Trick30

as i pulled into my driveway last night i turned on my lightbar thats mounted on the roof of my yota so i could shovel a spot to park it for the night in my yard. as i turned on the light i noticed steam coming out from my hood. thought it was just moisture from all of the snow. as i open the hood my radiator has a crack in it. i currently have it patched up with some JB product but im really interested in purchasing a new radiator. is there a better aftermarket one or oem? just looking for some advise which would be a good buy. i know theres alot out there but im sure there are some that are better than others. keeping in mind a decent price. not looking to drop 200 on one but im not sure whats the best if someone has answers please let me know. 92 yota 3.0 4x4

space-junk

iTrader: (1)

junk yard.

red90toyota

is it a plastic and aluminium radiator or a brass and copper one? could it be soldered? is the rest of it in good shape? it may or may not be worth repairing but I have had a few that leaked and I soldered them back together and never had a problem with them again.

scope103

RockAuto has an OSC 50 (which fit my '94) for $105. I've been happy with it.

You CAN solder a radiator, but it takes talent. Unfortunately, if this is your first one, finding out you DON'T have talent can end up being very expensive.

You'll hear some preach that all brass/aluminum radiators are better than those with plastic tanks, so fixing an old metal one is a better deal. I'm not so sure. You'll notice that all manufacturers currently use plastic-tank radiators. That means something to me.

(And for the difference between $105 and whatever a junkyard would charge you for a radiator, I wouldn't bother putting someone else's junk in my truck. At least for an item that can do real damage if it fails.)

Co_94_PU

iTrader: (-1)

Bwahaha! yeah means something to me also, nylon is way cheaper than copper brass or aluminium, and the dies don't wear out.

As long as you didn't screw it up the JB will out last the radiator. If you find a junk yard all metal radiator I'd suggest you buy a lottery ticket too. I got my radiator from Rockauto also, because I was too lazy to find a radiator shop to clean my metal one..

Andy A

CSF appears to be one of the go to brands for our trucks if you want an all metal one, but they do run more than 200. Amazon has the CSF 2056 3 row, all metal for 231 right now which is a good price. I paid 256 for one a couple of months back on ebay.

Cheers
Andy

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

I guess we all have our favorites .

I like the Copper brass because they can be fixed in the field as I have done more then once .

I guess soldering is a skill like anything else the prep work needs to be done correct

The thing that gets the JB weld repairs after time is the thermal cycling of the different materials

As for the reason new manufactures plastic and aluminum is cheaper and lighter.

Then if my vehicles were operated always within reach of a roll back I would have no problem having the plastic aluminum

Trick30

It is the brass and aliminium one, factory. once i put the jb product on it sealed it fine budonce i drove it for a day i noticed this morning that a new crack formed. i dont want to keep following the weak spots and patching it, id like to go to a junkyard to get one but i would hate for the same thing to happen to it just because i dont know the life of it was like before. id like to just buy one. but i dont know if the metal one will be better than a plastic one. just getting really frusterated with it because its winter here and i have to keep buying coolant. if it was summer i would just keep putting water in it.

scope103

Sure, brass costs more, but I doubt that's a big part of the reason.

Leather costs a lot more than rubber, but would you use a leather fan belt in your vehicle? Aluminum costs a lot more than wood, but I think the Model T was the last vehicle with wooden spoked wheels.

Leather costs more than the polycarbonate they use in modern radiators, but would you even think of playing football with a leather helmet?

Back when they used luxurious brass radiators (the vintage of our trucks), how many manufacturers offered 100,000 mile warrantees?

Trick30

so far i got one respose to a certain choice.. is there anyonne that can back that up.. i mean if i will be safe with getting a plastic one and i wont have to worry about it when im off roading then i guess so be it. but i just want to be able to know that im gong to be safe wiht a purchase. really appreciate all the help so far but still havnt got a solid answer.

thook

application, application...

man, i'd just get a new one from o'reilly, autozone, or something with a lifetime warranty. save yourself some headache. i had to put a new one in my subaru a few years ago and deliberated over the quality...brass vs plastic. the option to repair my old rad was shot dead in the water since there was only one place within a somewhat convenient drive that would repair the original. it was going to be costly and there was no guarantee it wouldn't fail elsewhere soon enough. the old ones crack because the metal's failing from years of heating and cooling. metal fatigue takes it's toll. and, by the time they are that age, they do collect deposits and don't cool as efficiently. for that reason, i wouldn't entirely trust a salvage unit, either.

thook

what are you worried about with the plastic, exactly? that the plastic's going to fail? that the glue they use is going to fail? unless you run into something, they're pretty solid. i've since retired my '86 4rnr, but before i did i put a lot of towing miles on it with a plastic radiator.

Trick30

im just worried about the quality of the plastic with me bein offroad and usually having a decent load on the truck all the time.. yeah a lifetime warranty willbe nice but if the radiator blew and took out my engine there not goin to fix that. but if i hear good feed back about decdnt plasting ones i guess that will be the rout i take. warranty is nice. does anyone have a factory part number for a radiator..or where do i find it..?

thook

well, it's just my experience, but like i said i have/have had two in vehicles i'm usually hauling a lot of weight with. through hills of the ozarks, mind you. i was skeptical myself, at first, in buying any as replacements. so far, they've proven to be reliable. it's a thermal plastic and glue they use. and, consider....if they're putting them in new cars...of all types...with dealer warranties, it means if the radiator fails damaging the engine there's going to be some unhappy dealers having to replace engines costing them a lot of money. they just aren't going to do that. but, you know, if it will make you feel a lot better having a metal unit, maybe you should get one. means more money for you, but perhaps you'll be able to enjoy yourself more offroad without that nag in the back of your mind. having said that, people do kill their motors offroading even with metal units.

gyates93

I recently begrudgingly replaced my leaky brass tanked radiator with a $120 plastic one from Carquest and immediately drove the truck on a two week moose hunting trip. I only wish I had replaced it six months earlier. I was worried about the quality of the plastic rad and debated repairing the old one but ended up replacing it after a failed tank soldering repair.

Do yourself a favor and go through the entire cooling system including hoses and proper Toyota thermostat for max reliability.

Co_94_PU

iTrader: (-1)

The problem with the injection molded nylon(?) tanks is impact resistance, they do not bend they either break or they don't during impact. Side flow ones are very bad about not taking the impact because the mounting tabs tend to be on the sides along with the tanks, so the nylon is the mount also. An all metal tank is easily brazed, soldered, bent, hammered, and pinched if you need to seal a leak, again they bend and absorb the damage at the tank. Not much help on any front if you rear end someone probably, but your metal one is probably going to survive a bird strike you might loose the plastic one to a speed bump.

The metal tanks are probably more prone to the stress cracks from all the cycling, and of course solder isn't known for longevity in high vibration environments so it is a maintenance item. A plastic tank has the two gaskets that will rot eventually. You are never free from routine maintenance! For the price of a metal one how many plastic ones can you find places to carry spares.

I wouldn't be able to comment to much on the one I bought for it's cooling ability or longevity, it has less than 50 miles on it and hasn't left my neighborhood.

gyates brings up something worth noting. Not all repairs are going to be better than new.

When was the last time you saw a good radiator shop. Disposable society means finding skilled people to isn't as easy as it once might have been. Maybe I'm just wearing blinders and nostalgic, the auto industrial sections used to be more prolific and have a wider range of specialists. Now we have to send stuff to this state or that state and so on.

Rumbleweed0302

Look on eBay I bought one for my 86 for like 52$ and got free shipping

Trick30

was it just like the factory one?

thook

last time i checked, it was going to be as costly to repair a brass radiator as it was to just get a new one. of course, the shop willing to do the repair insisted on flushing it before repairing. perhaps their insurance a failure later down the road couldn't be blamed on their repair, or something. the best shop, around here, for radiator work closed down years and years ago....unfortunately.

i'm glad i still have the original brass/copper unit in our '92. it survived an air launching i unintentionally performed about 8yrs ago (?) now. staying up too late (on YT...hehe) and having to go work early next morning, i was drowsy and dozed off at the wheel for a couple of seconds. long enough to veer off the road and hit a culvert/drive entrance off the highway. it bent the frame, busted the windshield, and all kinds of mayhem. got it all fixed up, but you know...that radiator came out unscathed. not sure a plastic unit would have been so lucky. so, there's that.

oh, and i have to correct myself; the replacement i got for my '86 years ago is a brass/copper unit. i'd forgotten. very sorry. but, i remember now finding it online. took some serious keyboard punching, but i found one at a very good price. nevertheless, the one in my suby is plastic one. and, still, i do frequently haul a lot of crap in it.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

I also have to admit the materials have to have improved I tend to compare the plastic /Aluminum radiators of 20 years ago

Back in those days the tanks seemed real brittle in very cold temps .that sort of turned me off to plastic tanks

That 20 years went by in the blink of a eye it seems

I still like the all copper and brass for the ease of fixing it is a personal choice .

I am lucky I can fix these things and have a Good Radiator shop close enough