My Ford E350 running a bit hotter
I recently had one of my cylinder heads rebuilt and a new exhaust manifold installed, as well as a new radiator and thermostat - just got back from a trip to Colorado and there were several occasions ...
Forum Discussion
rgnprof wrote:
...you can't tell as much anymore just based on whether it's advertised as a 2 row, 3 row etc, because, depending on the manufacturer, the tubes are larger sizes in some...
That's about what I was told back well over a dozen years ago. I thought our OEM radiator needed cleaned, cored, something based on 20 years and 100000 miles. Then a friend gave me another OEM radiator that I think was three or four row, and had leaking tubes where somebody was trying to get that long alternator bolt (that I've mentioned before) out. Took it to a shop wanting it cleaned, tested, and a couple tubes in that damaged area cut out to be able to remove that bolt.
Brought out a new two-row in a very dirty box. Apparently bought for some customer/project that was canceled and never returned. Said "This is a High Efficiency design, and I can sell it for less than a core."
I think the two tubes were closer spaced (more of them) and "longer." By that I mean the length of the openings of the two tubes, fore and aft, was about 50% more (fore and aft, looking in the radiator cap hole) than OEM. Beyond that, I only know it worked.
Haven't heard it discussed, but it seems to me, that there can be Too Many Rows. Say you go to Six. The upper and lower tanks won't fit six, but say they could... There's gotta be a point where more tubes interfere with air flow through the core. Maybe even limit circulation because so many tubes could mean the flow through the core loses consistency, making more tubes less effective...
Drive it, Ryan. It's looking like you'll be OK. Do you think it got out of time with that cylinder head job you did?
