Radiators, what is worth it?

BigClay

BigClay

Knower of useless ZJ things
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Location
Winston-Salem
The radiator in my TJ has sprung a leak, so it is time for a new one. Are the aluminum ones worth the cost? Should I go factory replacement? Is there a good upgraded radiator? Give me all of your opinions.
 
The plastic tank on my stock radiator split unexpectedly going down the highway in 2003, which is what prompted the stroker motor build. I decided I would "upgrade" the radiator with a "heavy duty 3 core" from some place back then. For the first several months, I was fighting overheating issues. I finally threw in the towel and put a Novak aluminum radiator on there and its been good ever since. Based on my experience, I would stay away from stock, and I would stay away from cheap aftermarket brass radiators.
 
When my stock radiator started leaking I replaced it with a Novak aluminum one. That was back in 2008 and I have never had an issue.
 
1-tonmudder said:
Can u even get a copper replacement rad now??
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Yep, don't know about Jeeps though. Street rods still use them all the time. Alum radiators generally are less fragile, have a higher burst pressure rating, are lighter, and should cool better (if not designed poorly/cheaply). I don't see any reason to use a copper/brass radiator, but I'm not the slightest bit old-school in my thinking, and I'm not a traditionalist.
 
Zane Pearce said:
Amazon.com: 1987-2006 All Aluminum Radiator for Jeep Wrangler Yj/tj 2.4l-4.2l 3 Row Automatic Transmission 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05: Automotive

just put this in my tj, the quality was surprising and it cools awesome. For the 140 bucks it seems too good to be true but side by side it's just as nice as a 350+ alluminum rad
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That seems like a smoking deal. How long have you been running it?

Both of ours have been due for new radiators for a while, but I was just going to spend $80/ea on a couple of OEM spec ones from Rockauto.
 
AA radiators and to be good for a year. In the last 5 years, guess what? I put 5 radiators in my xj. The last one I exchanged looks like they changed supplier and it's closer to OE in design and lifetime guarantee. Maybe I'm biased, I've got a platinum commercial account there.
 
Copper/Brass cools better than aluminum. There's no arguing that.

However, it's weaker. So you can make the "rows" of an aluminum radiator much larger than you can with a copper/brass unit, so that offsets the advantage the copper/brass has in heat transfer. Aluminum is also lighter, and looks cooler to boot.
 
I've been running mine for a few weeks now...just drove it 6 hours to the outer Banks and back without issues, ran the AC the whole way.

I have a psc dual mount auxiliary cooler setup for my power steering/tranny in front of the evaporator so my stock style cheap replacement fan wasn't cutting it. jeep runs nice and cool but if left to idle it will warm up and with the ac it will get pretty warm if it's not moving...this is all due to the crappy 5 blade fan and clutch setup tj's had early on. Slightly more airflow at idle would fix the issue.
 
20160620_164729.jpg
 
shawn said:
That seems like a smoking deal. How long have you been running it?

Both of ours have been due for new radiators for a while, but I was just going to spend $80/ea on a couple of OEM spec ones from Rockauto.
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totally worth it, for 138 bucks shipped it's incredibly nice....welds are solid, also it actually fit up really good and the cheap rock auto oe style radiators are crap in my experience. The one I bought was very low quality and a single core unit...this one is a triple core and cools the jeep awesome given it has some airflow
 
Zane Pearce said:
totally worth it, for 138 bucks shipped it's incredibly nice....welds are solid, also it actually fit up really good and the cheap rock auto oe style radiators are crap in my experience. The one I bought was very low quality and a single core unit...this one is a triple core and cools the jeep awesome given it has some airflow
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The only thing that worries me with what you have said is about idle. How does your jeep do on the trail with low speeds and some idling at certain points on the trail?
 
I believe in a trail it would be absolutely fine, I'm usually in 4 low so my engine revs whenever I putt around enough to keep it nice and cool...honestly though the idling has absolutely everything to do with my crap quality replacement fan clutch
 
The link you posted says it is for an automatic, and I can't figure out if that one will work for a manual or is there a different model for the manual
 
BigClay said:
The link you posted says it is for an automatic, and I can't figure out if that one will work for a manual or is there a different model for the manual
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There's not.

Radiators for automatic transmissions just have a coil in the tank with a couple of ports on the side to run it as a water/oil cooler for the ATF. If you have a manual, just ignore the ATF ports.
 
BigClay said:
The link you posted says it is for an automatic, and I can't figure out if that one will work for a manual or is there a different model for the manual
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It would just have the cooler in it for auto and not using it wouldn't effect anything.

EDIT, Shawn beat me to it.
 
Zane Pearce said:
.this one is a triple core and cools the jeep awesome given it has some airflow
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The one in the photos above is a two row, not a three. If it were a three, it would be about 3-1/4" thick.
 
Not sure on Jeep availability...but I've been having good luck with Champion radiators cooling 5-800hp 460's in mud pits and the trails the last couple years. $230ish from box stores, cheaper on ebay.
 
Zane Pearce said:
positive shawn? you can count the 3 rows with the cap off? (also advertised as a 3 row but I don't take that's stuff for face value)
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That would be my guess, just based on aluminum cores typically being about an inch thick.
 
I seriously considered the aluminum radiator for my TJ a year ago. Went the cheap, stock, big box route. Wish I had gotten the aluminum now. :(
 
About to pull the trigger on this, another question, 195 or 180 thermostat?
 
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