Where's Radiator swap thread with pics?? 1st Gen

Great info from all posters. I bought my radiator from radiators. Com. Lots of fitment issues. They do not carry the Koyo brand anymore. I made it work with the rad they guaranteed that would fit.
It was not a direct fit. Upper bolt pattern fit great. Lower bolt pattern was off by a half inch. Same with the fan shroud on the fitment.

 

same here, just did this job today. thank you for the post, it has been a big help!

i got my radiator from radiator express. fitment issues of the same type. the bottom bolts fit but the top bolt holes were then a half inch to the left. lots of filing with a rasp and the fan housing is also a half inch to the left, but still have clearance. i had to swap the mounting brackets from my old radiator to the new one as well.

 

Cool. Kinda sux we have these fitment issues. No problems with mine since I put it in yet.

 

I ordered the Koyo Radiator #C1755, for my 2002 4X4 V6 TRD Taco, and it didn't work. More to the point, it would not fit. My mechanic (and forum member) told me that Toyota in their infinite wisdom used various different radiator sizes. I just think y'all have to know this. Now, I have to send the radiator back to Go Parts, at my own expense.

 

I just went with a all Copper Brass Radiator That I bought for my 3.4 Swap in my 92 4Runner now have the same radiator in both.

I just used the brackets from the stock radiator welded to the new radiator .

Custom made a Lower Radiator hose .

I like being able to make emergency repairs with a propane torch and solder.

I did this about 40,000 miles ago with no problems.

 

I just keep a spare radiator. My last 1st gen, I went thru 5 radiators. The 5th one is now in the present 1st gen. I guess this one is on par to have lots of rads. I'm rought on them.

 

Same crack as everybody else. Went to Autozone and as already noted, Spectra mounting hole pattern may not be accurate. On mine they were 5/16" too wide so I changed out the brackets with those off the OEM radiator to install easily in the truck. The only other problems was Spectra's bracket mount feature to the core required a small bit of filing to get one of the Toyota brackets on. They had munged up the failsafe keying Toyota had to prevent assembly mishaps.

 

THANKS for the pics!! I am no mechanic. I'm your basic change oil, air filter, brakes guy. I had never changed a radiator before, but after doing research on this thread and youtube I got it done last weekend. Took me a while, though. Thanks so much for the help

 

A few questions:

• Has anyone else tried this without removing the grill? I'd prefer not to mess with those clips but Toyota recommends pulling it.
  
• Can you fit the extension with socket through the grill or do you need to reach up and put the socket on and feed the extension through? Is a universal needed?
• Any consensus on taking apart the shroud versus sliding it over the fan? The latter seems easier but I saw a few videos where guys took it apart.

BTW I'm just over 150K and leaking badly...

 

you can do it without removing the grill but you will need some special tools, namely 1/4 wobbly(U-Joint) metric sockets and a fairly long 1/4 extension. You can fit the socket/extension though the grill but the angle is very difficult especially for the D/S lower bolt. The grill clips are readily avalible off of the internet for not too much money and it makes the job much easier. The only warning I can give you is dealing with the side marker lights. When the plastic ages it cracks pretty easy. No knowing if your side markers are held in by screws through the side or just slide then clip in place it is difficult to advise which way to go.

 

Thanks.

I haven't started the job yet, but I decided to see if I could "crack" the four bolts going in from the front. It was tricky, but I was successful.

What went through my mind though, as I was doing this, was once I get the new radiator in, how on earth am I going to thread those bolts back in the holes? The two lower ones appear to be easy because you can just reach up and thread them by hand. But the upper ones look like they'll have to be fed in through the grill on the end of the socket on the u-joint. I can see them falling off or cross-threading like 20+ times before I get it right.

 

It is much easier if you remove the grill. but then again, you are risking breaking pieces. I broke some grill clips. and broke the light brace. I guess I was in a hurry trying to get it done quickly.

 

Yup, my old plastic pieces were so stubborn. I broke them. I ended up buying new lights on ebay.

 

Dude, removing the clips is easy. A small flathead screwdriver is all you need.

For the shroud, disconnect the lower half by removing the clips and get it out of the way. For the top portion, remove the 4 bolts that hold it on and relocate it by pushing it over the fan resting against the timing cover.

Here's a video I made replacing my radiator and installing an external trans cooler that might help you out. At 15:53 play time, I discuss the removal of the grill.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2nVbwe2t2T8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

In my truck I try to stick with the Long Life Red coolant which seems to be difficult to find these days. Amazon seems to be the best bet in order to find it. My mechanic who has worked on countless toyota vehicles say the red coolant works better and lasts longer without corrosion then the revised pink despite the fact that the pink is supposed ot be universal and a direct replacement for the red. You can either do this or swap for the green and change it every few years.

Heres the best deal I have found with the Toyota Red Coolant:

$22 Zerex Asian Vehicle Red Silicate and Borate Free 50/50 Prediluted Ready-to-Use Antifreeze/Coolant 1 GA

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033QO022/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8

 

I use Zerex Asian but I'm not sure I would refer to it as 'Toyota Red'. Maybe someone else can confirm that they are not the same but my guess is that they are not.

 

My FSM says:

REMOVAL
1. DRAIN ENGINE COOLANT
2. REMOVE FRONT BUMPER FILLER
3. REMOVE RADIATOR GRILLE
(a) Remove the 4 screws and clearance lights.
(b) Remove the 1 screw, 11 clips and radiator grille.

In your video, it doesn't look like you removed the marker lights. I'm confused as to why this might be necessary. Slight change between model years perhaps? (1999 versus 2000)

 

My replacement was done on a 3rd Gen 4runner and since 1st Gen Tacomas and 3rd Gen 4runners are the same in many aspects, I assumed the radiator replacement would be almost identical. I guess I was wrong because there are some differences.

 

Hah. That explains it!

I'm going to try it with the grill in place and see how it goes.

 

I replaced my radiator today. Was not as tough as I expected.

I didn't take apart the fan shroud, but simply removed the four bolts and scooted it back over the fan. It was a little tricky lifting the radiator out because the draincock got caught on the fan shroud, but I was able to reach under and finagle it. It would've been much easier with two people.

When I was putting the new radiator in, the transmission cooler fittings wanted to get caught on the fan shroud, so I removed them. I wasn't at all worried about doing that since I have a manual transmission. After I got the radiator in, I put them back on just so nothing would get inside that area. Again, having a helper likely would have made that extra work unnecessary.

I didn't remove the grill, and the bolts came out no problem using the quarter-inch drive extension and quarter-inch universal. Getting the bolts back in to the new radiator was a little tricky, but I put a piece of carpenters tape over each bolt which made it stick to the socket pretty well. Before I completely tightened them down, I reached in with a screwdriver and peeled off the carpenters tape.

I ended up buying the Spectra Premium radiator. Part number CU1774 (~ 20 5/8" between the tanks). The bottom bolt holes lined up perfectly, but the top ones not quite. I had to force the bolts in to kind of bring everything together so it would line up.

I bought this radiator from my local parts store and they have a lifetime warranty on it. It would've been $50 cheaper from Amazon.com, but I'm not so sure about the warranty and how difficult that would be to pursue even if they did have a warranty.