special hand crafted one off pieces, whether it were a custom intercooler, radiator or even a billet machined something or other.

Lotto win would solve that LOL

Turboman said:

Quality of the better Chinese stuff has improved no end over the last few years as well.

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Hasn't it just.

Especially at the lower mass produced end where once it would be just touch it and watch it fall apart, it's now usually pretty good at a fraction of the 'western' cost. Unfortunately!

Paul D said:

Hasn't it just.

Especially at the lower mass produced end where once it would be just touch it and watch it fall apart, it's now usually pretty good at a fraction of the 'western' cost. Unfortunately!

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A friend of mine had an independent Saab specialist, and he often used to source parts from China, due to the exorbitant cost of genuine Saab parts.
Back in the 80s, Saab used to sometimes ring him up and threaten to take him to court.
Just before they ceased production, they still used to ring him up, only by that time they used to ask him where they sourced the parts, so they could order some too!