FUELER Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 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 More sharing options...
fleurys Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) I had a few hits, but no all aluminum... see here : http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=32041&view=findpost&p=604006 Edited March 13, 2012 by fleurys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 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 More sharing options...
WOT Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 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 More sharing options...
pathfounder Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 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 More sharing options...
WOT Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I remember when I used a nissan 300zx TT rad cap (1.3 bar) and blew that top plastic cap right off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleurys Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FUELER Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 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 More sharing options...
pathfounder Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Simon Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 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 More sharing options...
pathfounder Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 If there's no motor issues don't touch the motor. I don't know why that was suggested. Blowing up rads sounds like an 'issue' to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 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. 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 More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Yeah it's MrJim's. I heard the VG was rebuilt with aftermarket head gaskets. Either way the problem was tracked down to bad head gaskets the last time I heard about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 His engine was rebuilt several years before this happend. Before we got it back from the wrecking yard. I know, I worked on his rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 So do you know why the top blew off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 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 More sharing options...
nunya Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 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 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 More sharing options...
new4x4r Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I bought an intercooler and Rad from a company called ssautochrome. Best looking piece on my car. I was thinking of going with their EVO aluminum rad for the Pathmaker. http://www.ssautochrome.com/search.itml?icQueryTitle=radiator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 This place seems to have an all metal one listed for the r50: http://www.radiatorbarn.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleurys Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 This place seems to have an all metal one listed for the r50: http://www.radiatorbarn.com they don`t for the 01-04 r50.... :-( only 96-00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) 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 March 15, 2012 by Tungsten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 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 More sharing options...
FUELER Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 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 More sharing options...
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