ALUMINUM RADIATOR WORTH IT??

Make sure it’s the same size you have, the manual is not as tall,
The auto is taller,

Measure yours just to be safe

 

I thought you can use either auto or manual and it’ll work?

 

Also can I drive with the cracked radiator? It’s my daily so I kinda have to drive it.

 

If you use the automatic radiator
the skid plate from the manual might hit it,
The shroud might be different because it’s a taller radiator for the auto

 

Depending if it’s a small leak and if you refill it every day

 

Yes. Just check the level and keep it full. Many people don't even know they are low on coolant. Get the replacement as soon as you can. It's not a bad job swapping rads.

 

driving with the leak won’t blow the radiator like with all the pressure?

 

I don’t know what radiator to replace it with. Can someone help me? Maybe post a link. I have a 98 Tacoma 2.7 5 speed

 

According to the Koyorad link another person posted in this thread (I input your trucks engine/trans & it spit out the same part) this,

https://throtl.com/products/koyo-95...vX-rL7RmWbpNxJQOYZlpZpHxIpNduxdxoCwjwQAvD_BwE

will also fit your 4 banger. It's alum which is what you were initially asking for - I bought it for my 98 a few months ago (v6 mt) but haven't installed it yet so I can't give a review yet but it's another option. You may find a better price googling, I just posted the first link that came up when I searched for it.

 

Just be sure to run the fluid through after it goes through the pump, where it gets the hottest.

*Do not actually do this*

 

Did you bolt the champion rad on just like the stock one was bolted?

 

Here's my take:

I replaced my radiator at 105k miles right after I bought the truck (it cracked on the top).
Replaced with advanced auto lifetime warranty. (scan the receipt)

11 years later replaced again at 193k for free from advanced auto (lifetime warranty).

It will last about 90-100k. That seems to be longer than the champions.

 

Yes, it bolts right in, the lower hose needs to be a different hose to fit,
The Champion radiator works well keeping the temperature low 170 if you put in
the corolla stat, the OEM can’t do that

But it failed,

Champion radiator did add some new instruction on the type of antifreeze to use,
And is NOT the Toyota red antifreeze,

So it’s possible the Toyota antifreeze is not compatible with the Champion radiator.
Champion might use glue in some areas that the red antifreeze eats up, not sure

 

There's your problem. You shouldnt hard mount an aluminum radiator. you should be soft mounting it using rubber in some form or it will crack from the stress from the flex of the chassis and vibrations as well. Aluminum is a soft metal and the heat affected area will become brittle and crack if you are not careful. They do show that the toyota coolant caused problems with plugging the top of the radiator, but we dont know how true that really is. Their "test" did not seem to be very accurate or show why the radiator failed.

 

It was not hard mounted, I put thick rubber spacers at all 4 points, but if you look at the Champion design the frame is not very strong,
Custom radiator zero issues,

I think Champion uses some glue for their construction which is common and the red toyota antifreeze eats away at it.

 

More specifically aluminum is a soft metal, but also a weak metal. So they alloy it with magnesium and such, and it becomes much stronger but much more brittle. Since the elongation is limited, the weld material is weaker so it can stretch without cracking, however it is still highly stressed after cooling and shrinking. Aluminum has terrible fatigue resistance, so as it flexes back and forth it work hardens further and cracks.

 

That makes sense,
My custom radiator weight is around 35 pounds with thick aluminum extruded tube design that is much stronger and the Champion is 15 pounds and stock plastic radiator is 10 pounds

 

Does a 20 pound addition even make sense? Especially with aluminum, thats a huge amount of extra metal. Why is there such a disparity, its still a 3 core radiator so its not like 5 lbs of thst is for a fourth core?

 

My manual has an automatic radiator in it with no fitment issues. I didn’t put it in myself though.

 

I just dropped a polished Champion 3 core radiator in my 65 Galaxie. I was gonna go for a stock replacement but they gave me a better price at Jegs Performance. Free shipping. Not sure what they offer for Tacomas though.