Beachboys tune... I had fun fun fun, till the ratchet took my knuckles away. or something like that.
Couple of days going I have heard a thwacking sound from the front of the jeep. About half way up the left of the radiator by the fan and sounds like flapping insulation. Yea, it could have been the belt, but the belt didn't show any vibration or rocks or missing bits and I poked around and couldn't find doodah.
What I did see was a teeeeeeeny puddle of antifreeze down the left side. That and having dropped a overflow bottle worth of coolant recently, lead me to believe I had a small leak that was somehow squirting on the fan and causing a popping sound. Thing is it wasn't enough to smell it easily and not enough to see dribbles. FWIW, The oil is fine and there is no suspicious white cloud that follows me about. :)
Oh well, I figure it won't take that long and why not get it done when the weather is _beautiful_. I had planned on calling radiatorbarn for a three core, but if my usual luck held out I'd be having the ZJ flatbedded back to a dealer after being left on the road with no coolant. :/
So, a few calls later and off to NAPA I go for a replacement NR2796. And tools in hand I begin my journey. Generally, NAPA fits well... generally...
First off, the NAPA part is an "almost fits" style. All the parts transferred and it even had new fittings for the trans cooler. The only big problem was the old radiator has rubber doodads glued to it. The new one not only comes nice an clean, but it also does not have exactly the same outside as the OEM. So the rubber fiddly bits don't fit. (well, they do if you cut, poke, glue, and apply the odd zip tie.)
Get the whole thing back in. Sure enough the noise is still there.
BUGGER!
On the bright side, the old core didn't look too good inside. Lots of buildup and there was a teeny wet spot down on the fins by the drain. And it was clogged with mold/green growing stuff. Heck, it's been in there since 93.
That and I know how to do it now. Funny, but when I did the harmonic balancer it wasn't near as much a pain.