Aftermarket radiators

alex22

alex22

NAXJA Forum User
Location
CT: waterbury area
Today while refilling my washer fluid I noticed my radiator has a case of the drippys from the passenger side. there was a little slung onto my alternator and some on the frame rail.
Has anybody used one of these radiators off of ebay? If not which brand/store would you reccomend?

~Alex
 
Lots of guys run those rads (off ebay) and find them to be perfectly acceptable. And they're a good price (I tried to get a relacement for my 4-oh and the local stores wanted $460. Your prices would be less... But you get the point).
 
I bought one of those radiators for my old YJ, and it was a very nice piece. It fit perfectly and cooled very well. My stroker is cooled by a standard OEM radiator with a 180 thermostat, and it has never run over 210 degrees. I actually remove my mechanical fan during the winter because it stays cool enough even sitting in traffic.
 
i called my local radiator shop, and ordered a thick 2 row all brass with soldered joints, with no trans cooler. havent overheated since.
 
do you need an aluminum one or a copper/brass one? what year it the jeep?
i work at as radiator shop and we see alot of radiators that are aluminum with the plastic tanks only need a new gasket or plastic tank, usualy thats under 60$ if its a brass one they can usualy be replaired pretty cheap but id just recomend replacing it with an aluminum one if the brass one gives you issues, usualy once they start leaking they require alot of work to fix.
id recomend going to your local rad shop first for prices on just bying one stock ones are expensive! aftermarket ones... can be a third the price even less!
 
Its a 96. The coolant in the overflow tank is brownish, like the last owner put some of the stop leak in and its finally worn through that. If the fluid was never changed it is possible that it just ate through the aluminum. I havent had the time to get under it and poke around some more.

~Alex
 
i checked it out a new aluminum rad shouldnt cost more then 130$ to repair a leaking one would be around 80-90 if its just one of the tubes that connect to the header on the plastic tank. IMO i would just buy the new one, also flush the system out real nice.
 
alex22 said:
Its a 96. The coolant in the overflow tank is brownish, like the last owner put some of the stop leak in and its finally worn through that. If the fluid was never changed it is possible that it just ate through the aluminum. I havent had the time to get under it and poke around some more.

~Alex
Click to expand...

If you can get some pliers in there i would try and crimp it a little bit more before i went and buy a new on..........unless your having heating issues now.......then i would just go with a new one.

Flash.
 
I just bought a Proliance Heatbuster Extreme from RockAuto.com for $170 -5% discount + shipping. It's a 3-core radiator with aluminum tanks. It cools much better than the stock setup and I would not hesitate to recommend it. I would also recommend replacing your hoses at this point. I changed only the upper hose, and now I'm going to have to go back and replace the lower hose and the overflow hose.

If you want to order from RockAuto.com and you need a code for the 5% discount, let me know and I'd be happy to post my most recent code.

Some, er, fine mechanic had overtightened the upper radiator hose clamp on my old one, and had cracked the plastic nipple.

My XJ is a '96 4.0 automatic, BTW.
 
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