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XJ radiators, a review.

Interesting info. I did a drain and thorough flush last summer, and temps were very stable. This summer, temps are drifting up higher than last summer. I'm getting ready to replace the radiator and water pump because I want a two-row radiator, but I'm tempted to try burping the coolant system before taking it all apart.

Same scenario as mine. It is cheap to do a flush. Drain, flush, refill with distilled water run for 10 min with cap off. Drain, refill with 60/40 mix or whatever you normally use. Run with heater on and cap off until you have zero bubbles. Drive it around. Next day, check overflow and add as needed.

Hope if works out for you.
 
Cal, if you are going to run the Cold Case let me suggest you do several things: First, ditch the O-ring for the Renix sensor in the tank. There is no support for the outside of the O-ring. It will blow out. Either put in a metal backed seal, a soft aluminum washer seal or just seal the plug directly to the tank.

Secondly, flush the radiator several times before you install it. These radiators are full of metal shavings. I expect they are the product of cutting the cores. I wouldn't be surprised if they are the reason so many Mishimotos end up being plugged.

Finally, expect to need to re-seal the overflow fitting at the radiator cap. Whoever is assembling these things must be racing a work quota. They only thread them in a few turns.

Beyond those things, don't expect to fit a ZJ clutch. I found installation went smoother if I improved the chamfer on the pins that drop into the radiator support at the bottom. I also ditched the drain ****. Planning ahead and ordering an aluminum plug (1/4" NPT) might be best.

And it may be that you already know the above from my own posts on the topic, but the info may be useful to someone else.

Edit to add: Somehow I never before noticed that we have nanny control software. Make that a "drain rooster", or maybe "draincock" will sneak by...
 
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shifting this conversation to the unicorn thread Anak, to keep this one on subject. go ahead and bop over there.
 
I bought a 10" SPAL fan from summit and made a custom aluminum fan shroud. I suspected the TYC was junk and I was right. The Spal fan pulled way more CFM than the TYC and on those hot days, I would creep up to 220 at idle and never really further.

CleanEG, can you share more on how you fabbed up the fan shroud for the SPAL? I too have the TYC fan and I suspect it is not doing it's job. Seems like it doesn't run properly. I ordered up the KSuspension fan switch harness and would like to upgrade to a SPAL in place of the TYC.
 
The Summit radiator definitely looks very similar to the CSF 2-row, but there are a few differences that make me think that it may not actually be a CSF radiator:

1) The lower trans cooler fitting is threaded (NPT?) female fitting rather than a tube.

2) The CSF 3-row radiator that cal reviewed in 2018 has a Made in Indonesia sticker on it, but the Summit 2-row is made in Mexico.

3) The stated core dimensions are slightly different between the CSF and Summit.

Overall, the Summit looks nicely made. The radiator inlet and outlet stubs are actually round. But as I said, I haven't installed it yet, so I don't how well it fits.

Summit is ready to be installed. After a few test fits, the only issue I found is that the screw posts for the upper isolator pads were too long and had to be trimmed to allow the radiator locating plate to settle on the upper isolator pads. Cut-off saw fixed that easy.

One nice aspect is that it came with fittings that allow the factory auto trans hoses to bolt right up.

A mildly concerning aspect of the radiator is that the auto trans heat exchanger tube inside the driver side end tank is much larger in diameter than the factor hx tube. Its so large that it seems like it covers a large fraction of the opening for the radiator water outlet.

The only janky aspect of the radiator is the drain. It came with a lame plastic screw plug. I decided to put together a proper drain setup using brass fittings.

Overall, I'd say that the Summit is a 95% factory fit solution.

BTW, it is apparently a TSM radiator. It has an inspection sticker on it with the TSM logo.
 
Some photos to go with my previous post.
449e977fd0cd8de3f97b9e84b6ef27d9.jpg
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Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
Not sure what fittings that would be. The port on the radiator is 1/4" NPT, and its a brass radiator. Brass pipe fittings seem like a good match. I'm using a 1/4-turn ball valve rated to 150 psi at 300F. I took off the handle so it can't be accidentally opened. Perhaps you are suggesting AN or flare?
 
No just regular petcocks at about 1/4 of the weight. Besides catching on something the weight alone could tear at the bung in the brass tank.
 
Having the valve positioned a bit further down will make it much easier to drain. Its still well out of the way of getting snagged. However, I am a bit concerned about weight. Since I don't think I'll have time to install the radiator today, I ordered the Parker valve and will see how it looks.
 
I do like that parker valve. I wonder if I could get my hands up there to open the valve though, its tight in there.
 
I do like that parker valve. I wonder if I could get my hands up there to open the valve though, its tight in there.

Surely depends on the radiator. The drain hole on the Summit radiator is pretty high. Would have been great if the drain hole were on the bottom rather than on the side.
 
Lot of interesting stuff on the bay... anyone guinea pig these cheap 3 row all aluminum radiators?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184630275393

Or one with efans and shroud?

Probably junk compared to the cold cases of the world... but as long as all aluminum, leak free,, and fits.. I don't see the potential pitfalls. Has to be better than a 24 year old stock radiator with plastic ends right?


You want plastic ends. All of these 100% welded aluminum rads will leak in short order because they don't have a crimped-on plastic tank.
 
Interesting.
When intercooler shopping the plastic ends were considered less effective at cooling, so I thought the same applied to radiators.

Does a sub 200 dollar replacement exist for xjs? Or is all of the ebay stuff a sure fire leak waiting to happen?
 
Mine is jusssst peaking into the 230s on these hot ass days of summer running ac and some light wheeling. I have a trans cooler and a PS cooler.
It's all stock stuff, a flush and new tstat and fluid might be all I need, but ya know where's the fun in that? Lol
 
I must admit that I'm always torn between trying to make things work with what's already in there or tossing in new stuff. I seem to end up tossing in new stuff. Anyhow, if you might want to try a manual efan switch. For wheeling, that works great for me. Coolant temp stays right at the tstat set point.
 
The Summit Racing radiator install is complete. Indeed, the only mod needed to make it fit was to cut down the screw posts used to retain the upper isolator pads. Otherwise, its a 100% OEM fit. I stuck with the modified drain fittings I showed a few posts earlier. They make it very easy to drain the radiator, and I'm confident that it won't cause any fatigue issues. Getting the trans cooler fittings to seal up took a bit of work. I had to snug the fittings several times before they sealed.

The somewhat disappointing news is that I've taken it around the block a few times as part of the air purge routine, and so far, there is no obvious cooling improvement over the prior radiator which I've found to be a budget CSF single row (3251). However, the real test will be tomorrow when I head out to the Oregon coast. In the current hot weather, coolant temps with the CSF single row would rise somewhat. Will be interesting to see if the Summit radiator does a better job.
 
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