Life expectancy of Dorman Pressure bottle?

stephenspann27 · Oct 26, 2009

My OEM pressure bottle was starting to split so I had to replace it right away.. I picked up a dorman at O'Reilly for $33. I remember reading that these are not near as good as OEM.. but how bad are they? It has a life time warranty.. but should I buy an extra to carry?

JJacobs · Oct 26, 2009

I had to warranty three in a year if that tells you anything.

BigPete · Oct 26, 2009

if it were me i'd just find an excuse to swap in the 91+ HO rad. and just uppgrage to a open cooling system. IMO

winterbeater · Oct 26, 2009

Late model Crown Vic's have nice looking (strong) pressure bottles that you should be able to use. Should be lots of them in JY.

stephenspann27 · Oct 26, 2009

JJacobs said:
I had to warranty three in a year if that tells you anything.

:-( that's disappointing.. How much modification is required to mount the crown vic one?

Do they normally show any signs of going bad like splitting or stress cracks? Or do they just explode without warning?

BIGSLVRXJ · Oct 26, 2009

You could also consider using a pressure bottle out of a 1994-1996 Caprice or Roadmaster with the LT1, IIRC the pressures are almost the same and the bottles are a lot thicker and larger. The tough part would be figuring out where to put it.

stephenspann27 · Oct 26, 2009

Has anyone had better luck with the dormans? Like a couple years use? How much is an OEM replacement? Or is it not even available?

avnsteve · Oct 26, 2009

BigPete said:
if it were me i'd just find an excuse to swap in the 91+ HO rad. and just uppgrage to a open cooling system. IMO

yes, that is your opinion, and i'll respect that, but MY opinion, open system is not necessarily an upgrade. As to the previous question above, you can get an autozone bottle, I've been running this one for 3 years now, and just beginning to show stress cracks...!!!1

stephenspann27 · Oct 26, 2009

As long as it gives a little bit of a warning that its going to fail.. I don't mind replacing it from time to time since its free. The autozone one is Dorman too I believe.. you'd think they would improve their design if they are constantly having to shell out replacements under warranty.

joe_peters · Oct 26, 2009

My experience with the cheapo Chinese pressure bottles is that the caps are total crap.

Use the cheapo bottle with the cheapo cap, but add a worm clamp as the threads won't hold for very long. Get a dealership cap, or better yet a further upgrade is to use a Stant Volvo cap part number 11244 for $8.95. The Volvo cap is lower profile, so it tends to be crushed less by the hood, and is supposed to be 22 lb cap. Look up Ecomike's long running cooling system discussions, he covers it quite well.

And don't overfill the bottle, no more than 1/2 full when cold.

stephenspann27 · Oct 26, 2009

joe_peters said:
And don't overfill the bottle, no more than 1/2 full when cold.

woops..

89Daytona · Oct 27, 2009

The coolant tank on mid 90s Dodge Intrepids and Chrysler Concorde works great, it only needed one hose adapter for the return hose to make it work. I got the tank off the passenger side of a 96 concorde. I made a bracket to hold mine (not really sure if it needs one but better safe than sorry) and mounted it where the stock bottle was after removing the stock bottle and its shelf.

NW-ZJ-SCOTT · Oct 27, 2009

avnsteve said:
yes, that is your opinion, and i'll respect that, but MY opinion, open system is not necessarily an upgrade. As to the previous question above, you can get an autozone bottle, I've been running this one for 3 years now, and just beginning to show stress cracks...!!!1

Since we all have an opinion, here's mine..

Closed cooling system FTMFL.. and converting to Open cooling IS An upgrade.. How so? no pressure bottle = NO MORE ISSUES

:thumbup:

Boghog1 · Oct 27, 2009

put one of these in mine 4 or 5 years ago, can't remember when the price has gone up a lot since then but it was less than what I had spent on pressure bottles in the prior 5 years
http://www.macsradiator.com/replacmentjeepradiatorfilltanks.aspx

stephenspann27 · Oct 27, 2009

Boghog1 said:
put one of these in mine 4 or 5 years ago, can't remember when the price has gone up a lot since then but it was less than what I had spent on pressure bottles in the prior 5 years
http://www.macsradiator.com/replacmentjeepradiatorfilltanks.aspx

I'll keep that in mind as an option. looks pretty bullet proof.

xjtrailrider · Oct 27, 2009

The bottles are still available from the dealer and are only around $45. I have one that is around 4 years old with no issues. I lowered my bottle to keep it from hitting the hood.

I like the closed system, much more efficient as long as there are no leaks! This is key to any cooling system but with a closed system it is also mandatory. Fix your leaks then stay with the closed system.

stephenspann27 · Oct 27, 2009

xjtrailrider said:
The bottles are still available from the dealer and are only around $45. I have one that is around 4 years old with no issues. I lowered my bottle to keep it from hitting the hood.

I like the closed system, much more efficient as long as there are no leaks! This is key to any cooling system but with a closed system it is also mandatory. Fix your leaks then stay with the closed system.

Wish I had known that and I would have gotten OEM..

stephenspann27 · Oct 28, 2009

I do plan to keep the closed system because I've just finished replacing a lot of hoses, and I'm having a closed style radiator repaired. But just out of curiosity, how is the closed system more efficient?

stephenspann27 · Oct 28, 2009

I'm trying to find an OEM one... supposedly this is: http://www.jeep4x4center.com/product-information.asp?number=4773849K looks a lot like the dorman though.

xjtrailrider · Oct 28, 2009

Ck with your local dealer.

Life expectancy of Dorman Pressure bottle?

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

TEXAS-JT-SCOTT

NAXJA Member #1221

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

Similar threads