buying a radiator

Hi all. I need to buy a radiator for my 94 Explorer. Those that I
viewed have options to pick from A/C inlet/outlet. How important is it
to have the A/C cooling thing in your radiator? What is a good site to
buy it from? Any suggestions are welcome. I am naive to this.

> wrote in message
...
> Hi all. I need to buy a radiator for my 94 Explorer. Those that I
> viewed have options to pick from A/C inlet/outlet. How important is it
> to have the A/C cooling thing in your radiator? What is a good site to
> buy it from? Any suggestions are welcome. I am naive to this.

The A/C cooling thing is seperate from the radiator. The automatic
transmission cooler is integral to the radiator and is not an option. If it
doesn't have it I'd say it's the wrong radiator. Clean the transmission
lines before disconnecting and cover them to protect against contamination.

I bought two cheap radiators from Star Auto Parts in Southern California for
about $150 each and have had no problems after a few years in my '91 and
'92. They have a long warranty (forget how long) so the worst I would have
to do is change them again. Ford wanted about $450 for OEM. The Ford is
aluminum and the cheap one may not be. The different metals could
conceivably lead to electrolytic reduction and an untimely death. Same
thing with the heater core.

wrote:
> Hi all. I need to buy a radiator for my 94 Explorer. Those that I
> viewed have options to pick from A/C inlet/outlet. How important is it
> to have the A/C cooling thing in your radiator? What is a good site to
> buy it from? Any suggestions are welcome. I am naive to this.
This goes back a long ways, but I seem to recall that first generation
Explorers had the top tank attached to the core with some kind of epoxy,
and vibration would ultimately cause leaks at the tank/core joint. When
I replaced the radiator on my 91 many years ago I was advised to a: buy
a new one (wrecking yard radiators have already, or soon would fail) and
b: be sure the replacement had the tank attached to the core with
solder. I followed that advice and had no further radiator problems.
Good luck,
RJ