You can get a Denso shipped tomorrow (supposedly) for $180 for the tow package version: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/d...nder/year/2011

$147 without tow package: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/d...nder/year/2011

Thanks for all the input guys.

I called one other dealership in my area who said the radiator I need is on backorder but he may be able to get one from Chicago, but no guarantee. I was about to hang up and he said there is a radiator shop in a few towns over that usually has every radiator you could ever need in stock.

I gave them a call and sure enough, they had one. Got it all put back together last night with the new Denso alternator and I'm back in business. The damaged radiator was the factory original one from 2011. It looks great so the hole(s) were definitely from me, just not sure how. When I installed the new one, I was as cautious as a brain surgeon to not make the same mistake. Again, I've worked on, in and around radiators for many years and never put a hole in one.

I have no clue how I put the first hole in the radiator as it wasn't even near the alternator. There is the plastic fan assembly that would normally protect the radiator but you have to remove that to get the alternator out ( I know, sounds insane right but you have to).

It was definitely the hardest alternator job I've ever experienced. I watched a few videos and read some of the comments and people were saying it's a nightmare. It was a pain in the ass for sure but not even close to the hardest repair I've had to do.

As to my original post, it look like this kind of repair needs to be done by someone with experience but may be an option for someone in a pinch until they can replace the radiator.

That was my thought too, though I didn't specifically call it out. Try it on the current radiator (it's already trash, no loss), if it holds then great... you can use it for the week or two till the new one arrives. If it doesn't, you've learned something and only spent an hour or two for the knowledge.

I, in no way, intended for a repaired radiator to be the end all fix for years to come. I'm certain it CAN be, but also pretty sure it's not very likely. A couple weeks use though? I'd take the chance of a couple hours against use of the vehicle for the week or two till a new radiator arrived. Get the system to temp and pressure once without issue and it's pretty likely to remain that way for a little bit.

Glad it worked out. Anyone else finding this thread down the road, I also had some trouble locating an OE radiator recently and wound up using a lesser known website Newparts.com which was great. Denso in stock and within a few bucks of the best price shown on other websites out of stock. They were a few pages in on Google. Bit of a fright when the right angle pliers slipped off the clamp on assembly but just dinged a fin, it happens. I did try those aluminum brazing rods once on something, can't remember what, but don't recall them working out

It’s not hard to bang them up. Happens a lot really.

Napa is a good source for these also.

I tried Napa and they were also going to be a week plus for the radiator. Some of the other parts stores couldn't even get it.

You found one regardless which is super awesome in current era….. but a week ain’t bad dude. Do you have any idea how many widgets in the world right now a year plus out?

We have some equipment on order that they can’t even give us a date now. The government even rewrote the rules for emergency vehicles with diesels because of the lack of availability of certain def sensors.

Tried to buy my wife a new bike for Christmas, they told me to come back in August, maybe. Left out and found one with the right color even, but it came out of 30% premium vs pre Covid.

I don’t know what kind of magic juju NAPA engages in, but their availability has been hands down orders of magnitude better than a lot of other places these days. Even Toyota starting to dry up on Parts. That’s super scary.

Parts are drying up fast and it kind of sucks.

Glad to see the rig back on the road. I get my densos from Rock Auto.. Glad to know Napa handles them as well.. I really should just keep a new spare denso on hand. As a mostly have one or 2 3rd gens on the road.. Yet, the 2 that are on the road have new Rads in them, I try to get rid of them every 10 years just to prevent the pink milkshake issues. Plus around here in the rust belt by 10 years the aluminum is starting to oxdize which also will not cool as well as the oxidation doesn't conduct the heat off the coolant as well as clean non oxidize fins..

It the reason whey the ac will not cool correctly the refrigerant by 17 to 20 years you need a new condenser for the exact same reason.

I know, we are living in crazy times. I used to order 55 gallon drums of lacquer thinner for our painting department at work and have them the next day. Now its 6-8 weeks if we are lucky. My neighbor is the plant manager at the chemical plant we order from and he straight up told me, they cannot get it and they order it in massive bulk (tankers via rail).

He said they are struggling just to get barrels because the barrel manufacture can't source steel. Not to mention unless you are a massive company, pallets are virtually impossible to buy in my area. Our pallet supplier basically told us "you are not important/big enough to sell pallets to". We are literally searching by dumpsters in our industrial park to get pallets.

It would definitely be a good idea to keep on hand some common parts that you may think you'll need for your vehicles right now if you can get your hands on them.


LGB

Yes, I agree its why I have spare starters, Alts and thinking of keeping a spare rad on stock as nothing is worse then really needing it and it's not available or months to get the part..

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I bought a parts truck a few years ago and it's saved my butt several times.

I recently got the last few odds and ends off of it that I wanted to keep and had a salvage yard come pick it up. Got $200 for it and it was missing most of the major components.

A parts vehicle is a real game-changer. Too bad a 4Runner with a blown engine will still sell for $2000! I used to pick them up for $500 just 5 years ago. Nuts.