• Welcome to H4O! For a reduced ad experience, please login or register with the forum.

Aluminum Radiator Leak

Clark

Well-Known Member
Messages
153
Location
New York
Well I had a problem with a seller on ebay who after taking my money, told me he was out of stock for a plastic tank radiator so I cancelled my order. And
I purchased this New CSF aluminum radiator it got to me quick. Wish me luck!!! lol CSF1.jpgCSF2.jpg
 

Bruces

Well-Known Member
Messages
215
Location
Portland, TN
Well I had a problem with a seller on ebay who after taking my money, told me he was out of stock for a plastic tank radiator so I cancelled my order. And
I purchased this New CSF aluminum radiator it got to me quick. Wish me luck!!! lolView attachment 23451View attachment 23452

good luck mine developed a leak om the inside left edge about 5 inches from bottom. Eventually will try to fix but a lot of csf have developed leak after about a year.
 

amrg

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,317
Location
Qatar
Good luck! Let us know how the cooling is with this radiator

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
 

Clark

Well-Known Member
Messages
153
Location
New York
CSF4.jpg
Finally my new radiator is in, The only problem with the install was the damn shroud it was a major pain.
but I got it in. as far as temperature its the same as the OEM radiator. My next move, when the weather gets
warmer Is to install an Efan and a tranny cooler.
 

mdocod

Well-Known Member
Messages
61
Location
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Nice looking rad there clark!

This thread is interesting and a bit worrisome to me.

Sounds like radiators in these are junk, and there's something not good about the cooling design of these from the factory. Lots of talk about heat management issues and leaky radiators here..

The H3 I just bought, had a new radiator put in it by the dealer I bought it from... Not even 10 years old and only 63K on the spinner with leaking radiator.

The radiator in my isuzu rodeo went 23 years and ~240K miles when one of the tanks developed a split. I don't expect that from a radiator, but it sounds like the rads in the H3 are failing every few years or ever 40-50K. That's disheartening! The isuzu never over-heated on the trail with the AC on or pulling mountain passes.

-------------

I hope you guys don't mind me piggybacking in this thread, on a related radiator issue. When I spin the bottom half of the fan shroud into place on my rad, it rubs on the engine driven fan ever to slightly. The radiator/shroud almost seem like they are about a half inch too high, or maybe engine a half inch too low. Anyone run into this? With all this talk of these being hard on radiators and having heat management issues, I'm thinking I should try to get the shroud fully installed before summer comes around.
 

mdocod

Well-Known Member
Messages
61
Location
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Thanks Rascole,

Hoping its that simple... I looked it over and it "appears" to me to be seated, but I think pulling the front skids and having a closer look from the bottom may be warranted.

----------------

Be careful of used car dealerships. Good rule of thumb is don't trust any of the work they do on cars.

Basically, everything the dealership "boasted" about having done to get it road worthy, was done cheaply or wrong.

New radiator... not installed right (fan shroud doesn't line up), re-used old radiator cap that leaked.

Oil Change- Wrong size oil filter and over-filled.

Air Box- not closed properly.

Wipers - cheap chinese junkers that are so stiff when cold they don't work.
 

Clark

Well-Known Member
Messages
153
Location
New York
Nice looking rad there clark!

This thread is interesting and a bit worrisome to me.

Sounds like radiators in these are junk, and there's something not good about the cooling design of these from the factory. Lots of talk about heat management issues and leaky radiators here..

The H3 I just bought, had a new radiator put in it by the dealer I bought it from... Not even 10 years old and only 63K on the spinner with leaking radiator.

The radiator in my isuzu rodeo went 23 years and ~240K miles when one of the tanks developed a split. I don't expect that from a radiator, but it sounds like the rads in the H3 are failing every few years or ever 40-50K. That's disheartening! The isuzu never over-heated on the trail with the AC on or pulling mountain passes.

-------------

I hope you guys don't mind me piggybacking in this thread, on a related radiator issue. When I spin the bottom half of the fan shroud into place on my rad, it rubs on the engine driven fan ever to slightly. The radiator/shroud almost seem like they are about a half inch too high, or maybe engine a half inch too low. Anyone run into this? With all this talk of these being hard on radiators and having heat management issues, I'm thinking I should try to get the shroud fully installed before summer comes around.

plastic tank radiators and an overwhelming flood of poorly made foreign made radiators is a big problem.
maneuvering the shroud around the radiator's top hose sleeve, was my problem and getting the two bottom plastic shroud pins to fall into place.I had to get under
my truck 3 or 4 times just to get it aligned. When the warmer weather sets in I will go with an aluminum shroud and electric fan. Good luck man.
 
Last edited:

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,443
Location
Scottsdale
FYI, I put in a new OEM radiator a few weeks ago to replace a crappy aftermarket one. I saw temps drop significantly and it is less quick to heat up under load. I did go with a manual trans one (w/o trans cooler) since I have an external cooler.

I'm actually content with the OEM radiator capability. Reasonable price, cools well and without the trans cooler (common in many vehicles, GM and other brands) I don't have to worry about cross contamination of fluids.
 

Traxx

Well-Known Member
Messages
682
Location
PNW
Only real problem with the oem radiator is the tendency to crack the top tank up by the bracket which can be minimized by opening up the mounting point a bit more to give it some room to flex. The inboard cooler I'm not a fan of but it is a common GM design and just something I replace as part of a regular maintenance schedule. I live in a colder climate so don't want to deal with an external cooler and plumbing a bypass in. E-fan will not cool as well, prone to damage from water crossings, and are noisy, a bit like having a leaf blower under the hood.
 
Top