Cheap plastic side, aluminum radiators history?

[Ecomike]

Apx 2.5 year old radiator has a large leak today on the upper plastic area, passanger side, Renix 89. It has never overheated, and the weather was not hot yesterday. Scratching my head as to why it would fail now, and with such a large leak in the plastic tank, top side. Water just pours out of it on the ground as I refill the upper hose. Have not pulled it yet, so no idea exactly what the bad spot looks like. Will post more later.

Question is, for those that have used these cheap radiators, what failed on them, why did it fail, how long did they last????

Note that the Renix, 2 year old plastic turtle bottle (with the Volvo 16 lb cap, and the bottom brass tube reinforcement mod) was still working just fine, no cracks or leaks in it! So I am scratching my head on this one?

 

[Rmart30]

radiators with the plastic sides instead of the metal sides are well known for leaking at the seams where the plastic is crimped to the core.

Find you a CFS all metal radiator and ditch the plastic one.

Ive seen factory plastic tank ones go 200k+, ive also seen factory ones and aftermarket plastic tank ones not make it 30-40k.

 

[Ecomike]

Thanks.

I started this thread to collect a forensics history of issues, on the cheap aftermarket radiators, plastic sides and aluminum cores and fins only.
The questions are:

Where did yours fail?

How long did it last?

What caused it to fail, if you know?

I don't want this thread to turn into a what is a better radiator thread, so lets keep the comments restricted to posting a history of your experience with the cheap aftermarket ones.

I already have a 3 row, all brass, 2 YO, in my 87 Renix.

FWIW, the first one I had on the 89, 2.5 years ago, failed, lasted only 6 weeks before my daughter ran it up a light pole! LOL. The second one lasted a lot longer, LOL!!!

I got nearly 4 years out of the one I had in my 87, before the lower hose fell off the nipple on the freeway one day, and took a dump at 60 mph. I got lucky on that. New hose and clamp fixed it, but it was already running too hot that summer and I decided to replace it 2-3 months later as the tubes were already getting blocked and restricting flow, or so I thought!!!! I later learned it may have been a huge air bubble in the radiator (typical of Renix plumbing on the cooling system), and the 4 YO plastic junk aluminum radiator may have still been OK at that point.:dunno:

So I want to know what problems and successes people have had with the cheap junk plastic/aluminum radiators only!!! Just of out idle curiosity if nothing else.

Thanks.

 

[Talyn]

This is not on an XJ but on a 2004 WJ. The stock rad was replaced in 12/2004 @ 19,000 miles after a run in with a deer. It was an aftermarket unit. It was fine until this November when it stated leaking from a side tank. It had about 114000 miles on it. I was originally going to go with a Spectra Premium, but having just installed one in a Volvo at work I was disappointed with the quality. I went with a Vista-pro and was installed this past weekend.

 

[Dragonslayer]

Whenever an OEM radiator (not aftermarket) w/ plastic tanks failed on me - regardless
of car manufacturer (Chevy, Olds, Mopar, etc) - they did not leak at the seam.

They always failed by cracking at the base of the hose nipple (where the hose nipple
joins into the tank itself).

Five years ago, the OEM rad on my '93 XJ 4.0L cracked in this manner. I took it to
a neighborhood rad shop. They removed the offending tank and replaced with another
OEM plastic tank (used). While they had it apart, they rodded the core clean for me.
Entire cost = $50. It has been OK ever since (...knock on wood).

 

[old_man]

Check out a local radiator shop. If you pull the radiator and take it in, they can fix it pretty cheap.

 

[SleeperXJ]

^ this.
I've had 2 OEM radiators. One failed with cracked plastic tank.
The other failed at the seam in about the same location as the OP.
The second radiator was repaired and is now a spare in case the CFS springs a leak.