New Radiator is in.....

Torque Junkie · November 11, 2001

I got lucky on this deal, lemme tell you!

I went to Checker's and got the new radiator and it was finally the right one. I will never patronize Checker's again. This is not my first bad experience with their products and services, but I guarantee it will be my last. :angry:

I put it in this afternoon and it fit perfect, and I hooked all the hoses and fittings up (correctly this time) and filled it with coolant and water. I started it up, let it warm up and carefully checked for leaks. I then checked and began to refill the tranny. Adding it a little bit at a time with my dad's help (I have trouble acurately reading dipsticks sometimes), I got it filled back up to the right amount. It ended up taking 3.75 quarts of fluid! But, I took it for a drive and it feels normal, and may actualy be slipping less than before! No leaks either.

I got really lucky and learned a very good lesson! SLOW DOWN, take your time and double check EVERYTHING.

-Mike

pacodiablo · November 11, 2001

thats good to hear. glad everything is going ok after all that trouble you had getting a radiator

76BBSub · November 12, 2001

Glad it all worked out for ya...trannies are kind of funny. I had a '72 Cutlass in high school with about a million miles on it. I took it in to get the fluid changed, and the guy brought out the pan and showed me all the sediment in the bottom and told me the thing wouldn't last more than a few hundred miles or something. He was wrong...I beat on that thing and it lasted for more than a year while I owned it...as a teenager, no less, so you know how I was driving it. The next guy that bought it did a bunch of hot-rod stuff to it and I think he blew the rear end, but the tranny held on. So you never know. Keep the fluid topped off and it should be OK!

Jeff

November 12, 2001

Quote from Torque Junkie, posted on Nov. 11 2001,01:06

I went to Checker's and got the new radiator and it was finally the right one. I will never patronize Checker's again. This is not my first bad experience with their products and services, but I guarantee it will be my last. :angry:

-Mike

Don't be too hard on Checker's.

All of the discount auto parts chains have morons working for them. They (Like every other big retailer) won't pay enough to get experienced people and won't train the ones that they hire.

Your best bet is to do your own research on parts and make sure that you get exactly what you need.