XJ radiators, a review.

Badlogin said:
What temps were you running before and what are you running now?
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That's not a very valid question! Your "engine" temps should run within about 10* of your selected t-stat temp. Now, the real question is the the rest of your system (radiator, water pump, fan clutch, and fan blade) capable of supporting that temp?
 
That is a valid question. My enging, thermostat, water pump, hose, O2 sensors up and down stream, cat, throttle body gasket, crank sensor, cam sensor, plugs/wires, temp sensor all new. Clutch fan checked, E fan checked. Tried high flow water pump as was as OE water pump, high flow Tstat and OE Tstat. The inky thing I haven't tried is my radiator.
 
Just for the record, "all new" does not mean "all good".

Standards for quality have turned into a pie-in-the-sky dream.
 
I run a 195F to 197F Thermostat. Quality matters on thermostats. I've had a Mr. Gasket go bad or come apart. I had a Motorrad stick open. Only a year or two on it. My '00 has a Carrol thermostat in it presently. Robert Shaw is being made again. Also, Stewart is made 'again' by the same company. I think Tru-flow is the head company.
 
Badlogin said:
That is a valid question. My enging, thermostat, water pump, hose, O2 sensors up and down stream, cat, throttle body gasket, crank sensor, cam sensor, plugs/wires, temp sensor all new. Clutch fan checked, E fan checked. Tried high flow water pump as was as OE water pump, high flow Tstat and OE Tstat. The inky thing I haven't tried is my radiator.
Click to expand...
Most xj overheating issues are from a clogged radiator. Replace it with a cheap spectra from autozone and you will be good.
 
chasdb said:
I put one a few days before heading to the Moab 35th Anniversary run. I have had CSF, and just replaced a Champion that I had no issues with. I wanted more cooling capacity since I was pulling a trailer with extra gear for the misses and kiddo and running one of Russ' deluxe strokers. I should have weighed it at the scale but didn't make the time. I have installed Mishimoto radiators, aftercoolers and oil coolers in Kawasaki Loaders and Link-Belt Excavators as they are OEM and have been consistently impressed with their quality.

My initial impression of the build was an improvement over the Champion but would hope so at 2x the price. Fit was off a bit, but was within adjustment of factory radiator support/ header mount. Just seemed torqued over to driver's side compared to how the Champion radiator was installed. I was a bit irritated with the A/C condenser brackets and lack of nuts since I was on a time crunch. I ended up cutting and drilling some 14g sheet metal brackets with proper size holes so I wouldn't have to use fender washers. I wish the cap was standard size, now I will need to get another adapter to pressure test my cooling system. Speaking of pressure, since it runs at a higher pressure I see coolant weeping at the factory spring clamps and will have to change them out. The threads on the neck for the overflow nipple ended up galling and had to be chased with a tap and die on the nipple to save them. I'm not sure if there was a burr or what, but was happy I didn't have to go to an oversize hole or something else.

Performance, ambient temps were 80 or less, so no where near extreme but had several long grades to climb and had no issues. Between higher cap pressure and greater cooling capacity it definitely ran cooler than experienced previously especially with the trailer. Coolant temps on oem gauge indicated 215 max. I did change from the conventional ethylene glycol based coolant to a OAT coolant after several coolant flushes. I would guess weight of loaded trailer/ gear at 1800 lbs. So far, I do like it.


PCQpd0qh.jpg
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What radiator preformed best for you and what temps do you see?
 
Hey guys, just found this thread and read though all the posts. Been dealing with a very frustrating overheating issue that I'm at wits end with.

I'm using a mishimoto performance radiator (new) and decided to chop open my old mishimoto one that was bent to shit. While the cores are long, check out how separated they are. This is definitely a contributing factor to these things getting clogged easily and inhibiting higher volume of coolant flow.

0 new items by victor agaronov

photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl

Anyways, I'm ready to pull the trigger and purchase a new radiator but am torn between the champion bc1193 and the csf 2670... Does anyone have any advice on the direction to go? Which has larger core passages?
 
Yeah that explains a lot. Mishimotos are a microchannel radiator which means they plug easily compared to traditional.

I might recommend a cooling system filter for anyone still considering running one.
 
kastein said:
Yeah that explains a lot. Mishimotos are a microchannel radiator which means they plug easily compared to traditional.

I might recommend a cooling system filter for anyone still considering running one.
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Issue with a coolant filter is it can't handle the volume being directly plumbed to the system and by attaching it as a bypass, sediment does go through to the radiator... I ran mine both ways, even enlarged the outlet hole inside the filter slightly. My heater stayed too cool to help dissipate heat when needed.

I'm currently running it as a bypass.

This also caught my eye on champions site, great idea if it can handle the volume without creating too much of a restriction... https://www.championradiators.com/radiator-coolant-filter-gray
 
Vitzaa said:
Hey guys, just found this thread and read though all the posts. Been dealing with a very frustrating overheating issue that I'm at wits end with.

I'm using a mishimoto performance radiator (new) and decided to chop open my old mishimoto one that was bent to shit. While the cores are long, check out how separated they are. This is definitely a contributing factor to these things getting clogged easily and inhibiting higher volume of coolant flow.

0 new items by victor agaronov

photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl

Anyways, I'm ready to pull the trigger and purchase a new radiator but am torn between the champion bc1193 and the csf 2670... Does anyone have any advice on the direction to go? Which has larger core passages?
Click to expand...

I tried a Summit brand 2-row brass/copper radiator in my XJ. I found that it was a TSM-brand radiator. It was significantly less effective than an aluminum single row CSF that was in my XJ before I tried the Summit brass/copper. I suspect that the CSF 2670 is the same radiator as the Summit brass/copper 2-row.

I currently have the Cold Case in mine. It generally seems to be more effective than the single-row aluminum CSF that was in mine, but not by a whole lot. I've not tried the BC1193, but a few people claim it works better than the Cold Case.

If you are game to tinker, I would try both a Spectra Premium single row and the BC1193.
 
maxbraketorque said:
I tried a Summit brand 2-row brass/copper radiator in my XJ. I found that it was a TSM-brand radiator. It was significantly less effective than an aluminum single row CSF that was in my XJ before I tried the Summit brass/copper. I suspect that the CSF 2670 is the same radiator as the Summit brass/copper 2-row.

I currently have the Cold Case in mine. It generally seems to be more effective than the single-row aluminum CSF that was in mine, but not by a whole lot. I've not tried the BC1193, but a few people claim it works better than the Cold Case.

If you are game to tinker, I would try both a Spectra Premium single row and the BC1193.
Click to expand...
Yup, I ended up ordering the spectra to see how it goes.
Thanks for the info on the csf. Will try the champion if things don't go well with the spectra
 
Just a data point-

My cold case radiator worked good for like 3 months, then started leaking from the tank to core area. $50 to warranty it, and the down time, I tossed in a $100 Amazon plastic and aluminum Spectra to deal with the down time, and have decided not to spend an additional $50 on cold case after reading more reviews indicating my leakage story isn't uncommon.
 
XJ_ranger said:
Just a data point-

My cold case radiator worked good for like 3 months, then started leaking from the tank to core area. $50 to warranty it, and the down time, I tossed in a $100 Amazon plastic and aluminum Spectra to deal with the down time, and have decided not to spend an additional $50 on cold case after reading more reviews indicating my leakage story isn't uncommon.
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Yep, that's what happened to both my fully aluminum units, leaked in under a year. Seems the unusual width of our radiators makes them prone to cracks unless they are the thinner plastic tanked units.
 
Unclewolverine said:
Yep, that's what happened to both my fully aluminum units, leaked in under a year. Seems the unusual width of our radiators makes them prone to cracks unless they are the thinner plastic tanked units.
Click to expand...
No, it's the flex in the unibody! Eliminate that and there is good chance you'll never have a issue. My OE rad lasted 16 years and my full aluminum Griffin is 8yrs old with no signs of giving up!
 
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