Are all radiator brands about the same?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Originally Posted By: supton
Do you plan to do the Ridgeline too, or just wait a few more years before tackling that radiator? I know they used to have the same problem, but I'm not sure if they fixed the later years.

Wonder if it's worth popping the lines for a look-see.


Few people with 2009+ Ridgelines have had radiator trouble. 2009+ use a different part number, and we don't know whether there are material changes, or just dimensional changes. I don't plan to change it at this point, but will monitor it in the future. It's an Arizona truck, and there is zero external corrosion on the fittings (which is a good sign).

I pick the Spectra CU 2740 up from Pep Boys on Thursday. I look forward to seeing where it was made and what the quality appears to be.
 
The Spectra Premium arrived at Pep Boys today and, after inspecting it, I don't believe there's anything premium about it. The fit-and-finish was pretty poor in my estimation. The plastic tanks didn't look well molded, and it comes with its own cap because the OEM cap doesn't fit it. I was so unimpressed, I returned it on the spot.

I was wrong about the brands that Ridgeline owners and MDX owners seem to do well with -- it wasn't Spectra, it was TYC from Amazon or eBay. It seems they're in a TYC box, but they're actually a Koyo radiator, which is a reputable brand, so I ordered one from Amazon. It'll be here Saturday; $106 delivered to my door via Prime shipping. There was also a Denso aftermarket radiator on Amazon, but these apparently often come with bent transmission cooler lines, so they don't seem to be packaged well...

So we'll see what the big brown truck delivers to me this weekend. I trust I'll be happier with it than the Chinese Spectra I returned after owning it for about 90 seconds.
 
The big thing you need to watch out for with aftermarket radiators is that a lot of them will start leaking in their transmission coolers. The ATF goes into your cooling system and is a bear to clean out, and the coolant goes into your trans, where it eats your clutches for lunch.

When I've had no choice but to buy an aftermarket radiator, I've eliminated the trans oil flow through the radiator, and gone with a larger air/fluid cooler.
 
While there may be other areas I like to save a buck, one place I would never scrimp would be a radiator.

On our 3500 fleet vans both oil and trans fluid are passed through the radiator. For either one to leak the results could be catastrophic.

Not worth any "savings"...
 
=
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
While there may be other areas I like to save a buck, one place I would never scrimp would be a radiator.

On our 3500 fleet vans both oil and trans fluid are passed through the radiator. For either one to leak the results could be catastrophic.

Not worth any "savings"...


Problem is, I don't know where to go to find a quality radiator. I can't seem to find the old trusted brands (Modine, etc). All parts stores sell are Ready Rad or Spectra. The OEM radiator is what had the problem to begin with, so I don't see the sense in paying $350 for a new one of those...

I'm hoping that an aftermarket radiator will use more proven fitting materials.

DoubleWasp, I certainly do have the option of just going with an external cooler alone. What size cooler would you use? The biggest aftermarket one I could find? There are some good-looking Hayden units (made in Australia) on Amazon that folks speak real highly of. If I go with a cooler alone, I might as well keep the OEM radiator in the car -- there's nothing wrong with it at the moment.
 
Hokiefyd, do you know how the ATF lines are done? I'm phrasing it wrong--but on my Tundra, there is a gizmo on the side of the trans as a fluid heater (engine coolant is routed down to the trans), and then, because I have a towing package, there is an external thermostat which opens to run hot ATF up to the separate ATF cooler. Does your Honda have an external thermostat on the ATF?

I know lots of guys swear by an external cooler, and that there is no such thing as too cool. But I suspect your trans has a temperature sensor, and it will likely retard convertor lockup until fluid reaches a certain temp (mine does). Bypass the radiator might make for longer trans warmup times. Or not, I really don't know.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
I know lots of guys swear by an external cooler, and that there is no such thing as too cool. But I suspect your trans has a temperature sensor, and it will likely retard convertor lockup until fluid reaches a certain temp (mine does). Bypass the radiator might make for longer trans warmup times. Or not, I really don't know.


I am certain that there are no external thermostats or anything like that in the lines. There may be an internal one, I'm not sure. I will delay converter lock on very cold mornings. Whether or not that would become problematic without an internal cooler in the radiator, I don't know.

I think I'm going to go ahead with the TYC/Koyo radiator and will just monitor things. A lot of MDXers/Piloteers have used the TYC/Koyo radiator, and they seem to be having good success with them.

I feel more comfortable with the TYC/Koyo radiator's cooler than I do the unknown of what's going on with transmission fluid temperatures with an external cooler only. I can monitor transmission temperature through Torque, but I think that parameter is simply a mirror of the engine coolant temperature, as it always reads exactly the same as the coolant, which isn't particularly helpful. It may simply presume the ATF to be "the same" temperature as the engine coolant because of that in-radiator ATF cooler. Going to an external cooler alone may throw that presumption off, I don't know.
 
Originally Posted By: Nayov
What does the mob here have to say about Denso radiators? I need to replace the one on my Frontier which failed at an embarrassingly-low mileage of 28,000. Nine years old, though. It leaks at the bottom where the fins are crimped (?) into the plastic tank bottom. Only 107 from Amazon.

I have one, it was made in Taiwan by a company Denso owns a small stake in.
 
My TYC radiator came by FedEx on Saturday morning, and I spent some of the weekend installing that, along with a supplementary transmission cooler. I figured I might as well do that while I'm in there; it's always something I had wanted to do anyway. I'll make a post on that later, but for now, here's a bit about the new (and the old) radiator.

First, some post-mortem pics of the old. There are two washers between the fitting and the tank. One appears to be corrosion-proof and one appears to be merely corrosion-resistant. It had started to rust over time. The fear is (and the experience by some) is the corrosion process causes that washer to expand, pulling the threads of the cooler fittings out of the cooler. Because the fittings use male threads that thread into female threads in the cooler inside of the tank, fluids will mix if this joint fails. They call it the SMOD -- the Strawberry Milkshake Of Death. In other words, if you have ATF in your coolant (which turns it red), you may also have coolant in your ATF, which spells quick disaster for the transmission.

Mine was fine. The corrosion process had started, but the threads were fine. I'm glad I had nothing to worry about, but I also rest easier knowing that it's fixed for good.

22629689154_11d537eb0b_b.jpg


22890175689_0e859e4214_b.jpg

(This was not a leak...just some spillage from disassembly.)

22962277050_1f5bbc4404_b.jpg


23258116685_773b7d7ee6_b.jpg


As for the TYC radiator, it has a TYC sticker on the lower tank. I don't know if it's made by Koyo or not, but it's of markedly better quality than the Spectra Premium. Even my wife, who helped me unbox it, could tell that this one was nicer. It was packed well. It was also made in China. Nuts -- hard to escape that one, it seems.

The cooler fittings are copper, and I assume the cooler is, too. What I like about this design is it APPEARS that the cooler has male threaded studs that protrude through the tank wall, then are sealed by a large nut and washer. Then, the fittings themselves are likely flared and with a female threaded coupler that thread on to the male threads of the cooler itself, outside of the tank. I like this for many reasons -- you can keep an eye on all threaded joints for leaks or corrosion. And if anything does fail, the chance of fluids co-mingling is nearly null.

22890176209_bc8cbe65da_b.jpg


23258116855_bf7cf1db8e_b.jpg


I liked that they marked the fittings as tight before it was boxed. Sure enough, they were definitely tight.

Overall, I'm pleased with the quality of the TYC unit. There are no leaks (yet!) with the new install and everything is buttoned up. I'll make a post later with the install of the external cooler.
 
My KOYO radiator was also made in China. But The Facotry was Japanese owned and had Japanese CQ. You should have no problems, Seems Koyo radiators are one of the good products to come out of china.
 
Csf plastic/aluminum has been in my integra for 5 years and 60k miles.paid $70 for it. Super solid
 
Last edited:
I fitted a Taiwanese Cryomax radiator into my Mercedes nearly 6 years ago, and put one in the Volvo a couple of days ago. The OE Volvo is twin tube, the Cryomax is single tube...but the tubes are wider, so not a lot lost in capacity. The Mercedes OE is round tubes, the Cryomax standard twin row tubes....actually more coolant exposed to air. They seem pretty good quality to me.
 
Last year I installed a Denso aftermarket radiator in our 2003 Honda Accord and I'm very happy with it. It seems to be absolutely identical to the original Honda part the car came with. Considering that the original part had "Denso" printed on it, this isn't a surprise!

You can generally get Densos from RockAuto.com and often from Amazon at very good prices.
 
I have a Taiwanese-made Denso on my car, but it fits like the original Japanese one. Denso does have a stake in Cryomax.

I've used Spectra as well - a Canadian-made one.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top