Hello everyone,
I'm a newbie to the site. I have a 2008 H2 and I'm looking to upgrade the radiator. I've seen where a lot of members are suggesting the be cool radiator, but I called them and they do not make one specifically for the 2008. Anyone with a 2008 or 2009 have an aluminum recommendation for the radiator? Also, on the 2000 and 2008 will I have to do the transmission cooler mod? Thank you in advance for any of your help.

 

I did not do the cooler mod on my 2006, I recently bought my new radiator from the local GM dealer, it was USA made and not terribly expensive. I refuse to buy the cheap chinese parts, and did not want to spend $800 for a high quality all aluminum radiator, very happy with the choice I made. Also purchased new GM hoses, everything fit perfect and was pretty easy to install.

 

I'm doing my radiator right now. It had not gone bad, but the transmission coolant lines had, and I figured this was a good opportunity to get in and get everything inspected, cleaned up, and preventatively maintained. I have heard that old H2 radiators fail and that it can be expensive when they do.

I bought an aluminum 2-core radiator from an ebay seller. It was $185 and seems to be nicely made. All the fittings/ports are where they are supposed to be and it fits in the truck so far. I am still in the middle of the project, but not too bad so far. Mostly the tight confines and grimy old parts are the worst of it so far. Trying to access the tranny lines at the transmission looks like it will be difficult to impossible without a lift....I may cut the lines just after they leave the tranny and use flexible rubber transmission hose to run to the front. At least until I can get the truck up on a lift and replace the lines with new metal ones.

I'll take some pictures once the rain stops and I am back to it. I'll either post here or start new thread and post link.

This is the ebay seller I bought from: https://www.ebay.com/itm/184949472078. No affiliation.

 

When I did mine, I bought an adapter from GM and removed my engine oil cooler lines, I don't need the little protection that the cooler provided and now I don't have to worry about the lines possibly leaking.

 

What adapter is that? Does it just loop the oil in/out together? I might be interested in doing the same.

 

I don't have the part number, but it is just a bypass plate, I bought the plate, gasket and two bolts from the local Chevy dealer and they were pretty cheap and easy to replace. I do like it better now.

 

Well, almost done with the job. Radiator was almost a perfect fit. I had to trim a flange along the top all the way across from side to side in order for plastic fan shroud to sit over it as its supposed to. Biggest problem now is the OE aux tran cooler inlet pipe is leaking at its port. I had trouble seating it so I am not surprised. I now plan to buy a new aux tran cooler and try again with new....maybe it will all fit together better.. At least it is not too hard to get at....still have the hood off.

I guess it wasnt too bad of a job, but a dirty job. I scraped rust and cosmoline coated things. Touched other things up with paint and generally tried to clean things up. To fix my rusted tran cooler lines, I trimmed out the center sections which had rusted, and ran some rubber hose to replace. I have the new hard lines, but without having the H2 on a lift, it was more than I wanted to deal with on my back in the driveway. Hopefully rubber hose is good for a while.

I replaced the rugged but annoying to operate OEM squeeze hose clamps with conventional screw-type hose clamps. May not be as tough, but much easier to repair in a pinch. On the tran cooler rubber lines I doubled up on the hose clamps. Fingers crossed.


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