Standard or Xtra capacity radiator replacement

Asked by Karlmoore33 Jun 06, 2018 at 12:39 PM about the 2002 Cadillac DeVille DHS Sedan FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I just bought a car from someone.Head
gasket leak is a maybe.I was told the
radiator was bad.I pulled the old,which was
already partially  disconnected.Thete is no
oil cooler connections ,but the old had those
connection.He had a supposed new radiator
in trunk,it was metric, without the oil cooler
connections ,good and bad.well after
running to every part store with a dead end
for that fitting ,lower line toc line fitting.It
was 16 mm to 18 mfemale.ya right.wrll my
question is I'm going to buy s new radiator
specific to my car.2002 Cadillac DeVille
without oil cooler.Do I get extra capacity or
standard radiator cooling.how do I know
what I need.help.

4 Answers

103,235

An extra capacity radiator won't hurt per se, but it may also not be needed unless you're driving around in the south western part of the US. I agree with your call to get a proper new radiator that was designed for the car, as to the size - just remember it was engineered to work with it's stock radiator. I'm curious tho, if old radiator had an oil cooler, was it not connected?

How do you tell if my car had a standard or extra capacity radiator .Will the VIN numbers .I heard something like that.Not sure tho.

103,235

You can plug your VIN into any of those online VIN decoders, they give some fluid capacity numbers, but I don't think radiator is one of them. Any parts shop tho should be able to look up standard radiator sizes for your vehicle based on engine and model. FYI, a larger, higher fluid capacity radiator will not hurt the engine at all, as long as fluid level in the overflow reservoir is at the proper level (ie the "cold" mark when engine is cold, and the "hot" mark when engine is hot). The downside to some high-performance radiators is the engine will take longer to reach operating temp, or if the radiator is too good, the engine will never hit its optimum temp. (Usually around 195F, but check owner's manual to know for sure.) BTW, since your current radiator for an oil cooler and the car does not, good chance that is not the original radiator. Try finding a part number on it.

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