Dear Tom and Ray:

The radiator on my 1989 Mercury Marquis with 67,000 miles needed replacing, and, much to my surprise, it was plastic. It was a bigger surprise when a new one cost $429.89 plus labor. Please give me your opinion on plastic radiators. Is Ford just using this cheap plastic radiator to save money? -- Earl

Ray: They're not doing it to save money, Earl. It's the weight they're interested in saving.

Tom: Plastic radiators weigh a lot less than their metal predecessors, and therefore help to increase gas mileage. And the truth is, they're just as good as metal radiators.

Ray: The whole radiator isn't plastic, just the tanks. The fins (the parts between the tanks that actually radiate the heat) are still made of aluminum or copper. And those are the parts that corroded and caused your radiator to stop working. The plastic parts probably didn't fail at all.

Tom: Having said all that, you certainly did get "hosed" (to use radiator terminology) on the price. You bought original parts, and had the work done at a Mercury dealership, so you paid top dollar.

Ray: Had you gone to a local independent repair shop, they could have put in a good, aftermarket radiator, like a Modine. And that would have saved you several hundred dollars. So radiate on that possibility for next time, Earl.

How can you tell if a used car is in good condition -- or even OK, for that matter? Find out by ordering Tom and Ray's pamphlet "How to Buy a Great Used Car: Things That Detroit and Tokyo Don't Want You to Know." Send $3 and a stamped (55 cents), self-addressed, No. 10 envelope to Used Car, PO Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

© 1996 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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