Hi All, I was replacing the radiator hoses and thermostat yesterday. I sprayed a little liquid wrench on the upper radiator neck where the hose connect as a cleaning agent. after a couple hours, I noticed there seemed to be a chemical reaction occurring. There was a little bit of crusty white buildup around the outer edge of the neck before I sprayed the liquid wrench.

Anyway, I'm debating my options. I already have the fans out since I was also replacing the front motor mount. Do I buy a cheapo duralast radiator from autozone and replace it immediately? Do I keep this one and just keep an eye on things?

I wiped it down with water to avoid any further reaction. It still feels solid and the lip is still there although it's rough at the edge. I'm planning to keep it to buy me some time until I can replace it with a more solid unit than a duralast. But my fear is that it got brittle and will break and my engine will overheat or maybe have little pieces of plastic in the cooling system. It is the original unit on my 2005.

 

If you are concerned about possible eventual failure consider rockauto's selection below?


The RA higher end one still beats autozone's before shipping/taxes.
**If you look at the part number for the Duralst unit B2838, it is similar to five of the Ra's one's above;therefore, it's quite possible you'd get one of those anyway without their (autozone) margin?



Versus OEM, lol.

 

i'd get one from RA before autozone.

 

If you got 20 years out of your stock radiator, I'd say you got your money's worth.

+1 for the Spectra radiator from Rock Auto. Only benefit of the Duralast is being able to walk into an Autozone and buy it without waiting.

 

I plan to buy one of the items from Rock Auto- I've been happy with my purchases from them in the past. I am using the car again in the meantime. I think the current radiator will last a couple weeks before I get a chance to put in the new one.

It kind of spoils the autozone experience once you know how high of a markup they have. I guess you're paying for convenience and sometimes the convenience is worth it if you can't plan ahead.