TR2/3/3A TR3 Heater Core PSI

[Mkutz]

I'm taking my TR3 heater core to a radiator shop to get boiled out and to check for leaks, and recall seeing a post about the fragilty of this part...What is the max amount of PSI I should tell the radiator shop to take it to on the pressure test? 4-5 PSI? At $500 for new, I'd hate to see this get blown apart.

 

[tomshobby]

In the car it will be under the same pressure as the rest of your cooling system or whatever the cap pressure is.

 

[TR3driver]

Just tell them it's from a car with a 4 psi system. They will test higher than that, to give you a bit of safety margin (you've never lived until that core blows apart and sprays your lap with hot antifreeze), but I believe not as high as usual.

BTW, the pressure is not constant throughout the cooling system when the engine is running. If it was, the water wouldn't move /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Which is another reason to test higher than 4 psi.

 

[sp53]

Yes that type of design will open up like an accordion under too much pressure if it is not contained. One way to contain the core is to have an old top and bottom with the motor removed and just put the clips back on. I guess you could clamp it somehow with a couple of C clamps. The first time I took one to a radiator shop, the guy gave the core to the village idiot to do the testing and cleaning. When I got it back, it was about an inch bigger. I was able to put the core in a vise and smash it back down, so I could get it into the container. But, I do not think I ever used it again. I clean them out at home now by shaking them up side down over a sink, using soap and water and perhaps heat them in kinda boiling water on the stove. The old ones are fragile and the new ones are generic (you have to modify) or as Moss puts it, a Matrix, and they are expensive.

Sp53