Radiator recommendations?

So im on the market for a new radiator becuase mines leaking.
Need to know some good options as i dont want to just go to the parts store and buy some junk that will fail in a few months.
Do they still make all metal radiators?
The plastic tank crap makes me nervous but if some of those can be run without issue ill drop one in
Im replacing a 10 year old csf all brass radiator.

Lemme know.

I bought a Crown HD radiator $200. I needed one quick and the local Crown dealer is fast. The up side is it is built like a brick, I've put in enough radiators to know how they feel, this thing felt twice as heavy. In other words they didn't scrimp on materials. The down side is they packed the filler neck inside the box with a quarter of an inch of clearance and no padding, the first radiator arrived with a cracked filler neck. It has plastic end tanks but hasn't given me any issues yet.

Made in Taiwan and made beefy, everything about this radiator is heavy.

So far it has outlasted my last radiator, an aluminum Modine.

Cal just recently did a pretty comprehensive look at a ton of different radiators. I think there were 8-10 that he compared. Some good info and pics in here that would probably answer a lot of questions for you. Definitely worth reading through this thread if you haven't already

https://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1150722

Are aluminum radiators better?
I remember reading something about overcooling?

outlander said:

Do they still make all metal radiators?
The plastic tank crap makes me nervous but if some of those can be run without issue ill drop one in
.

Click to expand...

I'm surprise at all the hate toward plastic tanks. I guess many of the forum members are too young to remember when all radiators had metal tanks.
Metal tanks suffered as many leaks as plastics tanks, In the distant past, we regularly had to resolder radiator tank's seams. Old school, all-metal radiators had all sorts of leaks.
On the other hand, my 1997 XJ original radiator lasted 18 years, before leaking. My 2003 Ford E450 plastic tank radiator was replaced last year. My wife 2001 Acura Radiator is still stock.
Aftermarket plastic tanks many not be up to OEM standards.

Agreed lazyxj. My stock radiator finally developed a tiny leak near the top of a tank last year, making it almost a full 20 years. I epoxied it and that did the trick until I decided to replace it in the middle of an engine swap. The right kinds of plastic are quite resiliant. Depending on the wall thickness they should also be more puncture proof.

I installed a CSF 3-core all metal rad over a year ago. It has performed well so far. Cooling is great from what can be expected from the stock cooling system, especially here in the crucible.

Probably going to jinx it with this reply.

When I swapped out my radiator I was dealing with a whole series of issues including smog test failures. I dropped in a cheap ($90.00 Napa or AZ) plastic tank radiator, figured I’d deal with it later onceall my other issues were resolved.

That was 6 years ago and maybe 20k - 30k miles ago. No issues.

Pretty sure that radiator included a lifetime warranty too.

88trailcrawler said:

Probably going to jinx it with this reply.

When I swapped out my radiator I was dealing with a whole series of issues including smog test failures. I dropped in a cheap ($90.00 Napa or AZ) plastic tank radiator, figured I’d deal with it later onceall my other issues were resolved.

That was 6 years ago and maybe 20k - 30k miles ago. No issues.

Pretty sure that radiator included a lifetime warranty too.

Click to expand...

My experience also.

I too have a CSF 3-core in my 96 XJ, and it's performed well
for several years. The wife drives an Explorer Sport with a 20 year
old plastic tanked radiator with zero problems.

I think either one is fine. The key is to keep the cooling system
maintained with no overheats and regular coolant changes.

I have yet to have an all metal radiator leak in 45 years on me. Never got more than 1-2 years out of an aftermarket plastic tank radiator. Blew the heads and heads (once) and headgaskets on the 96 ford Vulcan 3 times and never in 10 years had to touch the OEM Ford radiator. On the 4th plastic radiator on the 2001 Saturn right now. I am now 100% sure that plastic tanks are OK until something else causes an over heat, then the plastic tanks warp during the over heat, and leak or warp and later leak from the prior warpage.... I have never, ever had an all metal radiator go bad on me across about 18 + family rigs and about 45 years. I use only the true 3 row all brass CSF Jeep radiators. Only all metal radiators I ever replaced had a Mac truck parked in the core.