I replaced my rad with a non toyota part 4 years ago. Now this one has blown seam(s). I took it back to the rad shop and gently told him the rad was crap. He apologized and said he'e give me a good discount.
What do you think? Rad at cost & I'll pay labour?
yep, let the man eat.
No. Buy the damn radiator and pay the guy for it. Take his offer age get over yourself.
Or better, go to radiatorbarn.com and order one for about $100 and drop it in by yourself.
Don't care for OEM Densos. Modines worked fine. So get a Modine (now called Proliance) from NAPA with lifetime warranty.
Koyo rads seem ok too. Cheaper and with only 1 year warranty that I have seen.
Rads wear out, and yeah, let the man eat.
This is confusing for me. Any idea of the average life of well-cared for radiator?
I'm retired and gave gone through a number of vehicles. I've never replaced a rad till now, now two.
And they both had seam failure! Is that the most common wear failure?
I'd replace my own but am now longer able.
I know the man has to eat and I did get 3 1/2 years on his replacement. Proper rad shop - 8-10 bays. He said we should use an aluminum rad - i asked why he didn't do that the first time. I don't remember him replying.
His 04 invoice reads new HD Auto Kool rad (which he says is now out of business - and I said no wonder) 290
1.5 X57 = 85.50 labor 20 - purge I supplied coolant and 4.40 for a clamp - i remember getting home, seeing this and thought it unfair.tia
D>I replaced my rad with a non toyota part 4 years ago.
Never heard of HD Auto Kool radiators. Cheap radiators are one reason for early failures.
- You also need to make sure the system is free of air. Hot stream can speed the cracking of the plastic-equipped top tank (not in the case of 4Runner, it's all copper for the 2.4L).
- Also use approved coolant (Toyota Red with distilled water) every 2 years to fight corrosion. Toyota Pink stinks BTW.
- Blown headgasket (over pressure) isn't helpful either.
- Make sure the radiator cap is changed with the radiator and has a spring-loaded vacuum return valve instead of a hang-loose plastic valve to hlpe keep air out.
- Use Proliance, Koyo, or OEM Denso radiator. Some carry a lifetime warranty and is cheaper than dealer part.
- You should expect *at least* 100,000 miles out of one. But 1mg/cm^2/ week corrosion rate happens to ALL radiators, so these things WON'T last forever. .
- Bad grounding causes electrical current to flow through and lead to electrolysis corrosion. So check ground straps.
- Prefer spring clamps (almost last forever) over worm-gear clamps.
- loca NAPA store offers lifetime warranty on Proliance (Modine), other places differ
- PROLIANCE Part # 432273 $166.79 on
- KOYO Part # 1640035360 $115.89
Hope this helps.
When they were all Copper and Brass for the cores, headers and tanks, they'd go 15 years plus with a rodding-out every three to five years at a good radiator shop. Then either a tank or some tubes in the core would go bad, and you'd replace the whole thing - or just the core, or just a tank if the radiator shop had a good used one.
Nowadays with the Aluminum cores and crimped-on plastic tanks, they are essentially selling "Disposable" radiators. You can't take them apart for service - because they often hold long pressure and not crack long enough to test good on the bench at the shop, then fail after you put some miles on the car.
Yes with the plastic tanks, since the stresses are concentrated along the seams, and at the 'fingers' that clamp the tank to the core and it's gasket. And Aluminum is horrible at repeated flexing, if they have to bend the radiator tank header 'fingers' to crimp it together odds are it's going to crack if bent to open and bent back to re-seal. Even if they try to anneal the metal with a torch.
You can still get all copper radiators for many cars, but you will pay a premium for it. And I'll bet a rather stiff one considering the price of copper has gone to insane levels (between the Beijing Olympic Games and the Three Gorges Dam mega-projects) and the world-wide RoHS push to eliminate all lead (solder!) from out lives.
Get another aluminum core radiator unless you plan to keep the car another 10 years plus. But there are vast quality differences betweeen the "No-Name stuff out of the third world, and the "Name Brand" where you will be able to find the company in 4 years should you need to get a warranty claim handled.
Note that there has been some consolidation - Modine Radiators are now Proliance
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