Plastic radiator degrading

Anyone seen the plastic radiator start to break down? My 1st gen taco had steel radiator and no issues after 20 years. Never thought of popping the hose to check the plastic condition. Not an issue for my 4r but will be checking daughter older Corolla.

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/used-toyota-engine-damage/

 

Haven't seen an issue. I went 150Kish miles on my 2010 Tacoma with 60K of those being supercharged and never had an issue.

Stale biscuit news doesn't know anything about vehicles.

 

I think the question has anyone ever popped hose and checked. Or just waiting to see if leaks. My assumption with plastic is it will fail only a matter of how long. Steel this is not the case with regular maintenance changing the antifreeze.

 

I mean I had the coolant hoses off when installing the supercharger and there were no loose particles and nothing disintegrated when touched. You can go full aluminum from CSF but I have heard they leak.

 

What mileage or number of years did you have it off installing SC? For this I am guessing it starts to become an issue later in life like 10 years or 100k. For lots of people not an issue because trading or selling. For 4r owners lots of us keep them and something to put on radar for a check.

 

I installed at 90K miles and the truck was totaled at 150K miles. The radiator was intact but bent in the accident and nothing crumbled when I removed the hoses again to remove the supercharger.

A buddy has over 200K miles on his 07 Tacoma on the original radiator. He only had to redo headgaskets so far.

 

Thx @whippersnapper02 just what I was hoping for some real world experience.

 

I've never seen or heard of a steel radiator.

 

I've seen two plastic radiators fail on my personal vehicles.

One was a 1994 Nissan 240sx that I overheated multiple times. It finally let go in 2018. It started to leak where the plastic was fused with the aluminum core.
The other was a 2008 Subaru Sti which cracked around the plastic inlet pipe. I think the previous owner caused this because the hose clamp was put on incredibly tight.

Wouldn't worry about it too much. These modern polymers are solid.

I would like to see an aluminum drop in replacement radiator for the 4Runner with larger capacity for the built in transmission cooler... That would get my attention.

 

Back in the “old days” radiators were made of copper and brass, not steel. When they got old and started leaking you went to a radiator repair shop and they would take them apart and solder a new core onto the top/bottom tanks.

Modern aluminum rads can eventually corrode and develop leaks and the plastic end caps can crack, when it does you just replace. But it’s more likely that the rubber hoses will harden and fail before that happens.

I can’t remember the last time that I had a radiator leak including back to cars we owned in the 80s and 90s that we put 200k+



( BTW that first gen taco radiator was aluminum, not steel)

 

I had good luck with a CFS on my Titan. Was tempted to throw one in my 4Runner for the extra capacity and longevity over plastic tanks and fittings.

 

This is something to watch for and have seen posts in the 1st Gen Tundra forum of degradation of plastic on the radiators. The black plastic starts to turn a greenish color, and at that point it's only a matter of time before failure. I'm looking for it on my 2003 Tundra and the 2011 4Runner. Something to stay on top of for sure.

 

How long does this typically take?

I would guess the factory radiators can make it at least 10 years or so without an issue. Beyond that I'd consider upgrading/ replacing. Just a WAG though... (Wild Ass Guess)

 

I’m not sure what early 1st gen Highlanders had, but I seem to recall this was an aluminum radiator. It’s a family member’s Highlander. It’s in Puerto Rico, so it’s always been run in a hot environment. It had around 200k miles when I noticed the pinhole leak.

 

Well, I've got 90K on the Tundra and 185K on the 4Runner. Neither have been replaced. So, I think it's in the manufacturing process. Some were better than others? Either way, only replace with a Denso. Stay away from cheap Chineseium.

 

Agreed. I have a buddy that worked at Denso as an engineer.

I heard some interesting stories regarding a certain American car manufacturer with a radiator defect.

Denso priced the warranty replacement cost for them. The manufacturer declined the offer and chose to let the (non-denso) radiators fail on customers.
His guess was they were hoping they would fail outside of the warranty period and the American manufacturer did not want to own up to the defect and initialize a recall.
Pretty shady if you ask me

 

They are usually good for at least 20 years.

 

This is what I've heard as well. Keeping a close eye on the 2003 Tundra.

 

I think the OEM is solid for this service. All the other ones based on metals are prone to corrosion and the biggest issues I see is on the welds around the edges. There is an outfit, CSP I think that make aluminum units but some have had bad experiences with them. I almost went for one but decided not to at the end. Oem it is.

 

Had our 2005(214K miles) Corolla start leaking-pinhole-where the plastic meets the metal about 3 years ago. In it's defense I never changed the coolant which was stupid of me. It turns acidic and does damage on parts. I put a Denso back in-was not hard and all is good. I imagine the 4Runners radiators are as robust.