Hi, I am thinking about buying a Direnza rad for my 2001 DHSE P38. However, looking at the Direnza website, and a couple of E-bay adverts the only radiator that appears to be available is one for a manual 94-99 diesel. On the E-bay website I notice that someone asked if it will suit a 2001 auto but the answer can't be found as the page is no longer available.

I wonder whether anyone can confirm that the radiator advertised, for a manual 2.5 TD 94-99 P38, would fit a 2001 auto 2,5 TD P38 ?

As my old donkey is used for road use only do I really need an aluminium radiator ? I still have the standard unit in the car [I don't know if it has ever been changed] so maybe I would be better just buying a new, standard radiator as it is probably likely to outlast me, and the car.

Pierre3.

I'm pretty sure they are the same just the oil cooler connections at the bottom aren't used as the cooler is located behind the fog light grill on the later models. My plastic rad which was replaced before my ownership has the two unused ports in it. 2001 dhse auto too.

All the alloy radiators now come with the manual gearbox cooler section. I have got an Allisport one which seems to be identical to the direnza.
I just didn't use that section and left it unconnected. Been like that for 10 years+. Overheating is a thing of the past.

I would not bother with an unless you plan to use it in anger, or leave it to some heir .... I replaced mine with a shitpart (was in a hurry after the fan disintegrated and took the lower third of the radiator with it), and it works fine and never seen more than 87-89 deg C after it, while before I would not see any less than 95-97 deg C ...

Hi, sorry for not responding earlier, I was preoccupied !!

I think that I would be inclined to agree with leolito, and stick with the original radiator. I don't go galluping up off-road mountain tracks, and I found [so far !] that even in the recent very hot weather my car was OK sitting in crawling speed motorway traffic, and didn't rise over "top dead centre" on the temperature gauge. I might think about getting a spare one to keep in the garage, but, having thought about it for a few days I don't think that I really need to spent a few hundred pounds on an aluminium radiator that, for me, would be overkill.

Pierre3.

I have experience of the Direnza alloy radiator in my 2.5 Auto, I put up my experiences on my website:

Auto-TaT - P38 Alloy Rad

Si.

Wish I had seen your post/website before I did mine, I had the same issues with the plastic shroud and an additional issue, where the drain plug o-ring had no seat, I couldn't fintd a dowty style washer at the time and used some blue Hylomar, then when I found a suitable dowty washer, I couldn't undo the plug after and had to get the boss altered/welded by a local engineer. Direnza professed no knowledge of the shroud issue , but your photo's are better than mine and show it reasonably well.

When I fitted mine, I didn't modify the shroud at all. The original radiator had the two flat bits for the shroud to be clipped to and I just clipped the new one to the bits welded to the Direnza. Only difference is that the original radiator had grooves for the shroud to fit against whereas the alloy doesn't so the shroud slipped down a couple of mm.