Fair price for having a radiator recored

[jeeplvr247]

I took my radiator into the shop the other day and they said it was too far gone for patching and would need a new core. They said it would run $430 and should come with a lifetime warranty. This seems a little high to me considering a brand new radiator is $550. Has anyone else had theirs recored, if so how much did it cost?

 

[zout]

Debs radiator core was pretty well gone as well. I had it re-cored but my comparison is not a valid one because I get it wholesale and the labor is zero because I send them so much work. Cost for the core was $265.

Its worth it and the only way to go either with new or recore if you have rebuilt the engine.

 

[wreckerman893]

I had a 5 ton rad recored for 500 bucks and some change.

Before I'd pay that for a recore on a small one I'd go with a new one.

 

[ryan77]

Is the new one copper or aluminum? There's a big difference in material cost!!

 

[3dAngus]

Seems like on those smaller vehicles, a good used one from a car or pickup might be made to work at half the price.

 

[clinto]

I am typically paying between $3-400 to have them recored.

That's for normal, passenger car sized stuff (like what you have. Deuces would be more).

I guess it depends how high quality the new one is. My shop does pretty good work, so I'd consider a recored unit to be higher quality than the cheap parts house radiators.

 

[Augdog1964]

Lucky!

Hey count yourself lucky... We had a BMP-1 show up with a busted radiator... it had SIX cores in it... largest cores the shop had ever seen... Total rebuild... cost?

$5,000

Yep, thats right.... $5k... 6 cores the size of a semi truck EACH...

bleeech...

 

[Capt Pat]

I've had several various radiators re-cored, from a CCW 5 ton to the 38-A1, the ones for newer stuff I just bought new it was less expensive. And the price you quote is actually a good one, a little less than I paid.

 

[flyusn99]

Radiator re-core

That doesn't sound unreasonable. I just had my Deuce re-cored and it was about $700. Obviously the Deuce radiator is somewhat larger than the Jeep one you're talking about but the cost ratio seems about the same. That $700 was for a quality old-style core with the interlocking fins. From what the guy at the radiator shop told me I could have had one of the lighter weight ones done for about $150 less but I'd rather do it right ONCE than do it on the cheap a few times. The new re-cored radiator weighed about twice what the old one did and looks like you could swing a pick-axe at it without it leaking.... I don't know much about Jeep NOS parts but some of the the NOS radiators they're selling for Deuces are the same cheapo light-weight units that are the reason everyone is having radiator issues, so that might be something to look out for if you do have it re-cored. Just make sure the cooling fins interlock around the core vessels, not the ones that look like an accordian with the cooling fins only pressed in between the cooling vessels. Good luck though. James

 

[jeeplvr247]

The new core is all copper, not aluminum. Luckily my tax rebate should be coming soon which will cover the cost of the new core. I was hoping there would be a little left over to put in the fund for a new oil filter assembly. Oh well. Thanks for the input.

 

[jeeplvr247]

I just found a new radiator on armyjeepparts.net for $490. Does anybody have experience with them on this? I am thinking it would be worth the extra $60 to get a new radiator.