Just over a year ago the radiator in my girlfriend's 1993 850 burst the passenger side tank. I ended up getting a radiator from radiator.com I think, and swapping it out without too much drama. The fitment wasn't perfect but it was workable. Also, embarrassingly, after the job I was left with a bracket that I didn't put back in, and didn't notice until it was too late. Everything seemed to be tight enough so I didn't redo it. OK so on to the question..

Recently the car's been losing a little coolant (relatively slowly). I lifted the car and found a single drip hanging off one of the little spikes on the bottom of the fan shroud that go through the radiator structure. Looking closely, I think what's happening is that the fitment is too tight, and the fan shroud is rubbing against the radiator fins while the car's running and the assembly is vibrating. I think this has worn some small tears into the radiator.

Here are a couple of pictures of the contact between the fan shroud and the radiator:






I thought about using some radiator stop leak stuff but obviously that won't solve the contact problem. Am I going to have to bite the bullet, order an OEM radiator, and change it out again? Does the OEM radiator not contact the fan shroud like this?



I don't think the missing bracket is related, but in case it is, here's a photo of it:



Can anyone identify that or (better yet) point me to some online exploded part diagrams that I might be able to use to identify it? I haven't had any luck finding any diagrams of the radiator assembly. If I have to take the radiator out again I want to make sure to put this back in correctly.

 

Not sure about the bracket either. But if it is less than a year try to get it warrantied. The OEM sits like that as well.
The fins aren't going to make it leak the solid line is what leaks. I would contact them and see if they will work with you.

 

Unfortunately I think it was over a year ago.

I realize the fins won't actually make it leak but I was thinking that maybe they got bent around a bit by the shroud and tore the core a little bit. If the OEM radiator sits like that and contacts the shroud too then maybe it's not a fitment problem. Or, maybe the bracket has something to do with it but if it does, I can't feel any slack in the radiator position so I don't know. It may be a bit looser than the OEM because IIRC I wasn't able to get all four condenser mounting bolts back in b/c of misaligned bolt holes in the new radiator.

Maybe I'll go ahead and try some stop leak and see how long it holds. If it doesn't, I'll have a pressure test done when I take it in for a timing belt in a few months and maybe I'll just have to replace it again.

Thanks!