Radiator clean

[hurricane]

My daughter has an 86 Honda Accord that has been overheating. At this moment, they have removed the radiator for cleaning. Is this a normal practice, will it help, or is she getting scammed?

[beastie_3]

perhaps, but they should flush the engine too.

Id look at the water pump as well.

Did you look to see if the radiator was full when it was overheating?

It could be a stuck thermostat as well, cheap fix. Id have that replaced while radiator is out.

[zieg85]

I guess it depends on what you see when you look inside under the radiator cap.  Make sure the electric fan is operating properly.  If you have cottonwood trees they tend to plug the fins, I usually have to back flush through the fins once a year with the garden hose with the shower nozzle setting.

[VileZambonie]

My daughter has an 86 Honda Accord that has been overheating. At this moment, they have removed the radiator for cleaning. Is this a normal practice, will it help, or is she getting scammed?

Who is they?

[1980c10]

This is normal and works very well if the problem is the radiator and they do it right.

[hurricane]

Thanks everyone. "They" are her boyfriend's father and some mechanic he knows. The radiator was full when it was overheating. The mechanic decided it was better to buy a new radiator because it didn't cost much more than the cleaning. Now she says the fans aren't working. She thinks they were working before. Could they have bumped some connection when they put in the new radiator? She doesn't park under any trees. I am pretty sure they checked the thermostat earlier.

[VileZambonie]

Cleaning the radiator isn't normal practice these days.  A cooling system flush is and is a  preventive maintenance. If the radiator is plugged, replace it. Your 86 Honda has a fan switch located in the radiator. Check to see if they reconnected it.

[hurricane]

Cleaning the radiator isn't normal practice these days.  A cooling system flush is and is a  preventive maintenance. If the radiator is plugged, replace it. Your 86 Honda has a fan switch located in the radiator. Check to see if they reconnected it.

Thank you so much. You saved us another trip to the mechanic. I can't thank you enough.

[1980c10]

Cleaning a radiator is legitimate when the radiator shop removes the tanks and dips it etc. however it is often the case that the radiators are fairly cheap new, so this is a dying trade. When they are done properly they are as good as new. If the radiator is expensive it makes sense to get this done. The same shops can also repair leaks, tanks etc.

[VileZambonie]

Most modern radiators are aluminum and have plastic tanks so the cost to repair vs replace plus the down time is typically to no benefit. So was the connector just unplugged or did they forget to swap over the fan switch?

[hurricane]

Most modern radiators are aluminum and have plastic tanks so the cost to repair vs replace plus the down time is typically to no benefit. So was the connector just unplugged or did they forget to swap over the fan switch?

the fan switch
thanks again