Radiator?

so it would appear that i have developed a leak in the lower passenger side of my radiator? It appears that the stock xj rad. is cased in plastic, and it would appear this is where i have the crack in that plastic end cap....i currently have a stock oem replacement from napa on order for 167.00. my question is should i be looking for a radiator made of aluminum or cased in something other than that plastic..if so what should i be looking for...name brand, number of rows etc...i figure this might have something to do with my lack of heat issues too..but i will find out when i replace it i guess. any thoughts would be appreciatted...

I wouldn't throw the radiator away, I've patched cracks in the plastic with a good quality epoxy cement and had it last for years. I just cleaned and sanded the area up good and put a nice thick patch on there. A spare radiator is a nice thing to keep around, all it takes is a stone or a stick in the wrong spot and your radiator is holed.
There is probably a reason the plastic cracked, maybe the rubber bumper is missing off of the bottom mount on one side. I'd probably insect the situation well and try to figure out why it cracked.
The plastic ends are kind of held onto the core by a lip, with a gasket between the plastic end and the metal core. I've had the lip relax and the seam to split. A little imagination and a pair of pliers, can seal it back up again.
I actually prefer the plastic and aliminum core type radiator, field repairs can be done with epoxy cement.

Man I think you can get a modine radiator (2 row) for about the same price. Maybe a little more but it's a much better radiator. Do a search for modine radiator. i think the heating issue you speak of may be from lack of coolant though.

yeah the heating issue is kinda weird i get lotsa air flow but it just aint getting hot as fast as i would like...

mud: i am going to get under her tomorrow and see what i can find if it can be repaired i will have an extra...like you said it never hurts...this cooling system is driving me nuts....had to replace the water pump a while back, so i did the thermstat as well..must not have gotten all the old gasket off cuz i had a leak from around the new water pump...got that fixed shortly there after finally and had no leaks, now my radiator is leaking...and i havn't had very good heat at all the last couple weeks....

thanks for the input guys..we'll see whats up...

Maier

I ended up with a Modine aluminum radiator, two row, with the plastic ends. Because the guy at the parts store ordered the wrong radiator, a one row, after I'd told him two row about a dozen times. So he gave me an aluminum for the same price. The first time I picked it up, I thought the box was empty. Just a guess, but it seems the aluminum exchanges heat really well or better than brass or copper, as well as being a whole lot lighter.