Another reason why you should *always* use the OEM radiator...

Ryan Thomas

Ryan Thomas

I have no idea how I got here.
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So I've finally gotten the aftermarket CSF radiator taken out of the Jeep and replaced with the proper one - an OEM Mopar radiator. The first thing I'm shown is what is in the attached picture...
Besides the fact that the OEM radiator is just plain better than pretty much everything at keeping the thing cool, it also isn't made of cheap-ass pot metal!

I couldn't believe this when I saw it. This is what it looked like when the hose came off. Easily bendable by finger.
IMG_7386.jpg
 
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Ryan Thomas said:
So I've finally gotten the aftermarket CSF radiator taken out of the Jeep and replaced with the proper one - an OEM Mopar radiator. The first thing I'm shown is what is in the attached picture...
Besides the fact that the OEM radiator is just plain better than pretty much everything at keeping the thing cool, it also isn't made of cheap-ass pot metal!

I couldn't believe this when I saw it. This is what it looked like when the hose came off. Easily bendable by finger.
View attachment 12720
Click to expand...

That's crazy ryan! I'm glad you posted this, now I know only to use the oem replacement. "Finger adjustable" is not something I want in a radiator.
 
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It was around $300 - but totally worth the confidence that I have in it now. I knew that radiator that was in it was crap, and couldn't wait to get rid of it. I just didn't realize how crap it was!
 
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Ryan Thomas said:
It was around $300 - but totally worth the confidence that I have in it now. I knew that radiator that was in it was crap, and couldn't wait to get rid of it. I just didn't realize how crap it was!
Click to expand...

Was it leaking on you or just not keeping your engine cool? Or were you just being proactive and eliminating the problem before it became a problem?
 
It wasn't leaking, but it would easily exceed the normal temperature if I were to start any serious wheeling/hills. Also would run with the needle in the zero on the temp gauge at highway speeds.
That, and I knew it was in there and *really* wanted to get the OEM unit back in it. I never had to worry about my temp in my 97 with the oem radiator.

Also, I'm having the water pump replaced with an oem one as well. Figured might as well get them both done while the system was drained and flushed!
 
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Good idea on the water pump too. I do the same thing when I do maintenance. If I'm going through the effort I try to either drain, clean, or replace neighboring or same system components.
 
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UpperMI said:
Good idea on the water pump too. I do the same thing when I do maintenance. If I'm going through the effort I try to either drain, clean, or replace neighboring or same system components.
Click to expand...
Metal impeller vs plastic impeller... It was a no-brainer to do it at the same time :)
I knew it was there, and it was bothering me!
 
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I preach this stuff all the time... Only use OE parts whenever possible. A lot of people choose to disregard it, and I get that. Some people don't want to spend the money or order parts online. However, I have had plenty of experience with crappy aftermarket parts from local auto part stores failing on me.

This illustrates it quite well though I think! I won't ever use anything but OE parts on my TJ, unless I have no other choice.

Hell, a factory, OE Mopar radiator really isn't even that much. Amazon has them for around $200.
 
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Chris said:
I preach this stuff all the time... Only use OE parts whenever possible. A lot of people choose to disregard it, and I get that. Some people don't want to spend the money or order parts online. However, I have had plenty of experience with crappy aftermarket parts from local auto part stores failing on me.

This illustrates it quite well though I think! I won't ever use anything but OE parts on my TJ, unless I have no other choice.

Hell, a factory, OE Mopar radiator really isn't even that much. Amazon has them for around $200.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Mine was around 250 plus I paid 45 for two day shipping. I could've gotten it cheaper on Amazon, but I know this place pretty well so went with them out of habit ;)
So completely worth it!
 
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Back in 2005-2006 I tried a CSF "all brass" or "all metal 3 or 4 row" radiator and what a piece of Sh!t that was. I nearly blew my head gasket on a trip over the Dusy-Ershim trail just climbing up to Shaver lake on the grade. That radiator couldn't flow or cool at all. After this experience I even went with a 180* thermostat and it was still up in the 230*+ red zone all the time on the freeway or under engine load such as grades. I went and bought a factory MOPAR replacement radiator and all my problems went away just like that. I even went back to the factory 195* thermostat afterwards because it ran too cool with the colder 180* T-stat. The aluminum high flow large tube core of the factory radiator is much more efficient and cools far better. In fact it has enough capacity to cool a 5.2L (318 C.I.D.) V8 conversion. I just wish MOPAR used aluminum TIG welded tanks, they would last more than 10-12 years then without splitting the plastic tanks or leaking at the pinch seams. Go factory aluminum core. Incidentally, CSF's motto at the time was "We cool the import world". Guess I should have taken that to heart at the time for my Domestic Jeep.
 
Ryan Thomas said:
Metal impeller vs plastic impeller... It was a no-brainer to do it at the same time :)
I knew it was there, and it was bothering me!
Click to expand...
Two things for you. First is you won't be replacing the water pump with an OEM if it is the early one. They quit supporting that product at least 2 years ago. Second, of all the water pumps I've replaced and that is more than I can remember, the plastic impeller is by far superior in the durability department. It doesn't corrode, succumb to cavitation, pitting, or wear of any kind. I quit replacing them as a matter of course many years ago because when I pulled them, there was no wear.

Do an engine flush of the kind that you leave in there for a couple of days before you do the pump, thermostat, and housing.
 
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mrblaine said:
Two things for you. First is you won't be replacing the water pump with an OEM if it is the early one. They quit supporting that product at least 2 years ago. Second, of all the water pumps I've replaced and that is more than I can remember, the plastic impeller is by far superior in the durability department. It doesn't corrode, succumb to cavitation, pitting, or wear of any kind. I quit replacing them as a matter of course many years ago because when I pulled them, there was no wear.

Do an engine flush of the kind that you leave in there for a couple of days before you do the pump, thermostat, and housing.
Click to expand...

Which just goes to show that plastic in the cooling system isn't as bad as some people would have you think.

It's one of those stupid internet myths, that plastic parts in the cooling system is a big mistake on the part of the engineers whoever designed these vehicles. Yeah... Because I'm sure they had no idea what they were doing... :rolleyes:
 
RangerRick said:
Back in 2005-2006 I tried a CSF "all brass" or "all metal 3 or 4 row" radiator and what a piece of Sh!t that was. I nearly blew my head gasket on a trip over the Dusy-Ershim trail just climbing up to Shaver lake on the grade. That radiator couldn't flow or cool at all. After this experience I even went with a 180* thermostat and it was still up in the 230*+ red zone all the time on the freeway or under engine load such as grades. I went and bought a factory MOPAR replacement radiator and all my problems went away just like that. I even went back to the factory 195* thermostat afterwards because it ran too cool with the colder 180* T-stat. The aluminum high flow large tube core of the factory radiator is much more efficient and cools far better. In fact it has enough capacity to cool a 5.2L (318 C.I.D.) V8 conversion. I just wish MOPAR used aluminum TIG welded tanks, they would last more than 10-12 years then without splitting the plastic tanks or leaking at the pinch seams. Go factory aluminum core. Incidentally, CSF's motto at the time was "We cool the import world". Guess I should have taken that to heart at the time for my Domestic Jeep.
Click to expand...

The easy way to understand thermostats and radiators is the thermostat controls the low side and the radiator handles the high side. Thermostat can only do one thing and that is open to let flow through when it gets warm enough or close and restrict flow when it gets cool. That handles the low side, the high side is handled by the radiator and a lesser extent the pump. If the radiator doesn't have enough cooling capacity, the thermostat has no way to help that and no way to add capacity to the system and without enough capacity, or thermal efficiency, it will never run in the right temp range. The thermostat is also needed if you have way too much thermal efficiency in that it will not let the engine get over cooled. It will close and restrict flow until the correct temp is reached and then open to let fluid get cooled by the system.

All you did was lower the low side which you remedied correctly with the right thermostat.
 
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Chris said:
Which just goes to show that plastic in the cooling system isn't as bad as some people would have you think.

It's one of those stupid internet myths, that plastic parts in the cooling system is a big mistake on the part of the engineers whoever designed these vehicles. Yeah... Because I'm sure they had no idea what they were doing... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

It is only "plastic" in the sense that there is a polymer in there of some kind. It is very likely a glass or aramid fiber fill high performance engineering grade plastic of some sort and more than capable of moving some water for a very long period of time.

Oddly, I saw a product for pumps, it was a very cute billet impeller that was machined and it resembled the plastic impeller very closely. Another reason that a plastic impeller is good is because they can injection mold a far more efficient design without doing machined billet.
 
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mrblaine said:
Two things for you. First is you won't be replacing the water pump with an OEM if it is the early one. They quit supporting that product at least 2 years ago. Second, of all the water pumps I've replaced and that is more than I can remember, the plastic impeller is by far superior in the durability department. It doesn't corrode, succumb to cavitation, pitting, or wear of any kind. I quit replacing them as a matter of course many years ago because when I pulled them, there was no wear.

Do an engine flush of the kind that you leave in there for a couple of days before you do the pump, thermostat, and housing.
Click to expand...
Well, whatever it is, It is indeed an oem pump from the Jeep dealership. It will be far easier for me to trust than the Oreilly pump that was in there.

Also, definitely did the proper flush. Much better! Everything running perfectly cool now, and stays where it should.

Good stuff.
 
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mrblaine said:
The dealer sells pumps, they just haven't been ones with the Pentastar logo on them for a couple of years for the early model.
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Yeah, a lot of parts for it just aren't available from dealers anymore - but, at least, the end result was positive! The first thing I did was take it to some places the old one would heat up at, and it was steady as a rock just below the 210 Mark.

I'm pretty pleased about that!
 
OEM isn't always the best! My OEM radiator had a very small leak. So small it wouldn't even drip, but I could smell it! So I brought my Jeep to a radiator guy, (not a mechanic or an auto parts store) a guy who repairs radiators. He told me my leak was a common one for these radiators. The leak was coming from the gasket between the plastic bowls and the aluminum core. Very common and was really not worth fixing. I could buy a new OEM radiator for the same price or less. But warned me that the same thing WILL happen again sooner or later. He told me that if I didn't want to deal with this problem again that I should buy an all welded all aluminum radiator from Northern Radiator.
https://www.northernfactory.com/
Yes it was more expensive but we'll worth it. It has twice the cooling capacity, equal to a 4 core radiator. Now I've never had a problem with the OEM keeping my engine cool, but I'm not going to turn down extra cooling capacity. I installed this a couple of years ago and have had no problems. I also installed a bug screen behind the grill to help protect the radiator. The reason he was promoting Northern was that some all aluminum radiator companies will use rubber, plastic, ect. To seal the bowls to the core that will crack over time from heat and leak. but Northern uses aluminum to seal theirs. They can take a lot more abuse. This is the same kind of radiators that are used on off road equipment like front end loaders.
 
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