Hey guys, got my system drained down and would like to replace my radiator while its empty. Should I go with the all aluminum ones or just get another stock style rad? Also what core size fits, I see a bunch listed with 1 1/4" thick, 1 3/8", 1 7/8". I would assume the thicker the better heat transfer, but I want to make sure it fits. Any insight you guys have would be great.

 

My OEM lasted to 199K. I went back to OEM when I replaced it. Around $450 out the door.

 

Mine went 230K so i went back OEM.. mine was the cheaper version I guess.. $375.00. Tried to order from AutoNation White Bear lake, and they wouldn't sell it to me due to shipping concerns.

 

I like to replace plastic with metal whenever the opportunity arises on any part. BDP offers an all metal drop in replacement that gets good reviews (check shipping charges). After a good bit of shopping, I bought a Mishimoto unit online. Looks and works good. It's been a year or so now and nothing else I can say about it. eBay has the best deals. I got mine through XDP diesel, it shipped from Mishi in Pheonix with no worries.

 

Just FYI.... I just bought the radiator that bpd sells from performance radiator. It mirrors the oem except it has aluminum tanks which is a major plus and it has 88 cooling passages opposed to the oem that has 91.

I have been chasing an overheating issue when towing heavy up hills with my current mishimoto knockoff radiator, that has proven to be great other than the overheating.After talking to bpd they gave me the idea to count the cooling passages on my current setup. My radiator has 72! I am pretty sure that is my issue.

I guess what I am trying to convey is go oem or a bpd oem style.

Just FYI..... You can purchase the same radiator from PERFORMANCE RADIATOR with free shipping....... But be aware that bpd re boxes it for safe shipping and that's why you pay 135.00 more off their site, since those a holes from ups destroy everything. I had to try 3 times until I got a radiator I could use..... And the performance radiator guy finally shipped it using ONTRAC since ups utterly destroyed both prior radiators.

*****on a side note I am not trying to take business away from bpd..... Just trying to pass on good info (I just gave bpd 4K in the last month for all my upgrades)*****

Here is a link to the radiator you need. My tranny lines screw in if you have quick connect you need to reuse your old fittings****

https://shop.performanceradiator.com...roduct_id=5515

 

I bought OEM the end of June from Autonation White Bear for $250 shipped but ordered it thru fordparts.com. It was packed well and arrived perfect. The original lasted 180,000 mi.

 

My oem only lasted 60k. The tank cracked for some reason.

 

My local radiator/muffler shop has aluminum and plastic radiators stacked up to the rafters at the back of the building. They sell them to recyclers and start the pile over again. They even caught someone trying to steal a load of them. Plastics have a finite life that's even shorter when its thermally cycled repeatedly. Radiators, intake manifolds and coolant cross overs are particularly poor applications. They will fail. It's a rip off to buy a $50k vehicle with important, expensive components that have a design life of 7-10 years.

Sorry, I feel better and I'm off my soapbox now.

 

Thanks for all the responses so far guys. I'd have to say I'm with rusty on replacing plastic with metal wherever possible. I'm looking at the mishi right now bc I like the lifetime warranty. Would any of you guys say the mishi has better cooling capacity than the OEM? Anybody see better temps from switching to it?

 

Well as I mentioned above.... I bought a mishimoto knockoff and it was smaller in coolant passage count. If I didn't tow heavy it wouldn't matter. Oem has 91 coolant passages and the oem copy from performance all aluminum rad has 88.

Also some radiators claim "larger" coolant passages which can also be bad since the dwell time the coolant passes through while the fan is pulling air is less ( faster flow) which can also cause issues. If you don't tow ever then any choice is fine. If you tow heavy or in high heat you may encounter problems.

Good luck

 

Ok that makes since. When you say "mishimoto knockoff" do you mean an aluminum one not made by mishi but like it? I see a lot of aluminum ones on eBay going for around $225 that are off brand radiators. I was looking at the mishimoto sold on eBay for $360, looks like it is the actually one unless I'm missing something. I was more wondering if the real mishi cools better than the OEM?

 

That's correct. It was not mishimoto but resembled it to a tee. It worked great until I needed it to do what a radiator is supposed to do. Granted I'm not sure of the actual mishimoto dimensions but I've become pretty intimate with radiators lately and mine is undersized for a truck that tows. I even did the 7.3 bpd fan clutch setup and although it helped, the radiator I have was not up to the task.

Most mishimotos I have seen are 600.00.... You sure it's a true mishimoto brand?

 

Ok that makes sense. I could be wrong but I think it is a real mishi rad.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...obalID=EBAY-US

 

For procedure I followed DieselTechRon's method and its VERY fast. Hardest part for me was keeping the tranny fluid from the cooler from getting everywhere while I was pulling the radiator out.

I first tried a Napa radiator as it was on sale. Core thickness was fine, but it didn't have the right size flanges on the sides to mount up the rubber that mates to the intercooler. I decided to go OEM, purchased it thru Autonation/Ford-parts.com. Turns out they don't ship them anymore, but somehow it went thru as it was Ford-parts.com. Of course it came in damaged and I decided to buy one locally thru a dealer that had it for a decent price.

Oh and you need a special tool for removing the tranny cooler lines. The standard quick disconnect tools don't have the offset in them. I got this a PepBoys:

http://www.pepboys.com/product/details/669634/00673

 

If anyone can confirm that the mishi is at least as good if not better at cooling than the OEM then I might just pull the trigger on it.