Prado Radiator Problems?

Hi Bob & Judy

My 80 series top radiator cracked and was replaced they can just replace the TOP part. was not to expensive from memory.!

best luck steve

Mine got a stick through it and was replaced before anything like this. Depending on who told you this, you could give toyota service a call (the lot near me are quite good) and see if they say its a common problem, etc. Is damn expensive to replace the whole thing.

The plastic/aluminium radiators are cheap to produce (you guessed that) and commonly spring a leak after 5-7 years (mine did). You can get a traditional copper/brass type after-market radiator for many cars - probably cheaper than the Toyota part ! - will last ages - they come in TWIN CORE models too - more cooling capacity - got one years back for my Bravo - worth the investment IMO - enquire at any radiator specialist - (not Toyota) - the specialist will be well aware of this product range I'd expect. Whatever.

As mentioned before, only the plastic end cap of the radiator would need to be replaced, not the radiator core.

This is a common issue not just with Prado's, but any plastic end capped radiator. The good part is that it's not expensive to replace. I've had one replaced on another Toyota (not a prado, but a grey import soarer), and it was just over $100 including labour, etc.

Hope this helps.

John

I wouldn't bother changing to a copper/brass radiator as the aluminium ones are much more efficient at transferring heat. You only have to look at all new cars, eg: the BA Falcon radiator (6 cyl) has a core which is only 16mm thick and cools standard cars without any problems. The solder used in copper/brass radiators is very inefficient at transferring heat and even new copper/brass radiators now come with plastic tanks.
In my opinion simply replace the top tank and get the core rodded out at the same time. The top tank can be removed probably twice before any clamping problems with the fold over tags occur. The bottom tank is never a problem as it's cooler and doesn't get effected by erosion like the top tank does.
Regards Andrew.