Purchased a cheap radiator replacement till I can save up for an aluminum one, and once it arrived I noticed two aluminum ***** on the bottom of it, looks like fluid may drain out of these? Might be a stupid question but what the hell are these? My old stock one did not have these and I don't know what I should do until I know what they are for. And help would be much appreciated.

 

my guess is you bought a radiator for an auto and you have a manual. those ports look like tranny input/output for a built in trans cooler

 

It says it's for either manual or auto. So somewhat confused still, don't know if I'm just supposed to block them off or what

 

Its an auto transmission cooler, just cap them off with some rubber nipples.

 

Okay, cool. If I just cap them, should I use a tight fitting cap or will just standard runner nipples work. I don't want anything to leak out of course

 

its a heat exchanger for auto transmission fluid to flow through the radiator but separate from coolant. Nothing will leak if you do not cap.

But I would cap as suggested to keep corrosion out. The cap wont face any pressure.

 

My '08 needed a replacement radiator under warranty. The car is a 6MT, but the dealer only had a 5AT radiator in stock, so I gave them the OK to installed that. I just put some vacuum line caps on the fittings, with a little silicone sealer to keep them in place. No issues after several years.

 

Nope your fine bud. I literally just bought one of those for my car as well. IIRC those are for a A/T fluid or something.



Mine is a M/T roadster and it runs fine. No leaks or caps needed. My only suggestion is put cardboard over the fins during install or something. I smashed a bunch of fins trying to bolt mine in. Then some more when I pulled my belts off from the wrench breaking loose.

 

I have manual transmission can I use the A/ T ports to cool my oil can? It has a radiator hose going to it?

 

you could try it, but I wouldn’t recommend it until you know it can stand the pressure. All these different fluid systems have different pressure caps. Oil, trans, coolant have higher or lower pressures so one may or may not hold the pressure for the other.

but if you want to try and test it go for it. Just be careful.

 

Do you know what port is for fluid in and fluid out?