Original Radiator's Life Span

Hello Fellow Tacoma Junkies,

My wife and I have an old Tacoma. It is a 1999 3.4 V6 5-speed four wheel drive. Does anybody know how long the stock radiator usually lasts? Our radiator is not leaking, and it is not showing signs of its old age, but I read the other day on this site that a radiator this old is usually a time bomb.

Thanks in advance for all replies,
Paul

 

Anything on an old truck I feel could be considered a time bomb. You just gotta keep an eye on things. My boss's 96 Tacoma's radiator lasted 450k miles or 18yrs. My 2000 only lasted 150k miles or 14yrs, and my 96 is still going strong at 350k or 21 yrs.

Edit: My boss's was the only stick.

 

Biggest question is do you have a standard or automatic? If a automatic, change it for transmission safety's sake. I changed mine out a 230K.

 

I swapped mine out last summer when I got it at around 185k and it's a 2000. I think the plastic tanks develop hairline cracks that are very hard to notice, unless you're closely monitoring the coolant level. The previous owner hadn't noticed any coolant leaking under the truck and rarely opened the hood, so he never noticed the coolant was a half gallon low. Scared the bajeezus out of me when I opened the radiator cap and noticed it was very low. I also think people don't know that you can't lean on these radiators with plastic tanks with your hands while looking or working under the hood, etc,. The stress from that can definitely affect the longevity of your radiator. I wouldn't change it just because of age or mileage without any symptoms of problems though. A weekly under the hood check SHOULD be enough to notice any symptoms of degradation or failure coming.

 

My 2001 DC radiator sprung a leak at 232k.

 

It seems the OE Harrison radiators had some quality control issues. This, along with some other parts made by GM subsidiaries as OE for the 1st gens, like the washer fluid tanks.
These are shots of what look to be hairline cracks. They are actually spots where the liquid plastic flowing into the mold came together. Was the injection mold or the plastic itself not hot enough, was the tank removed from the mold before totally solidified, are they cracks subsequently filled in after the fact? Some of them show evidence of being ground down. Hard to tell.
I noticed the "lines" on day one but the dealer refused to do anything about it unless it leaked.
The radiator is still like new inside and out 17 years and 250K later.

 

Yep, makes sense Dirty. That's exactly where my leak was. I thought reckless weight placement from an owner or a tech could've been the fault. Now I see what you're saying and very well could be the plastic is weaker there at that interface

 

Mine sprung a leak at 251k.

 

I had my previous radiator last to about 259,000 miles and it started leaking with cracks to the plastic upper area of the radiator. It was leaking on the ground and I couldn't find where the leak was. I was inspecting the radiator hoses, squeezed the upper radiator hose and coolant squirt out on me from the upper radiator area. I tried to put marine epoxy on the leaks. That didn't work at all.
The leaks were similiar to the pictures on post #6 on this thread. I had my mechanic install it since I was in a rush and didn't have a ride to get parts, if I bought the wrong radiator.

 

Hello Fellow Tacoma Junkies,

Thank you all for the thoughtful responses. My Tacoma just hit the 167,000 miles mark. The stock radiator seems to be aging fine. We never lose any coolant between coolant flushes, and we flush the entire cooling system every three years.

Do the automatics have an oil or transmission additional cooling system? I always forget how the automatics are configured.

What kind of radiators are you replacing the stock one with for those of you who have replaced the factory radiator?

Take it easy,
Paul

 

So many things play into Radiator life .

The automatics with the Trans cooler sharing the radiator are much more critical

yours fails just pull over before things get hot

Then dropping off rocks and running over small trees does not help.

Mine was fine till a small piece of metal took out the condenser and the radiator.

If in doubt replace it.

 

The reason you should replace the radiator on a 1st Gen Automatic Transmission vehicle is the dreaded "Pink Milkshake" that was so prevalent on 4runners. They had the exact same radiator as we do, and if the coil goes the coolant mixes with the tranny fluid and takes out the tranny right off. $300 is a hell of a lot cheaper than $1500 for a new or rebuilt tranny.

 

Yes many do, if not all. Very easy to check, you will have a much smaller nozzle coming out/in of the very bottom. Easy to see or feel for during your next oil change.

 

That explains the washer reservoirs... freakin GM

 

When I pulled the Harrison original radiator on mine, I was like wtf?? Harrison in a Yota? That's when I learned Toyota used some of the OE manufacturers from domestic companies... Not necessarily bad per se, but I was a lil disappointed, lol.

 

The washer tanks were Delco.
Heck, 1st gens were made under a joint agreement with GM in a GM plant in Fremont Ca, known as NUMMI.

 

I had always read the name of that plant, NUMMI, never looked into it though. Didn't realize it was a joint venture with GM. Really makes me wish these tacos were built with 4runner in Japan. But I'll count my stars that at least these have a heavy dose of Mr. T influence in them, especially with the drive train reliability.

 

How soon we forget the American Made frame!!

I wonder just who made the steel the frames were made from.

I hauled lots of Coils out of Bethlehem Steel Burns Harbor to Dana in Reading back in the good old days

 

I believe it was Dana that made the frames for Yota, right?

 

300? http://radiator.com has mine for 122 2001 Taco with 3.4L auto