Citroen XM Forum

Hi All

Am currently following up the possibility of getting a batch of 2.5TD rads rebuilt by recoreing.
Anyone got old scrap rads and an interest in getting them added to the batch.

This is going to be a good prospect for the long term.
The OE supplies of both the large and the small rad are leaking away fast now.
Recoring will require the old rad for recovery of the plastic parts.
Please save me any old 2.5 rads for this.
The small rad will be less of a problem as it is easy to make.
I am thinking about getting a couple of these made up with a slightly larger core to see how this improves cooling.
I am told that poor Spannish copper in the cores is the reason that 2.5 rads go so quickly.
Will be avoiding that problem if the recoring goes ahead.
Big rads recored are expected to cost around £100.
There is a small quantity (10 as of today) of OE ones in the country that my contact has been kind enough to locate.
These could be obtained for about £100 if anyone is in urgent need.
Interestingly the stockholder with most of them (8) refused a discount for bulk purchase as his current sales rate is 15 per year
That supplier will not be restocking as the manufacture has listed these rads as production ceased.
This has been a very interesting and informative result from a casual question added when making an ebay payment.

John

hello John,

I have actually got an old 2.5 rad in the back of the garage - removed from a blown up engine. I cannot comment on its condition other than presumably working before the engine blew up, but now covered in oily muck.

I have no use for it anymore as i am now XMless, so its yours if you want it.

Hi Gav

Yes please, that would be great.
Will pm you to sort out a convinent time to pick-up.
How urgently do you need it gone.

John

Hi John,

This may be of interest to you.

The original copper cored radiator on my 2.1TD started leaking after about 9 years service and I fitted a replacement from GSF about 4 years ago. This radiator is entirely aluminium (apart from the plastic end pieces of course) and I have been very pleased with it. Being aluminium I do try to keep it as salt free as possible in winter by hosing through it from under the bonnet, although I suppose the forward mounted intercooler will catch the worst of any salt spray.
The radiator is made by an Indian company and they have a website at www.bancoradiator.com
They appear to cover a wide variety of manufacturers with their aftermarket products, but I don't know if this includes the 2.5TD.

Ken

Hi gents

My replacement rad was a Banco all alloy one, i second Ken on the quality, it is a very good rad, i will be getting my intercooler from them too.

D

Hi John,

I see that GSF list the large 2.5TD radiator at around £206 (inc VAT) which is a whopping two and a half times the price they ask for a 2.1TD radiator, so I can quite understand you pursuing the £100 options!!

Ken

Hi Ken

Had a quick look at the Banco site but it would not let me log in.
Yes 2.5 main rads are now expensive but the small ones are now getting up towards £100 as well.
Continuing with the quick rot Spannish ones no longer seems the best option.
My recoring man had a big pile of quality large rad cores. Had no call on them so used them to make up rads for stock cars.
Pity I did not find him a couple of years ago. Sad but thats life.
I am very wary of aluminum exposed to salt as most aircon rads on XM's deteriate very badly. Not sure that it is worth a premium price.
Also the crap earthing on most Citroens can be particularly detremental to aluminum components. This is the main reason for heater matrix problems.

John

Hi all,

I also tried to register with the Banco website so that I could look at the radiator catalogue but they have not sent me a log in password - so no joy.

Regarding copper finned brass tube radiators, I think the general trend over the last twenty years or so has been to use copper serpentine finning which is only a little thicker than cigarette paper and once any hidden salt and grot gets hold, it crumbles in no time flat.
My daughter's first car several years ago was her grandfather's G (1990) reg Rover 1.3 and guess who got the job of servicing it!
I was always amazed by the tiny A3 sized radiator which had lost nearly all the copper finning through corrosion but didn't leak and still cooled the engine adequately in all weathers (yes it did have a working thermostat). It lasted for several years in this state but eventually one of the brass tubes failed by splitting.

The aluminium finning on my Banco 2.1TD radiator by comparison seems fairly thick and touch wood I can't see any signs of corrosion so far, although I believe that aluminium usually fails (from external causes) by salt induced pitting corrosion which gradually turns into a hole.

Ken

xmexclusive wrote:I am very wary of aluminum exposed to salt as most aircon rads on XM's deteriate very badly. Not sure that it is worth a premium price.
Also the crap earthing on most Citroens can be particularly detremental to aluminum components. This is the main reason for heater matrix problems.

Valeo claim it's due to dirt build up in the swirl generator coiled inside the matrix piping which in turn causes cathodic corrosion and water jetting which eventually pierces a hole in the matrix. To be fair that does seem a reasonable explanation.

Hi dieselman

Thanks for that.
A perfectly reasonable and acceptable technical explanation.
Cathodic corrosion requires two dissimilar metals but will be accelerated by voltage differences.
The extent of water jetting is a direct result of the piping design.
I just think a bit more care in design could have dramatically reduced the failure rate of the heater element.
No doubt our friend "lowest possible manufacturing cost" had a hand in this.
An extended life from beefed up replacement heaters might be useful though.


John