Murray Heat Transfer Radiator From Oreilly's Auto Parts

BKM48198

15 Year Member
Jun 7, 2008
377
28
49
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Just an FYI post about the Radiator I bought at Oreilly Auto Parts:

My radiator started leaking and I needed to replace it over a weekend back in July. I bought one from Oreilly. It was a Murray Heat Transfer radiator with plastic end caps and an aluminum core. The caps are crimped on.

I installed it and had no problems for about 7 weeks. Then it started leaking a little bit. I filled it back up and tried to make the 20 miles home. The whole end blew off before I got there. The aluminum portion was fine and the crimped ends were not bent. The plastic cap had to have been pulled in and blown off. Oreilly's replaced it.

I assumed that maybe it was just the one bad part. Before I put the new one in, I mixed up some JB Weld and coated the crimps on the end cap. If this unit did the same thing, it hopefully wouldn't blow off completely.

Last week, the new one started leaking too. When I got home I pulled it out and found the plastic had pulled in from the crimped ends. Oreilly's did offer to replace it again but I wasn't going to go through it all, yet again. I wanted a refund and after contacting the district manager, eventually got that refund.

I bought a fully welded aluminum radiator from NPD. It was only $160 plus tax and it keeps my car cooler than it has been in years. My motor is almost 100% stock. It has no high volume water pump or anything else that I think should cause a problem.

Do not buy a radiator from Oreilly's unless you like continually replacing them. They are Made in China. I would not normally have bought the one with plastic ends but it was the weekend so I had to either; buy it and drive, or wait. I should have waited. When the 1st one blew , I even went from the stock 192 thermostat down to a 180 thinking that it might help.
 
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I no longer use pretty much any part for any car from a chain store. Usually they have low budget crap that about the only time they do you any good is if you are selling the car.

With that said, way back i put a 3 row in from pepboys, (like $120 back then), and it lasted and worked fine all the way until i did the terminator conversion. And even then i gave it to someone else who used it.

Nowadays, i prefer the economize with the best theory.
 
Just an FYI post about the Radiator I bought at Oreilly Auto Parts:

My radiator started leaking and I needed to replace it over a weekend back in July. I bought one from Oreilly. It was a Murray Heat Transfer radiator with plastic end caps and an aluminum core. The caps are crimped on.

I installed it and had no problems for about 7 weeks. Then it started leaking a little bit. I filled it back up and tried to make the 20 miles home. The whole end blew off before I got there. The aluminum portion was fine and the crimped ends were not bent. The plastic cap had to have been pulled in and blown off. Oreilly's replaced it.

I assumed that maybe it was just the one bad part. Before I put the new one in, I mixed up some JB Weld and coated the crimps on the end cap. If this unit did the same thing, it hopefully wouldn't blow off completely.

Last week, the new one started leaking too. When I got home I pulled it out and found the plastic had pulled in from the crimped ends. Oreilly's did offer to replace it again but I wasn't going to go through it all, yet again. I wanted a refund and after contacting the district manager, eventually got that refund.

I bought a fully welded aluminum radiator from NPD. It was only $160 plus tax and it keeps my car cooler than it has been in years. My motor is almost 100% stock. It has no high volume water pump or anything else that I think should cause a problem.

Do not buy a radiator from Oreilly's unless you like continually replacing them. They are Made in China. I would not normally have bought the one with plastic ends but it was the weekend so I had to either; buy it and drive, or wait. I should have waited. When the 1st one blew , I even went from the stock 192 thermostat down to a 180 thinking that it might help.
I gave up on the 2nd sentence man. Sorry.



Yes... that was pretty bad. I am by no means a grammar expert, but I took the liberty of going through your post and cleaning it up so that it's at least readable.

When posting on a forum, you should ALWAYS read what you have written aloud. This is how you know if it will make sense to the next guy.

Additionally: This post does not ask a technical question, nor does it answer one. It's a product review and belongs in the TALK section.

--thread moved to talk--

Glad you got your issue resolved. :nice:

Had you asked that question in this forum before purchasing, you'd have gotten a hundred responses telling you not to purchase that radiator. lol

Fully welded is always the way to go. :)
 
as a manager for O'Reilly I would have refunded the money the first time and sent pics to the manufacturer. the radiator was likely built by vista pro or 4 seasons and I have seen many issues with some radiators from poor QC to thin walled plastic end caps and even tubes that leak. A fully welded radiator is ALWAYS the way to go in any application plastic does not belong in high temp applications for extended periods of time. I know you were probably trying to be economical to start but it ended up costing you in the end.