Do I have radiator issues???

[NWA_Dave]

Sorry if this has been answered before, but I couldn't seem to find definitive info searching the forum...

I was looking at my radiator, thinking about replacing it to avoid the whole strawberry milkshake thing.

I found a layer of sludge floating on the top of the coolant in my overflow tank...sounds like a dumb question, but is that bad?

I'm not having any issues as far as performance goes, and no smoke of any kind. Oil on dipstick doesn't show any signs of water or other contamination.

Please see the pics I included:
-Looking down into the rad, it looks clean
-Looking at the overflow bottle neck, pretty filthy
-looking down into the overflow tank, the sludge
-The radiator is Alexon ("performance radiator")...is that stock?

I appreciate your opinions!

 

[eightyhd]

Dont count me on that because it's just a possibility and i hope im wrong.


hate to be the breaker of bad news. sludge & milky looking coolant maybe caused by a bad head gasket and oil is mixing with coolant.

 

[agloukhoff]

When you say oil on dipstick - do you mean engine or tranny?

If the rad is shot, you mix coolant with trans fluid - not engine oil. Your engine oil will look fine, you trans will not.

I would drain tranny fluid and see what comes out. And no. Not stock radiator.

 

[NWA_Dave]

I was referring to the engine oil dipstick, but the tranny stick looked okay also. When i checked the rad and dipsticks, the engine was cold...not driven for a few days.

 

[BiggJerry]

That's a cheap aftermarket radiator. Not stock. I do know that. And with the numbers on it like that.
It could be possibly a cheap aftermarket radiator from a salvage yard. So,your truck is not the first it's been in.

 

[NWA_Dave]

Are the koyo rads any good?

 

[nissanh]

How about draining the coolant from the radiator and reservoir (clean both with fresh water) and refill it with fresh water + coolant. If you see the oil, there is oil coming in. Otherwise, you should be good.

 

[agloukhoff]

Are the koyo rads any good?

Yeah they're very high quality. I would never hesitate to use one.

They get a lot of crap because their racing line of rads is huge and often has fitment issues so incompetent ricers who cough up $500 for a rad to spice up their engine bay get all pissy when it doesn't bolt right in to the space of the OEM rad. Admitedly, Koyo doesn't go out of their way to explain just how much thicker their racing radiators are.

 

[NWA_Dave]

Okay, my rig has 180k+ miles on it, and I don't really know it's history. OP said my rad is a cheap aftermarket, and likely was used when installed...so who knows how many miles are on it...should I just cough up $117 on this? 4RUNNER BRAND NEW KOYO RADIATOR LIFE TIME WARRANTY | eBay

I'm considering draining/flushing the cooling system and replacing the rad with the one above...seems like a good starting point.

Any recommendations on coolant other than oem? Or is it worth a trip out of my way to the stealer?

Also thinking about doing a home flush on the tranny, WITHOUT changing the filter or dropping the pan...any advice there? Again, is it worth a trip out of the way to the stealer for the fluid? The fluid, when checked cold looked okay, but didn't smell too good...then again, not really sure how it should smell.

Thanks guys!

 

[agloukhoff]

I would NOT buy that radiator on eBay.

First - Koyo's do not have lifetime warranty. That's a lie.

Their warranty is 3 years if purchased from an authorized Koyo vendor for OEM replacements. (Racing rads don't really have warranty.)

In short, I would replace the radiator, and I would use OEM Toyota fluids. Just not buy the rad on eBay.

PS. Can't help on tranny fluid. I drive a man's car with 5spd :driving:

 

[NWA_Dave]

Okay, now it's down to which radiator...opinions, please?

$135 shipped
96-02 Toyota 4Runner KOYO Radiator A1998 1640075181

$123 shipped
Spectra Premium CU1998 Complete Radiator for Toyota 4Runner : Amazon.com : Automotive
Anyone have experience with go-part.com?

$110 shipped
TYC 1998 Toyota 4Runner 1-Row Plastic Aluminum Replacement Radiator : Amazon.com : Automotive

I plan on flushing the cooling system, replacing the rad.

Flushing the tranny.

After that, I'll drive her a little, and keep an eye on things with my fingers crossed.

 

[agloukhoff]

Koyo. I don't want to sound like a fanboy but Koyo.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/114586-radiators-koyo-vs-rest.html

Koyo model A1998 aftermarket Radiator...??? - YotaTech Forums

 

[NWA_Dave]

Okay, I just ordered the Koyo from go-part.com.

Not trying to cheap out, but is there any important quality difference between the $22 oem rad cap below and the $9 stant cap?

TOYOTA Genuine OE Factory Original 1640120353 Radiator Cap | eBay

Buy Stant Radiator Cap 10241 at Advance Auto Parts

Thanks for your patience w/my noobish questions...

 

[agloukhoff]

I use the cheap cap. Soooo I obviously don't think so.

 

[20034RunnerV84x2]

Clean the over flow and see if it returns. If it does, you have a problem.

 

[fish0281]

I just bought that Amazon one (tyc) & it looks good to me. From what I understand, there's a good chance Koyo makes tyc's rads too.

Fyi on the tranny fluid, the dealer cost (mine anyway) isn't much more than the cost of the fluid itself - plus there's something like 5 gallons in there, so dealing with the mess doesn't seem all that worth it to me.

 

[badattitude]

Yea clean out the overflow res, I think you'll be fine. IIRC I had some black sludge like that in mine and I just cleaned it out and it bever came back.

The overflow is easy to remove. It just slides up. I think you have to take the battery holder off and then it just slides up.

 

[NWA_Dave]

I'm going to change out the radiator, just to be safe against future strawberry milkshake. But I'm wondering, should I use any kind of chemical flush to clean out the rest of the system? If so, should I use the chemical stuff before or after the new radiator is installed? Also, what chemical to use? What about one of those flush/fill kits that you hook up to your hose, yay or nay?

 

[badattitude]

I'm going to change out the radiator, just to be safe against future strawberry milkshake. But I'm wondering, should I use any kind of chemical flush to clean out the rest of the system? If so, should I use the chemical stuff before or after the new radiator is installed? Also, what chemical to use? What about one of those flush/fill kits that you hook up to your hose, yay or nay?

For the price, a new radiator is a good idea. I'd install the new radiaitor, top it off with new coolant. Then drive for a few weeks, then just a simple drain and flush.

 

[agloukhoff]

I'm going to change out the radiator, just to be safe against future strawberry milkshake. But I'm wondering, should I use any kind of chemical flush to clean out the rest of the system? If so, should I use the chemical stuff before or after the new radiator is installed? Also, what chemical to use? What about one of those flush/fill kits that you hook up to your hose, yay or nay?

Most of those flushes serve to break away calcium, lime and rust. I would NOT use one unless you found either of those 3 things in your system. Looking at your radiator, aside from the oil, it's actually pretty clean.

If you want, you can run a mild citric acid solution though the system, this is what most radiator flushes are anyway. But like I said, unless you suspect that your engine is full of nasty deposits, it's going to be a waste of time.