BIRD flew thru rad, which of these is a suitable replacement, asap

[longhornsqx4]

Last night on a back road, doing maybe 55, a crow/black bird decided to swoop down commit suicide on my grill, cracked my bumper and went thru several rows of fins on my rad, spilling hot coolant everywhere.

I got the old rad out today, cooked bird and all, and its definetely trash. I priced them locally and its over $400 for a new oem one. Ive been searching ebay though and there quite a few cheaper ones, but would they all preform the same? I want the same if not better cooling.

Which of these would work best. this is for a 3.5L auto btw

$150http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-RADIATO...0.m14

$120 5/8" corehttp://cgi.ebay.ca/97-98-99-00...0.m14

$160http://cgi.ebay.ca/00-01-02-03...l1116

$115http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-RADIATO...l1116

$110+ unspecified ship, its a Koyo rad though, big name???http://cgi.ebay.ca/00-01-02-03...l1116

ANY help would be appreciated, as I dont know if any of them are better than the other, I will most likely just be hitchin rides to work this week, until this part gets to me. Sucks to be broke

Thanks guys

[longhornsqx4]

Alot of them also seem to mention the transmission oil cooler, is there a reason for this??

[miamiheat3332]

Just to be safe and know your getting quality stuff that wont fail, id order an OEM one spend the extra cash and be done with it, instead of probably running into more problems later with ebay parts.

[Pwnin O'Brien]

The trans oil cooler is built into the lower tank of the radiator. So you will also need to do a trans fluid servicing when you replace the radiator.

[longhornsqx4]

Theres a oil cooler INSIDE the radiator? My dad helped disconnect all the lines, were the 2 black rubber hoses going to the bottom of the rad filled with transmission fluid?

Even we disconnected it, we could simply fill the transmission up to the right level and thats it right?

I dont have the money for an oem piece, thats an entire paycheck extra for me only working parttime.

The ebay ones are Koyo and tyc, they wouldnt be sufficient?

[Pwnin O'Brien]

If it was a factory radiator, it should have had three hoses connected to the bottom; the large hose was the water inlet and the other two smaller hoses were the A/T oil cooler hoses.

The problem with refilling the transmission system is you want to replace exactly the same amount removed, so ideally you would have measured the amount that you extracted from the A/T oil cooler and hoses. Overfilling and under filling the system can have some pretty adverse effects.

Here's a picture of the radiator assembly. Note the two small hoses on the bottom...

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Also, if the bird was able to destroy the radiator, it must have obliterated the A/C condenser. Replacing all of this will cost some serious money.

Are you sure just the condenser wasn't destroyed?

[fueler]

Also, if the bird was able to destroy the radiator, it must have obliterated the A/C condenser. Replacing all of this will cost some serious money.

Are you sure just the condenser wasn't destroyed?

my thoughts exactly. On my VG33 engine, the AC condensor is in front the radiator. Is the VQ35 condensor different? I know it wouldnt be a side by side design because the he diagram above shows a full-width radiator....

[longhornsqx4]

Ya your right it would have but my a/c compressor failed about 2 years ago, and I completely removed the a/c system as I only really drive this car in the winter, it gets stored in the summer, so a/c wasnt a problem, no radiator however is a problem.

My dad took care of the removal of the old lines, i just drained the coolant and sat on the phone getting quotes for a while, so Ill have to ask him if he happened to measure the fluid loss.

Any advice on which of the above posted would perform like oem though

Thanks for the detailed help so far

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Honestly, it's hard to see any difference in all of the above posted radiators. They all use the same exact stock image. Also, they all state that the radiators were built to OE specs, so they will essentially all have the same exact measurements and specifications so I doubt any one will perform better than the other. I am also sure that they are all just as efficient as the factory radiator, if not more (since it wont have bugs, rocks, birds, etc. in the fins).

The page for the Koyo radiator says it's a high-performance brand, although it doesn't exactly say why or show any differences between the others.

I think they're pretty much all the same.

I suggest buying the lowest price one with the longest (probably lifetime) warranty.

[longhornsqx4]

Ok thanks for the info

[longhornsqx4]

Just bought this one, hope it works flawlessly!!!

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAP...123