CSF radiator lasted 5 days....

[geanes]

Replaced my aging radiator with a CSF this past Friday. All went well with the install and had no issues driving the rig the past few days. Went out today and noticed fluid under the truck. To my surprise, the CSF has sprung a few leaks along the lower passenger side coils and a small pinhole on the left side. Spotted a few more little weeps along the perimeter as well. Oh well. OEM going in next.

 

[NoVaGator]

damn that sucks. I bet you can swap it in 10 mins now that you've done it.

(10 mins after the old one is drained)

 

[geanes]

damn that sucks. I bet you can swap it in 10 mins now that you've done it.

(10 mins after the old one is drained)

That's the hidden benefit for sure. I won't have to follow any write ups or watch the YouTube how to videos again 2nd time's a charm.

 

[FxFormat]

Crap dude, i don't want to post this but, i had that issue with a customer's car, we replaced the radiator and it leaked, thought it was a bad unit, swapped again and it leaked again, decided to go with OEM and it leaked again. Turns out he had a little crack in his head gasket that kept letting exhaust gas out and building up pressure and blowing out the radiators. I hope this isn't the case with yours, i only brought this up because i remembered someone did your rack and forgot to fill the coolant back up and you ran dry.

 

[NoVaGator]

That's the hidden benefit for sure. I won't have to follow any write ups or watch the YouTube how to videos again 2nd time's a charm.

After my install last week, I was thinking I might pull it every 2 years or so to really hose it out well

 

[DreddIsDead]

Replaced my aging radiator with a CSF this past Friday. All went well with the install and had no issues driving the rig the past few days. Went out today and noticed fluid under the truck. To my surprise, the CSF has sprung a few leaks along the lower passenger side coils and a small pinhole on the left side. Spotted a few more little weeps along the perimeter as well. Oh well. OEM going in next.

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I had the exact opposite problem, my Denso replacement radiator lasted 2 months. I replaced the replaced radiator with the CSF and have had no issues since!

 

[JunkCrzr89]

Crap dude, i don't want to post this but, i had that issue with a customer's car, we replaced the radiator and it leaked, thought it was a bad unit, swapped again and it leaked again, decided to go with OEM and it leaked again. Turns out he had a little crack in his head gasket that kept letting exhaust gas out and building up pressure and blowing out the radiators. I hope this isn't the case with yours, i only brought this up because i remembered someone did your rack and forgot to fill the coolant back up and you ran dry.

Was that on a 2uz?

 

[FxFormat]

Was that on a 2uz?

It was a 2008 GS350, i really do hope this is not the case for geanes ..i would think that any excess build up would be relieved through the radiator cap and into the reservoir, we even changed the cap and thermostat too but his car kept blowing radiators. I doesn't do it right away, usually after a few days of driving.

 

[geanes]

It was a 2008 GS350, i really do hope this is not the case for geanes ..i would think that any excess build up would be relieved through the radiator cap and into the reservoir, we even changed the cap and thermostat too but his car kept blowing radiators. I doesn't do it right away, usually after a few days of driving.

Yeah, I'm having the local LandCruiser shop look it over for sure. It overheated badly back in January when the dealer failed to refill the coolant after the steering rack job. Praying this isn't some latent effect from that. Fingers crossed. My hope is that that is NOT the case. I ran with my old radiator for 3 months and nearly 8k miles without it leaking a single drop. Hoping that's a good sign that this CSF rad was just defective.

 

[jerryb]

That's horrible. Good luck

 

[nissanh]

IT could be leaking from the seal between the plastic tank and the aluminum tank. I once opened it and resealed it with FIPG and lasted for years (not on my CL).

 

[FxFormat]

Any update brother? Did you get the new rad in?

 

[geanes]

Any update brother? Did you get the new rad in?

Yup. They convinced me to give CSF another shot. The failure point was the the plastic interface along the entire front and back lower. My local LC guys who I trust said this is the first CSF they've seen fail in a few years. They usually see them fail only after several years of use and high miles that would cause any other rads to fail. Going to chalk this failure up as an anomaly. My local guy ran a compression test to see if I had any potential leaks on the engine and everything looks real good there. So........out with the 5 day old CSF and in with a brand new CSF. Put it in yesterday. Will be watching it like a hawk for the next few weeks and report back along the way.

 

[NoVaGator]

how long did it take you?

 

[geanes]

how long did it take you?

This time? 30 minutes total. And I took my time.

 

[NoVaGator]

This time? 30 minutes total. And I took my time.

yeah I figured it would be quick.

honestly, it's so easy that I would never leave it in for a timing belt job

 

[geanes]

yeah I figured it would be quick.

honestly, it's so easy that I would never leave it in for a timing belt job

Yeah, it's pretty straight forward....especially doing it for a 2nd time in 10 days And I have to remove my battery to do it since I have a WIDE Series49 battery that takes up the entire space on the driver side of the rad.

 

[2020 Rocks]

Has anyone had any good experiences with having a toyota rad rebuilt?

 

[mdcoa]

Has anyone had any good experiences with having a toyota rad rebuilt?

Not a rebuild, but Toyota records on mine show that the PO repaired my radiator years ago (when replacement radiators were apparently expen$ive); still going strong after 7 years and roughly 50k miles, though I'm contemplating a replacement just because at 14Xk miles and 16 years on the original rad, it's probably time. . .

 

[meatloaf]

Gary, is the replacement CSF still holding up? I am in the process of ordering a radiator.