Jump to content

best radiator for R50 Pathfinder / QX4 ?


FUELER
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello,

 

 

does anybody have a good brand of R50 radiators they can recommend?

 

Perhaps one that's 100% aluminum?

 

Seems like anytime i have a radiator leak, it's ALWAYS associated with the plastic top end cap.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your plastic top end is blowing off all the time you might want to check the coolant level and make sure that your head gaskets are still good. That should not happen at all unless you are using some bottom of the barrel aftermarket radiator.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got my all aluminum off ebay 3 years ago.Fit like OEM, Made by Summit. I dont have any of the info or part number from the purchase though

 

You could easily fit in any similar rad if you can fabricate simple brackets, get a nice thick core one meant for a v8 or something and throw some electric fans on it

 

SOOOOOO much room is gained in our engine bays by ditching the fan and shroud

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your plastic top end is blowing off all the time you might want to check the coolant level and make sure that your head gaskets are still good. That should not happen at all unless you are using some bottom of the barrel aftermarket radiator.

 

Agreed. Plastic is a s****y material, but it is adequate, so if you are having that failure mode often, you might have a bigger problem...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got my all aluminum off ebay 3 years ago.Fit like OEM, Made by Summit. I dont have any of the info or part number from the purchase though

 

You could easily fit in any similar rad if you can fabricate simple brackets, get a nice thick core one meant for a v8 or something and throw some electric fans on it

 

SOOOOOO much room is gained in our engine bays by ditching the fan and shroud

 

 

I can't find any on summit racing web site and neither on ebay... I say whatever you got do not exists anymore... :thumbsdown:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your plastic top end is blowing off all the time you might want to check the coolant level and make sure that your head gaskets are still good. That should not happen at all unless you are using some bottom of the barrel aftermarket radiator.

 

 

It's the first time it's happened on my QX4 in 200k miles... very hard miles, with several overheating episodes... i think 200k is not bad, no?

 

I'm just saying, seems like all cars nowadays have plastic radiators.... and they always break in the plastic.... and not repairable.... replace only

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Overheating usually causes irreversible damage, even if the engine seems ok afterwards.

 

I took apart a small block Chevy that had overheated more than once and there were a ton of things wrong with it: intake gaskets melted to the heads, mushroomed lifters, mushroomed valve stems, and a few other things that I can't remember. Similar story with an old Supra engine I looked at.

 

Basically, if your engine has overheated badly, and more than once, be glad you got this far, and try to find a replacement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there's no motor issues don't touch the motor. I don't know why that was suggested.

 

FOr 200k, I'd just go with another stock one. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anything else that will last that long, aftermarket or not.

 

Also, if you Q is Auto, your tranny cooler is inside the rad. Keep that in mind if you look to buy aftermarket.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Overheating, especially more than once, will cause the head gaskets to fail. If the head gaskets go bad, the exhaust and cooling will exchange and the pressure in your radiator will go up so high that you can blow the top off your radiator. This happened before! I think this was due to using inferior aftermarket head gaskets instead of Nissan head gaskets.

 

316547_295793177103711_100000190938619_1427449_332368087_n.jpg

 

Plastic top radiators are really not an issue. By the time your plastic top cracks, you probably need a new radiator anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That picture is mileading. That was MrJims rig. His rig was resurrected from a junkyard and had been absolutely beat on at one point. There is nothing wrong with plastic. They perform they same as others in the same price point. In all the years working on nissan products, I have maybe seen a handfull of radiators just let go. Usually its do to the lack of maintenence or the wrong coolan mixutre was used. Of course upon radiator replacement, be sure to check the rest of your cooling system(radiator cap, thermostat, ect) for any other issues.

 

I have used Performance Radiator many times and have been very very happy with thier product.

 

http://performanceradiator.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Probably from the poor condition the coolant was in when I worked on it. I flushed it and flushed it to get crap out. It was not the way he left it. After leaving Jims hands, nobody knows what uninformed yahoo worked on that poor truck. I know it was right when it left my house(no crystal ball to look into the future). Also, about a year later, his e-fan failed and he got a little hot. Maybe it started then. Obviously it couldnt take anymore at the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use performance Radiator brand at work alot, only ever had 1 issue (new parts fail too) and the local distributer instantly sent a new one and had us submit a labor claim so I would be no cost to the customer. They get the big :aok: from me

 

Now in my truck when my rad went out (didn't leak, noticed a good 1/4 to 1/2 the cores missing) I replaced it with a used high miled (plastic) factory one saved from one of my HBs. Been fine for I think 2 years now?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only real gripe I have about the plastic radiators is that you can't move the upper hose inlet to the other side so you get good cross-flow through the radiator, instead of the upper hose being right over the lower. Other than that it's cheap bullsheit but it works. :shrug:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not to jack the thread but in theory you can move it to the other side but then the inlet will face the wrong way. Does cross flow really matter?

 

Other than that plastic tanks are definitely cheaper to produce and those plastic inlets do have a tendency to shear off sometimes.

Edited by Tungsten
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Blowing up rads sounds like an 'issue' to me...

He said it was the first time in 200K that he's had a rad issue. I wouldn't consider that "blowing up rads"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hey guys thanks for all your input.

 

For now, I have put globs of JB weld on the crack, lol.

 

 

I can get a OEM-style cheap replacement for $110 or an all aluminum rad for $155 (from www.radiatorexpress.com)

 

which would you get?

 

 

I hope the aluminum would be plug-n-play, i dont want to have to tap any threads like mentioned earlier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...