denverbikeguy

Long story short: My original radiator started to leak. This was later determined to be because the P.O. had horses or something, and the thing was caked with hair. I replaced it with a cheap scrapyard one, which turned out to be
"not quite stock". The hood hit the cap, bent the neck, finally that broke off. I also wound up with a lot of nasty brown crap in the system.

Fast forward to this weekend. Got a quality but aftermarket replacement from a reputable shop (Performance Radiator in Denver, $164 - can't beat that!) and before I installed it, flushed the system like 3 times, including a cycle with a bottle of that Prestone SuperFlush stuff. I used one of those heater-hose kits. Well, I got a LOT of crap outta there. It runs much better now, front heater works like a charm, etc. HOWEVER, the rear heater doesn't seem to be working anymore. Any ideas on this? I didn't flush it with that on hot (didn't even think about it) so I'm wondering if I drove sludge back into that part of the system... What can I do here to fix this?

As an aside: I left the fan shroud off, since I intend to install a Flex-A-Lite electric fan in the near future, and figured the shroud was just one more thing I didn't need for the short term. Turns out that thing is actually a functional part of the cooling system! The fan is so far back from the radiator that unless you are moving, it will not suck enough air through the radiator to keep the engine cool. Gotta have the shroud on there to force the fan to get it's airflow from the radiator itself... Live and learn! Was stopped in traffic for a while last night and noticed it getting REALLY toasty...

SEAN_at_TLT

I have heard bad things about FAL fans too many times, I'd get a SPAL instead, I have had those in the past and had great results. Nothing worse than a fan failure that causes the truck to overheat and blow the head gasket!

denverbikeguy

Have a link?

I've heard a lot of good things about the FAL's which is why I was going to get one... Interesting.

SEAN_at_TLT

Too many guys on the desert forums have had terrible luck with FAL. I know for a fact that SPAL fans work very well and others agree.

http://www.spal-usa.com/html/spalhome.htm

denverbikeguy

K, thanks!

Ok so where can I order one, how much am I looking at for the full kit, and what one is applicable to my ride (97 4Runner)? How was installation? The FALs have 2 fans while this appears to be 1 - are you saying that both FAL fans stopped working at the same time??