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Radiators.. Do they all suck?

R

rockhead

NAXJA Forum User
Location
murrieta
I have been going crazy reading about radiators on this and every other site trying to figure out which one is the best. I have gone from believing the CSF 3 core was the cats meow to the champion all aluminum. It appears they are all lacking. Is the dealer the best place to go? I got quoted $239 for their max cooling version. That is what came stock on my jeep and I never had any problems until it started leaking.

I currently have a cheap single core aluminum/plastic in there now. It cools ok as long as it is not 100 degrees and I am not climbing a mountain. But I happen to live someplace that is often 100 degrees and surrounded by mountains. So what is the best $200 radiator?
 
I would be surprised if it is the radiator. Check the fan clutch.
 
Fan clutch. Really? I can sit in 100 degree weather idling for hours and it sits right at 210 I figured driving uphill at 70mph would take the fan out of the equation.
 
OK, pull the plugs and show us a pix.

What does the tailpipe look like?

A clogged cat can cause overheating at speed as well.

Are you sure your lower radiator hose isn't collapsing at high speed?

A slipping tranny can dump a ton of heat in the radiator as well.
 
old_man said:
OK, pull the plugs and show us a pix. Will do.

What does the tailpipe look like? Will show pics. Runs a little rich but just passed smog.

A clogged cat can cause overheating at speed as well. What is the best way to test this?

Are you sure your lower radiator hose isn't collapsing at high speed? Yes it is good.

A slipping tranny can dump a ton of heat in the radiator as well.
Click to expand...
No slippage. Always down shift going up the pass.
 
My tentative plan is to do the following.

Flush entire system
CSF 2-row radiator
Change out original Waterpump.
Install larger tranny cooler sitting on my garage floor.
Check catalytic converter. (How do I do this?)

The clutch fan. hoses and thermorstat all have less than 5,000 miles on them. This is my wife's daily driver so I don't have a lot of time to play with it.

Oh and this is on a 97, 4.0 , Aw4 with 134,000 miles.
 
Last edited:
I'm not a big fan of plastic on radiators. I prefer all metal.

2 or 3 row. To each their own.

radiatorbarn is a good vendor. No need to use a dealer for this part, as theirs would have some plastic in it anyways.
 
Yea, you're right about the fitment. But now that it's been well documented it's much easier to deal with. To me, the quality and design of the radiator makes up for the BS fitment issues.
 
I just want something atleast equal to the quality of the stock heavy duty radiator. Do you think the Champion is equal or better to stock?
 
Oh night and day difference. All metal tanks alone make the Champion OR the CSF far more durable than the stock HD radiator. As far as cooling goes I can only compare the 3 core Champion to the stock radiator but I've been running cool (at or below 210) with only one stock electric fan in the 100 degree summer heat. That's not empirical data by any means but it should tell ya something.
 
Milford Cubicle II said:
Oh night and day difference. All metal tanks alone make the Champion OR the CSF far more durable than the stock HD radiator. As far as cooling goes I can only compare the 3 core Champion to the stock radiator but I've been running cool (at or below 210) with only one stock electric fan in the 100 degree summer heat. That's not empirical data by any means but it should tell ya something.
Click to expand...

same temp up here and same temps out of the 3 row brass one at radiator barn (it was free :)) i had the stock HD cooling package on my jeep and it sat at roughly the same temp. however the giant crack in the plastic rad fill neck kind of killed that one.
 
old_man said:
OK, pull the plugs and show us a pix.

What does the tailpipe look like?

A clogged cat can cause overheating at speed as well.

Are you sure your lower radiator hose isn't collapsing at high speed?

A slipping tranny can dump a ton of heat in the radiator as well.
Click to expand...

sparkexhaust001.jpg

sparkexhaust002.jpg


Looks like it is running a little rich. Is that a sign of a bad cat?

The lower radiator has has the spring intact and if feels strong.

No slipping in the trans.
 
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