Hey Everyone,

I just bought a brand new radiator for my truck. It is a spectra and is supposedly all aluminum. I purchased it from my local pep boys.

My cousin who is a mechanic really didn't want me to get one from pep boys because he said they are very bad and crack extremely easily.

The only reason why I bought it was because I needed to get the truck back up and running asap, but once I get some extra money I want to get a really nice all aluminum one.

So what do you guys think is the best radiator for our trucks. I really want an all aluminum/high quality radiator because I will be wheeling my truck.

Any help would be really grateful!

 

This should be pretty easy to figure out.

I've read that aluminum/plastic radiators are indeed crap, and modern copper/bronze ones are actually bad too because they can't use leaded solder anymore. As a result your best bet is a solid welded Al one.

 

I just went through the same.
Aftermarket copper ($200) are thin and use low lead solder, the last one fell apart in 2 years.
Plastic tank/aluminum ($160) are better.
Best is custom made copper ($300) All aluminum would be more.
This is what trusted custom radiator shop said.

 

thanks for the help guys, does anyone have any links to any good radiators? Every time I do a search, the same brands pop up.

 

Does it cool? Does it leak? Are you solving a problem you don't have? What's a genuine Toyota radiator made from nowadays? Betcha' plastic tanks and aluminum core...

 

I went thru 3 plastic/al rads before I found one that lasted more than 6 months.
Sorry, I couldn't tell yo the brand. So I too would be interested to know a quality aftermarket brand. Make sure the mounting holes all line up and the cap fits well.

 

Just a note if you switch from the stock copper to plastic, you might need to trim the fan shroud at the top (radiator side) and the tabs on the sides.

 

I don't even know if it works yet because the day I put it on my head gasket blew. I am sure it works fine, but I am just worried that it will blow and my car will over heat again which in turn may blow another head gasket.

Pretty much I want to fix a problem before it happens.

If I had more time I would have bought a good radiator from the get go but time was not permitted.

 

The advance auto parts radiator was 100 bucks. My son pulled the overflow rubber hose and the plastic broke. Radiator was almost new. Lifetime warranty. Guess what all the ones they had with the same part number don't fit. Changed vendors. How frustrating. Got a refund and had a shop fix my oem unit. Vehicle runs cooler on the gauge. Cost to fix like old school 45 bucks.