Cheap aftermarket radiator better than original?

[Ang]

I have a 2015 Honda with its original radiator. It works very well, these cars have overbuilt cooling. But it is 10 years old, 100,000 miles, and it has a lot of visible aluminum corrosion.

I picked up a Carquest premium radiator as a replacement, as I'm redoing the entire cooling system as preventative maintenance. Radiator, hoses, clamps, transmission cooler lines, even the coolant reservoir. The carquest cap is junk, doesn't fit very well and doesn't even go on straight, so I'll just return it and get an OEM one. The radiator itself kind of seems a little cheaper on the plastics, but my main concern is it has some marks at the front. When viewed straight on you can not see them, it's not crushed. But at an angle you can see it is slightly bent. Is this good enough and would it be worth using and replacing the old one since the old one is old even though it's OEM? And, from what I can see at the top above the condenser it has damaged fins.

The carquest:

 

[GSCJR]

The original one will probably outlive the replacement.

 

[IndyIan]

I would take the new one back and just use the old one, until it leaks, which is likely never in my experience. Even here in the rust belt, I've never had one leak, and that's with most of my cars getting to 14-20 years before they are sold or scrapped.

 

[trd1zz]

Radiator fins bending like that is pretty common (packing, shipping damage). Usually not an issue if only affects a small area.

That said I wouldn't replace an OEM radiator with aftermarket unless my OEM radiator was leaking and I was planning to sell the car.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Still have the OE radiator in my 2000 Honda with 190k miles. Im sure it's days are numbered but 0 signs of leakage.

 

[Ang]

The original one will probably outlive the replacement.

So then should I just not do anything with the OEM that's in there, and just replace the other stuff around it, or just buy a new OEM one to go with the other new stuff?
Everything else will be OEM, the hoses, clamps, reservoir, and gates transmission lines. There's nothing wrong with the current one, so if it gets replaced it would be sold as used to whoever is flipping an accident car and needs one.

 

[GSCJR]

Our '08 CRV still has the original cooling system, even the water pump. I also maintain an '09 CRV and it's all original too.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

The original radiator on my 2000 Jeep started leaking around 2016 at 190,000 miles. It was in a pretty bad head on collision at 11000 miles. The radiator and condenser were both pretty tweaked when I unbolted the upper radiator support.

 

[trd1zz]

So then should I just not do anything with the OEM that's in there, and just replace the other stuff around it, or just buy a new OEM one to go with the other new stuff?
Everything else will be OEM, the hoses, clamps, reservoir, and gates transmission lines. There's nothing wrong with the current one, so if it gets replaced it would be sold as used to whoever is flipping an accident car and needs one.

Replace radiator with OEM. Otherwise return everything and just leave it all alone - (this is a Honda cooling system not a BMW)

 

[Ang]

Replace radiator with OEM otherwise return everything and leave it all alone. This is a Honda cooling system not a BMW

The only thing currently not OEM is the radiator, everything else was oem as it was all cheap. I guess I'll just replace all of that and decide if I want to do the radiator or not.

 

[John105]

There was a debate on a Lexus forum where like I said there is no distinction between OE and OEM as Japanese cars the two seem to be used interchangeably.

Anyway, LS430. A person claimed OEM was on rockauto for $100 or so, it’s even a tow radiator. Based this statement on the fact that it was made by Denso. WRONG. It’s aftermarket.

One guy was so tired of the endless debate. He purchased both OE and the one on rock, and proved they were not the same.

I’d say a car that’s going to be kept, get OE. A car that’s just wanting to get by, save the money. I got an aftermarket on my 1998 Maxima and it outlasted the car (it was already 18 yo).

 

[trd1zz]

There was a debate on a Lexus forum where like I said there is no distinction between OE and OEM as Japanese cars the two seem to be used interchangeably.

Anyway, LS430. A person claimed OEM was on rockauto for $100 or so, it’s even a tow radiator. Based this statement on the fact that it was made by Denso. WRONG. It’s aftermarket.

One guy was so tired of the endless debate. He purchased both OE and the one on rock, and proved they were not the same.

I’d say a car that’s going to be kept, get OE. A car that’s just wanting to get by, save the money. I got an aftermarket on my 1998 Maxima and it outlasted the car (it was already 18 yo).

Agreed. A part Denso sells under their own brand on the aftermarket is not necessarily equivalent to the Toyota genuine part that was manufactured by Denso.

 

[Ang]

There was a debate on a Lexus forum where like I said there is no distinction between OE and OEM as Japanese cars the two seem to be used interchangeably.

Anyway, LS430. A person claimed OEM was on rockauto for $100 or so, it’s even a tow radiator. Based this statement on the fact that it was made by Denso. WRONG. It’s aftermarket.

One guy was so tired of the endless debate. He purchased both OE and the one on rock, and proved they were not the same.

I’d say a car that’s going to be kept, get OE. A car that’s just wanting to get by, save the money. I got an aftermarket on my 1998 Maxima and it outlasted the car (it was already 18 yo).

It's my daily, I intend to keep it. That's why I'm doing all new OEM hoses clamps cap and even the reservoir. The current radiator works, I just wanted to do a new one along with the other preventative maintenance.

 

[scrllock]

OEM cooling parts are rarely worth messing with. Even the "upgraded" performance aftermarket stuff, it's rarely worthwhile. Unless you want to constantly be chasing down leaks.

 

[Ang]

Agreed. A part Denso sells under their own brand on the aftermarket is not necessarily equivalent to the Toyota genuine part that was manufactured by Denso.

Sure, but they usually don't claim it's the OEM equivalent if it's not. Hopefully my new Litens tensioner 999827A is equivalent to OEM 31170-5G0-A02 Like they claim it is. It does make noise spinning it by hand.

 

[Ang]

OEM cooling parts are rarely worth messing with. Even the "upgraded" performance aftermarket stuff, it's rarely worthwhile. Unless you want to constantly be chasing down leaks.

It's preventative maintenance replacement, not an upgrade or anything. When I bought the car the engine bay was full of coolant residue, obviously they blew a hose before. Not sure which one, who knows how old they are, so I'd rather just replace them. And the reservoir with its hoses is so cheap I might as well do it too.

 

[Wylie6G72]

I replaced the radiator in the Shadow with a Denso unit. Seems nice enough for a cheap radiator, some of my fins were bent when I got it too. I sat down with a small flat blade screwdriver and straightened them all out before installation. Every bug and rock that is hit it has bent some fins since then, they're not really intended to stay looking nice. Mine did for about 5 minutes. The only way I know of to improve upon OEM is to buy a custom aluminum radiator. I pursued it but never found anything for a Shadow, but if I were looking for one for a fox body Mustang I would have had a lot of choices.

 

[rstcso]

It's preventative maintenance replacement, not an upgrade or anything.

I think hoses, belts, oil, brake fluid, coolant, etc as preventive maintenance items. As long as brake pads still have more than 20% meat on them, not going to replace them. I wouldn't even replace shocks, regardless of age, unless they were leaking or no longer doing their job (probably due to leaking, anyway). If a water pump had to be pulled to replace a timing belt or chain, this I might replace since it was off already. I'd never replace a radiator that was working good.

 

[nwjones18]

Our '08 CRV still has the original cooling system, even the water pump. I also maintain an '09 CRV and it's all original too.

One of the tanks cracked on our 08's rad at around 100k miles. I was surprised.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I am unsure how anyone thinks they can judge radiator quality by visual inspection.

The weak link is the mating of the plastic tank. I personally think new rads are planned 10-15 year part max.

Koyo seems to be the best aftermarket around - or were at least.