I need to replace my fan clutch. I figured that while having my radiator off to do it, I might as well replace my radiator considering it's most likely the original and it's been looking pretty knarly. I can go through Napa/Westaby and get a friend's employee discount.
To any of you that have replaced either or both: are aftermarkets good enough or do I absolutely need to stick with Yota brand and forgoe saving money?
And....must I use Yota red coolant or is Prestone green okay?

 

why replace something thats not broken??? unless u have a leak or something i wouldnt worry about replacing it, and as for coolant u will be fine running the green.

 

You don't have to remove the rad to replace the fan clutch, although it makes it easier.

 

This is true. Take fan shroud off and you should have enough room to pull the fan/clutch assembly out as 1 piece. If not, separate the fan from the clutch, pull the fan by itself and the clutch will be easy. But those fan to clutch bolts can be kinda tricky.

Do not use Prestone Green coolant or any other Green Coolant for that matter. Only Toyota Red. Yellowish/Green Universal coolant is ok too. That's what I have been using. I like the Peak Universal Coolant.

Do yourself a favor though, if you buy full strength coolant, mix it 50/50 before pouring it into the system.

 

I'm not in "need" of replacing the radiator. It's more of a preventative measure. Seriously, it's looking like it could go at any time and it's showing many signs of wear. Just figured this would be as good as time as any to replace it. Plus, it would make the fan clutch removal/replacement so much easier. Besides, I can buy a new one for a decent price.
I have green coolant in there right now. That's what my mechanic put in there after replacing my engine. Not good?

 

You most certainly have to remove the radiator on a 3VZ-E to remove the shroud from it, the fan from the fan clutch, and/or the fan clutch from the fan bracket.

Those who tell you other wise don't own a 3VZ-E and/or have never tried to do so. I can guarantee you it's not possible to even get the shroud off of the radiator without removing the lower clip first, then removing the radiator from the engine bay. Many have tried, ALL have failed.

On the coolant question, you're fine. My 3VZ-E saw ~20 years of green coolant ONLY, without troubles. Though I've switched recently to another type. PEAK GLOBAL® LIFETIME®.

 

Good to know about the coolant. I had already bought it and really didn't want to have to exchange it.
About the shroud....mine has been non-existant since the day I bought the truck. Fan is completely exposed. Just gotta watch my fingers and such while the engine is runing and I'm in there looking around.
Though I have received a lot of great info from this, I still don't have my original question answered: Is an aftermarket radiator good enough or do I need to buy a strictly Yota radiator?

 

Yes. It's good enough. It might not be as good as an OEM in construction, but in functionality, it will be nearly identical. If you were to upgrade to an aluminum, then it will be better than OEM in all aspects.

 

I'm very happy with mine (10k miles ago) from www.performanceradiator.com and they have warehouses in your area.

 

haha ooops, missed the fact he has the 3.0. I retract my previous statement, and he's right, I don't own a 3.0.

 

Are you SURE? Am I losing my mind? I'm certain that I've removed the shroud (upper and lower) and the fan-with-clutch with the radiator still in place. I have to remove the upper radiator hose in order to pull the upper shroud out, but after that the rest was accessible.

But if you're reasonably confident in that statement, I'll wait until the next time I have to pull it apart to confirm that I'm just imagining things.

Now if I were to do anything major (e.g., timing belt) I'd remove the radiator just to avoid dinging it, and the additional room is important.

 

I've never pulled the radiator to get the shroud off. Just the upper radiator hose. Its a pain in the rear but not impossible.

 

Knowledge is power! Thanks everyone!!

 

If knowlege is power, then maybe" ignorance is bliss " applies to me. I just got through changing my fan clutch yesterday on a 3.0. I simply unbolted the fan shroud and left it in place(this made it easy to move it around as needed without removing the upper radiator hose). I next removed the fan itself and then the fan clutch. Put everything back in reverse order. The tool that made the fan shroud and fan easy to unbolt was a air rachet. The fan clutch required an open wrench. If I had only known the correct way it would have taken me longer. Go figure....

 

I remember now that I had an easy time removing my fan clutch because the fan blew up taking out the shroud.

I did install the new shroud without taking the rad out though.

 

I just replaced my fan without removing the radiator on my 1990 3vze, popping out the overflow container for the radiator helped to get the shroud on and off, but no need to get the radiator out.

 

Just did this job, had to take off the upper rad hose, and the fan shroud. Looks like someone did this in the past and modified the fan shroud so I could take only the top 1/2 off and not mess w the bottom 1/2

Pretty convenient mod.

12mm nuts hold the fan bracket to the fan clutc, bump the starter to spin the fan pulley around for easy access to nuts

10mm bolts hold the clutch to the fan, easy to replace

reverse procedure for installation.

 

would have preferred to go w an OEM fan clutch, but no dealer open on a Sunday...

OReilleys had one in stock for $66,

When I pulled out the one that went bad and it looked exactly same the as the new one. It was stamped 2007. So hopefully new one will be good for 10 years