Renix Radiator :copper/aluminum?

I still have my OEM 1987 radiator in my Jeep. I have no overheating issues and all is well. What is this radiator made of, and have I just been lucky having no leaks or over heating in the 25 years I've owned the Jeep(125K miles)?

I have not been fanatical about coolant system maintenance; flush and fill every 2-3 years. But I just replaced a Napa water pump after 2.5 years,(leaking) and there were signs of pitting below the impeller.

Should I go to a yearly flush fill to keep the aged system functioning? Or is 2.5 years the average life of a new replacement water pump? I am using good ol' "Green" coolant. Maybe use G-05?

Thanks guys.

Just tossed my oem radiator out due to a near impossibly complicated back yard, shady tree, (-14 degree, wind chill: -40 degree), fix situation, and a near total replacement of the fins would also be required since the fins were really rotted out at 215k. It was brass tanks, with copper fins. Have no desire to become a radiator mechanic, nor send it out for a fix as the cost would've been more than an aftermarket replacement. Seems most are made by china laborers. Ordered an aluminum replacement which is 'iffy, but good enough perhaps to get a few plus miles ahead. Even the best USA made radiators seem to be 'iffy according to some results I've seen. I think that Modine is now mostly china made now. Griffin, although expensive is probably the best bet, but one can toss the coin on that too according to some pissed off buyers have reported. Face it.., it is getting hard to get quality parts now a days. Seems everyone is tossing the coin as per longevity. Figure I might even get one of those cheap commie plastic radiators as a spare, in which to toss on the roof top for long road trips.., just in case.

The aluminum radiators will degrade with the green stuff, and require the orange anti-freeze. John Deer makes a 50/50 mix which is handy. Yours, just use the green stuff, as it is what is oem recommended. Most anti-freeze stuff in Alaska now has a bitter chemical in them so that animals will steer away from lapping puddles of it. About freaking time.., although I have no idea how re-active the bitter stuff, (chemical, or organic), might have against metal parts of any kind, or not.

There are different models of Napa accessories in question. Always get the best. On the other hand some claim that there are even better built, near, at, or better than oem. Go with them. Rockauto.com is one good place to look. Forget which water pump I got as a spare from the 4 wheel drive.com guys when I ordered a slew full of extra parts a couple of years ago, but if I had to do such over again, I'd do what you are doing, and seek further advice. Seems Bosch is a favorite for a lot of stuff. 2.5 years is really weak. Seems that Ga. driving environment is ok for a couple of years between flushes. Some scum might actually be some extra layers that might be preventing radiator leaks. Pitting could be caused by tiny foreign objects, or some spooky ph thing, lol. Do you have a shop do your flush? If you do it, are you opening up your lower engine block port during the flush? Running your heater? What did you see the last time you did it, if you did it? You are using distilled water in your coolent system mix, right?

Thanks Alaskan89XJ. Glad to here AMC put a decent quality radiator on back in 87. Guess I'll do what I can to keep her alive.

l do my own flushes, but don't pull the block plug. Maybe there is still some stuff in there? The coolant looks good when I drain it, not brand new, but not dirty/rusty. The water pump under the impeller was black with some very small pitting, with black stains out the weep hole. One source said that was electrolysis. I had no pitting in the thermostat housing. I used a DMM to test for coolant voltage, and I am getting about 3.5 volts. Everything is grounded very well. I am using all of 5-90's cables. So maybe it is a chemical thing? I went with an Advance Auto Tough 1 pump instead of the Napa(Gates). Tough 1 is "assembled in USA with foreign/domestic parts. Napa was all China. We will see.

I do back flush the heater core. Is that brass/copper also?

I think I will shorten my drain intervals as an experiment and see what happens.

I never thought too much about the radiator situation on my 90 until recently when it started leaking (original at 270K).

I first picked up one of the champion radiators, it lasted about a week before starting to leak (this one is all aluminum).

I finally gave up, was in need of a radiator, so I bought one of the aluminum/plastic ones from autozone, so far it's quite the trooper, no leaks, it seems a bit more tempermental and will run cool when it's cold out, and slightly warm (<210) when it's warm out.

If you havn't already flushed the heater-core, it's usually a good idea, as it will help you actually feel warm when water is cycling through it. About a year or two ago I completely pulled apart all the rad hoses (including those goofy crimped-on OEM hoses) and replaced them with fresh radiator line, this meant cutting off the originals, and getting out the gun cleaning kit to clean out the OEM steel hoses.

Typically what I do when flushing is I will flush first with hose water, and then I try to suck everything out using a combination of sucking and blowing with the wet-dry vacuum. This has largely proven quite successful over the years. I do the same thing to the engine, rad, and heater core. Then I replace with green stuff, followed by distilled water (I mix my own to about 55/45 AF/Water) as I want a bit colder tolerance on mine. Back when I lived in socal I did 45/55 AF/Water to get the heat out better.

I had good results swapping in a CSF 3 row in my 1990 cherokee. I did the open swap as well. Hot wired the fan to stay on (cut pigtail off temp switch in radiator, short wires together, plug into harness, fan runs with ignition). Kept a very steady 195-210 degrees. I saw 215 pulling an overloaded u-haul trailer in 95 degree weather.
I had that setup for about a year and a half. The radiator eventually failed when i slammed into a jaguar at 55 mph.

I've been hearing good things about the CSF, I'm not sure I would do an open conversion, I've had really good luck with the closed system over-all (after carefully flushing, backflushing, and performing 20+ years of scheduled maintenance), it performs really well.

I tend to think what gives the closed system a bad rep is the fact that no one maintains it properly.

BulletMaker said:

I've been hearing good things about the CSF, I'm not sure I would do an open conversion, I've had really good luck with the closed system over-all (after carefully flushing, backflushing, and performing 20+ years of scheduled maintenance), it performs really well.

I tend to think what gives the closed system a bad rep is the fact that no one maintains it properly.

Click to expand...

my biggest reasons for changing were ease of bleeding and eliminating the plastic pressure tank. Apparently those tanks leak or explode if overheated...

I had about 350 dollars into the conversion, with radiator, new t-stat, housing, all hoses, 200 dollar CSF radiator and water pump...

The tanks start to leak after about 3-4 years (if purchased new), or you can put on the aluma-tank. The cap on the tank is intended to hold about 15PSI, more than that and it "boils over" (comes out of the cap), however since it's the high spot, it doesn't have the same boil over issues like conventional open systems do.