Recently my already several times repaired radiator started leaking again, so I was thinking to go for a little bit of an improvement, I found this full aluminum 3 row radiator on ebay seems very similar and the dimensions are the same but in the page says its not compatible with my 1995 Chevrolet Blazer 4.3 vin W, however it is compatible with similar ones from 96+, can someone confirm this please.

3 Row Aluminum Radiator for 96-05 Chevrolet Blazer S10 Astro Pickup Truck V6 4.3

Also if anyone has any experience with this and think its a bad idea it is welcome too.

 

Everything i can find shows that 95 (thru the first half of 96, I assume as well) is a different part number radiator than 96+.

I can't attest to the differences between the two, because I've never had a 95, but it's unlikely they would be listed differently if there wasn't a difference.

see if you can find the port specs for the hoses and cooler lines. If they're the same sizes, it probably wouldn't be too hard to make work

 

Yes, you are right, there are several differences, I looked at rock auto and could compare that the 96+ has a different inlet and the oil cooler lines seem to have different thread sizes, even the 95 seems to use a slightly thicker core.

Now unfortunately when having a look at my vehicle noticed that the transmission oil cooler line that goes to the rad on the bottom was leaking and while cleaning it to get a better look at it, it got worse and started spraying when the car was on. I was able to cut it and make the conical shape end with a tool, it was just good enough because it is still leaking but much less, probably a drop every several minutes. But I don't seem to find a replacement for it online, so seems like I will have to live with it.

 

How about buying and adding an 'external trans. oil cooler' and then plug and seal the radiator fittings for the internal trans oil cooler? There have been several threads in the distant past on hooking both up the internal and the new external cooler or just using the added external trans/ATF cooler. I am suggesting the latter. Capt. Hook had added an external ATF cooler and had a favorite model he recommended.
Anyway, this would enable you to keep your present radiator and use the new add on trans cooler.

 

If a present radiator is leaking and had been repaired several times already, I'd replace it ASAP. I'd be highly worried of leaking the coolant into an engine oil. So, the one with additional ATF cooler or another without. But a new one.

 

AFTER All the important points you guys made about Radiator Cooling problems, here's a Couple really important issues if you go with an Aluminum replacement, especially off of Ebay.

WATCH OUT for remarkably CHEAP Aluminum Radiators, even though advertised as NEW, many are Junk in that they actually GLUE (Silver colored Epoxy) their tanks onto the cross cooling tubes. This has the "appearance" of Welded or Oven Brazed tanks in detail photos, but they're NOT and they leak and are essentially unrepairable which your local radiator shop can tell you.

Several companies make excellent aluminum radiators, but NEVER, EVER accept a Cheaper; "Blemished" Radiator from them. I did once, and even though they "Claimed" they "inspected" and "pressure tested" each one it STILL took 4 separate returns until I finally got a good one that didn't leak.

Good Luck hope that info helps

 

Krnt,

Here is another option:
protuninglab
I know that the price is higher than what you were looking at, although this also comes with electric fans and a shroud.
Oddly it doesn't mention a temp sensor for the fans.
So that would be a good question to ask.

No matter what you do I would strongly look at just putting in an external trans cooler.
I've always been told that the ones built into the radiators are very minimal at best.

I would like to do this myself since even though I know my radiator is quite new; when I was driving 70-75mph on a long trip through the hilly Tennessee & Kentucky area; 90°+ weather with the A/C on; the temp was climbing up over 210° on the dash gauge.

Good luck and make sure to come back and let everyone know how it turns out.

Radar

 

Thanks for the link! I've downloaded a copy of the radiator for future reference.

 

Looking at a little more over @ protuninglab they appear to have a fairly good selection of Blazer items that I think would interest many of the people that belong to this forum.
Look around over there and maybe you'll see something that you decide you can't live without!
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So then my next question will be, is it really beneficial to have the shrouded fan?
I'm sure there are different opinions about that.

The radiator that I gave the link for shows fans and an aluminum shroud totally covering the radiator cooling fins.
I'm sure that is great for when the fans are running but when you are driving at speed; let's say 45 mph or faster I would tend to think that the shroud would actual be a bottleneck for cooling.

Maybe it's better just to have the fans attached to the radiator directly but then they will only draw air at those points while in stop and go city traffic but at speed you will get the advantage of the entire capacity of the radiator.

Any ideas on this?

Radar