Here's a post Covid update. Needed a radiator for my 1998 Limited. It has the original radiator with 260k on it. The cooling system has been well maintained with frequent red coolant changes, so when I bought it in 2017 the radiator looked pretty good. Few years later, and now it looks all brown. Time for a new one.
Tried ordering a Taiwan OEM - either the dealer will not ship or they say it is discontinued.
Tried ordering a Taiwan Denso - Amazon says it will ship in 3-4 weeks. I tried buying one from Home Depot and they cancelled the order because it it on backorder. On another one of my 4Runners, I had one of these last about 3.5 years before it started leaking after a coolant flush. I had to get three different replacement ones shipped to me because they kept arriving damaged. Either fin damage or overflow neck damage caused by the garbage packaging. I finally received one that was packaged well, and it was made in China. It still works completely fine 4 years later.
This brought me to the Koyo. $175 shipped from Rock Auto and it was at my door step in one day. First impression is very good. Packaging is excellent and the product feels higher quality than the Taiwan/China Denso. It also more closely resembles a Japanese Denso radiator, down to the same type of drain valve. It is still made in Indonesia as of 2022. Time will tell how this holds up compared to the Denso.
