New Radiator Questions - Aluminum?

Check the cap for size for fit because some of those radiator caps don’t match up from radiator to radiator, there’s a good chance it will not match up

 

It was an oem one I bought for the other rad. What did you end up getting to fit?

 

I remember buying an after market radiator years ago that did not come with the cap and the oem cap
did not fit in it that’s why it might not fit. 50/50 chance.

The champion cap the lock down taps are made of thinner steel and tend to bend and then the seal leaks,
This is the one I ended up getting for 10.00 or so

 

Check any pull a parts, or wrench a parts? Dude I just paid 25 dollars for each high end HID headlight I picked up, this was at a pull a part in New Orleans. If this were wrench a part in Austin they would mark that sucker up. I guess what I'm saying is some junkyards don't care and some do. Might be best to try a similar yard like the ones I listed. I'll try to keep an eye out for you too.

FYI, I had to go back 2 pages to figure out what we were talkin about LOL>

 

Tacomas don't show up in self service wrecking yards in CA.

 

It’s not often and when they do even the junkyard knows what they are and charge a premium for the parts. Especially where I live most of the population are “minorities”. This is for Toyota pickups, Tacoma’s and Tundra. One of my local junkyard had a 1st gen Tacoma when I was looking for parts and I asked them about a part for price referencing, they’ll even sell you the whole vehicle. I looked those parts up on eBay and I was better just getting it from eBay. Don’t have to waste time driving, taking the part off myself, and I get the parts shipped to my door.

 

damn, sucks

 

Lmao... Just trying to keep everyone on their toes.

 

N-n-necro! Just verified my radiator is factory-original with ~175k miles on it. Want to replace it now at my leisure before it "forces" me to. Lots of chatter in here about Champion but I'm curious about the all-Alu Liland one that OP mentioned from Rock auto. Is there a consensus on this one? Any good? Fitment requires modification or not?

*EDIT* Might just go with the

$159 DENSO 2213138 Denso 221-3138 Radiator

DENSO 2213138 as a safe drop-in replacement if the Liland is going to require goofy hot metal gluing or something like that.

 

I’m on my second Champion radiator (first one kicked the bucket after 6 months) & I feel like they haven’t made a better product than what comes stock...my truck runs much hotter than it did before I installed the Champion.

 

If you're running hotter than before installing the Champion, you've got other issues. Those issues may have led to the demise of your first Champion.

 

Well yesterday the other side of my Champion radiator started leaking.

So now both sides are weeping antifreeze after a year later and they are out of stock.

I think it’s time to move on to something custom now that I see what the performance is out of a
2.5” aluminum radiator.

Don’t need to be dealing with subpar quality enough though original I was loving this radiator.

The lifetime warranty is void if you take it off road. I’m thinking the problem with the Champion radiator
is that it’s not made to flex AT ALL, so it takes little to break a seam. Both my leaks are coming from the bottom header into the fin areas.


It’s really too bad because this radiator will keep your engine temps MUCH cooler then the stock radiator
at 185-188 degrees.

Going to have an extruded 2.5” aluminum radiator made for me now in 3 weeks or so

 

Might be enough of you guys now that a group buy with discount might not be out of the question.
Sucks to hear about that radiator man

 

Even at 200.00 they are more than a bargain for a 2.5” aluminum radiator, but the quality just is not there for LONG term. I was doing an inspection and noticed also the the radiator looks like was hit with
a shotgun blast outside of the AC condense footprint, I mean all those bugs and small road debris have bent the heck out of the tiny fins in just one year.

Meaning the fins are super thin and takes very Little to bend them.

If you can deal with returning it once a year and waiting for it to pop a leak I guess it’s a good deal if it’s in stock.

 

Unfortunately it sounds contradictory to the reason we run Yotas and Tacomas, the reliability

 

Yea, that’s why I’m just going to have one built instead. It will be overkill but the stock radiators run
to hot for my comfort level at 200 degrees and they really are junk anyways.
It’s no wonder so many 3.4 have head gasket issues.
I want my motor at 185-188 even when it’s 100 degrees outside at idle.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OyJ9_SKp08w

 

Agreed. Running around at 200+ full time feels like playing with fire. Make sure to keep us posted on that custom one you have built

 

Just got off the phone, will take 2-3 weeks for it to be made,
I’ve moved on
Said these radiators will outlast the vehicle and are as durable as a radiator you can find.

 

Does it help to have a small aux fan added to front of radiator? I know Toyota in some extreme heat markets add an extra little aux fan for the condenser and radiator. Some of the 80 series Cruisers guys added them to their cruisers with good results.

 

Sweet. That's always what you wanna hear