Nissen Radiator Review

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zmelli

zmelli

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I just spent big bucks, $150.00 for a Nissen Radiator P/N 622831 for my 93 Accord, The Radiator Fan (Right) would not fit, I needed to use spacers and a longer bolt on the bottom right mounting point. Hose connections diameter are smaller than OE. Went to put my OEM hoses back on and they were very loose. They ended up being tight enough only if you carefully place the OE hose clamps back on exactly where the were sitting before removal.

Yes I reused my hoses since they were OEM and only 4 years old. I also thought that the Radiator would be made in Denmark. I was trying to stay away from a China made product. No made in Denmark on the unit or box, I suspect this P/N is made in China.

The Tanks looked good since they were made with fiber reinforced plastic. Core was twice as thick as the single core copper KOYO I removed.

Next time I am going to stick with DENSO.

I was tempted to return it but I was going to get charged $39 for return shipping. Ebay purchase 15% off coupon last week. PartsGeek ebay store.
 
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Thanks for the report.

On the topic of Honda replacement radiators, the Spectre I put in my 05 Honda Pilot was a perfect fit and less than $100. Only in there 4-5 months, but good so far.
 
I have used radiators from 1-800 radiator. Well made and super cheap through my friends account. Last one for a 2008 Civic was $50.
 
Yes, you should have bought the Denso as it was OE for your vehicle and a very good radiator. I also used 1-800 radiator when I owned a body shop, often they were Denso's, and the best prices I could find. I stopped shopping and exclusively bought radiators and condensers from 1-800 radiator.

Rockauto has the Denso for $52.99, Rockauto say's Toyo was the OEM radiator. I have seen plenty of them with Denso's.
 
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This topic happens to be timely for me: My SIL drives a 2004 Forester XS that I have maintained for many years, but he and my daughter live far away at the moment, so I can only be involved in its' maintenance & repair from a distance. Last week he reported the original Calsonic radiator was leaking, so I set about to order one from Rockauto. Over the last few years in my Shop I have used Spectra Premium, TYC and Denso in a variety of foreign & domestic applications. All have "worked"; some have been actual OE parts with just the OE name obliterated, while with others I've experienced the sort of "close but not quite" fit issues you've described, that require a certain amount of "customization" to get installed. Annoying. I didn't want my SIL, who is pretty handy but not a professional mechanic, to have to deal with customization if it could be avoided, but I wasn't going to spend the money for a genuine Subie radiator, either. After reading a variety of reviews for the specific P/Ns applicable to the Forester, I ended up spending the $140 for the Nissens P/N 67728 in the hope it would be a truly drop-in replacement.

He installed it yesterday, and afterwards we discussed how the Nissens unit compared to the Calsonic, specifically fit & finish and ease of installation. The report was: It was exactly like OE radiator...the cooling fan mounting points and all other important datums were right where they should be. No different whatsoever from the original, so no "pound to fit, paint to match" nonsense during installation. Could he have had the same experience with a Spectra Premium or TYC unit? Perhaps. But for this specific Nissens P/N, the extra money appears to have been justified.

This is just my latest experience with aftermarket radiators, and between your recent experience & mine it confirms that "you never know what you're gonna get". I've [not yet] had one leak on installation or fail prematurely, but there have certainly been cosmetic or fit issues with all the aftermarket brands I used. (And now & then, for certain vehicles or owners, I will use genuine OE.)
 
Yes the P/N I ordered had a Rover 300 or 600 application I can not recall on the BOX. I think I simply received a EURO Spec part.
Originally Posted by XL1200RFan
This topic happens to be timely for me: My SIL drives a 2004 Forester XS that I have maintained for many years, but he and my daughter live far away at the moment, so I can only be involved in its' maintenance & repair from a distance. Last week he reported the original Calsonic radiator was leaking, so I set about to order one from Rockauto. Over the last few years in my Shop I have used Spectra Premium, TYC and Denso in a variety of foreign & domestic applications. All have "worked"; some have been actual OE parts with just the OE name obliterated, while with others I've experienced the sort of "close but not quite" fit issues you've described, that require a certain amount of "customization" to get installed. Annoying. I didn't want my SIL, who is pretty handy but not a professional mechanic, to have to deal with customization if it could be avoided, but I wasn't going to spend the money for a genuine Subie radiator, either. After reading a variety of reviews for the specific P/Ns applicable to the Forester, I ended up spending the $140 for the Nissens P/N 67728 in the hope it would be a truly drop-in replacement.

He installed it yesterday, and afterwards we discussed how the Nissens unit compared to the Calsonic, specifically fit & finish and ease of installation. The report was: It was exactly like OE radiator...the cooling fan mounting points and all other important datums were right where they should be. No different whatsoever from the original, so no "pound to fit, paint to match" nonsense during installation. Could he have had the same experience with a Spectra Premium or TYC unit? Perhaps. But for this specific Nissens P/N, the extra money appears to have been justified.

This is just my latest experience with aftermarket radiators, and between your recent experience & mine it confirms that "you never know what you're gonna get". I've [not yet] had one leak on installation or fail prematurely, but there have certainly been cosmetic or fit issues with all the aftermarket brands I used. (And now & then, for certain vehicles or owners, I will use genuine OE.)
 
I did email partsGeek and they verified the P/N crosses over to the OEM Radiator. I also checked with Nissen website, the thing I did notice was that there were a very high number of part numbers listed, so maybe it was a one size fits all Accords (90-93) In the world Radiator?
Originally Posted by Chris142
Are you sure that you got the correct radiator for the car? Maybe boxed wrong? I sell tons of rads and have not had that much trouble with one since silla closed up.
 
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Nissens was highly-regarded on the Mercedes forums years ago if you didn't have the $ for OEM Behr or weren't able to get it from the aftermarket.

Denso's aftermarket radiators are made in Taiwan or China by a company called Cryomax that Denso bought a stake in. I've had luck with a Denso aftermarket radiator in a old Lexus I had. I also have good luck with Spectra for a Nissan my parents had. TYC seems like they've been working with Koyorad when I've installed one about 7-8 years ago for someone.
 
Too bad Denso won't sell their OE radiators thru the aftermarket
mad.gif


If Denso is already the OE supplier, why is it so hard for them to make those same radiators available at the parts stores? Their Cryomax Taiwan radiators are ok, but since then they have switched to China. I got a Taiwan/Cryomax Denso radiator just before the switch to China.

Ford and GM are the only cars you can get OEM radiators at a fair price. Sometimes you can get a German OE radiator if the OE supplier is Behr, then you can get it from some Hella outlets, as Hella is the parent company of Behr.
 
Originally Posted by zmelli
I did email partsGeek and they verified the P/N crosses over to the OEM Radiator. I also checked with Nissen website, the thing I did notice was that there were a very high number of part numbers listed, so maybe it was a one size fits all Accords (90-93) In the world Radiator?
Originally Posted by Chris142
Are you sure that you got the correct radiator for the car? Maybe boxed wrong? I sell tons of rads and have not had that much trouble with one since silla closed up.




Actually, its been so, so long since I worked on 93 Accords, lol. I worked for the film support company that had the advertising account then. The 2 door Accords are made in Japan and most all of the 4 door Accords in North America are made in Marysville Ohio. TYC was a manufacture of many of the parts, radiators, headlights, tail lights, side markers, ect. There were also many with Denso's. There was two radiator types available for years 1990-1993, auto trans, manual.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
Denso fits very well on all the Japanese cars I have used them on, for Euro cars Behr does the trick every time.


Behr was the OE if I recall correctly on some Mercedes Benz that I have repaired. 1 800 Radiator stocked them at very good prices.


diyjake said:
Which 1 800 radiator are you talking about?


https://www.1800radiator.com/Account/ReferrerRetailSplash "This one"

eta; had to fix linky...
Click to expand...
 
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