Opinions on CSF Radiator

https://urdusa.com/hd-high-performance-radiator-2005-tacoma-engines/

I’m going to replace my radiator, hoses, etc Basically do what is in this video made by another TW Member: https://youtu.be/zko7cNG5e2s?feature=shared

What are your opinions and/or experience with the CSF Radiator?

I’m trying to decide if I buy an OEM Radiator or the CSF.

 

I've had one for 5 years now. It seems like it's decent quality and I would say has improved cooling slightly. I like that it's all-aluminum. That said, with the prevalence of plastic use in radiators and never having had a problem with any of the OEM's in our other Tacomas, I'm sure you're fine going OEM.

And if you'd like to buy my OEM radiator and shroud, all with 34k miles on it in the CSF box, it's for still sale! LMK

 

I put one in a few years ago. Logged temps before and after. Overall lower and much, much more stable with the CSF unit (unsurprising given the increase volume and surface area). I can't get my coolant temp above about 188 or 190 even running hard in the Southwest.

The plastic clip-on top part of the factory shroud will still fit - it won't line up with the new radiator but if you clip it into the radiator support and just let it lay on top, it isn't going to go anywhere and will do better than nothing.

You could order a sheet of ABS real cheap and make a new one, but I haven't bothered.

 

you put what in
CSF $100-200 plastic
Or CSF all metal maybe $400+

honestly a good all metal sounds temping for many reasons
From whatever company is best whoever that is

 

The CSF all metal. I don't recall the exact price but it was very much worth the marginal extra cost above OEM. Somewhere in my build (link in sig) if you ctrl+f for "CSF" you'll find a link to the posts about it.

 

So far all I see is reasons I SHOULD buy the CSF. I’m thinking I will probably go that route.

 

I was thinking about moving to a larger all-metal radiator & it seems like there are 2 major aftermarket brands, CSF and Mishimoto.

Both look really cool and seem to offer improvements etc etc but there was a long thread on TW forums somewhere about some pretty nasty-sounding quality-control issues with one of those two brands. If I can find that thread I'll crosspost a link to it here.

Reading it gave me some serious doubts about moving away from the OEM radiator.

Currently at 79K miles with no coolant leaks etc. I'm inclined to leave well enough alone.

 

I installed a CSF 3200 (non all metal) from rockauto ($95) two years ago. I see they have gone down in price, to $73. I installed a CSF in our, then, 98 Sienna some 15 years ago and it is still working fine.

 

Mine came from URD.
No issues installing, using, etc.

One complaint, the drain faces aft, not down. So drained coolant goes everywhere, vs in a bucket.

 

I've seen some grumblings about Mishi and counter-grumblings that the grumblers may have gotten counterfeit parts. No complaints about CSF other than gaps when putting in the FJ or other models into the Tacoma, which is obviously not a fault of the part.

 

The red truck in the first video had a failing radiator and the owner didn't even know. We were just doing some preventative maintenance and caught it on time. I replaced my radiator with an aluminum csf in another video and have had much better cooling under stress conditions compared to the stock radiator. The temps during normal conditions stay relatively the same compared to the stock radiator due to the thermostat.

Stock radiators are fine but the plastic tanks will fail at some point. With these trucks getting up there in age and mileage an upgrade like this seems to be money well spent imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbFvQ6DDQto

 

Thanks for the info Gio!
I’ll be ordering the parts to do this job in the next few days.

 

FWIW I ran a CSF radiator in my Nissan Xterra. My truck was N/A but I used a radiator for a supercharged model to take advantage of the expanded capacity (the SC trucks used larger radiators than N/A).

As far as quality goes, I was very impressed with the CSF. Full metal construction, nice welds, perfect fitment. They seem to know their shtuff and I'd absolutely but their product again.

 

I went with the CSF primarily to ditch the stock plastic end caps, secondarily for added cooling capacity. Aside from a tiny hole in one of the welds that i had to plug with JB weld (didn't want to deal with waiting for return), i have been thoroughly happy with the CSF. very hard to get the temps to go above 190F.

 

I just put the mishimoto one in and it's night and day

 

Mine has been in for a bit over a year, even in the desert I rarely see temps over 190 with 90-100 degree outside and pushing the truck I have had "0" issues. Upgrade. you wont regret it!

 

Thinking about it more, I want to do this mod. Obviously w/ a thicker all-aluminum radiator the cooling capacity is going to be vastly improved. For those few times when I might be hauling heavy, uphill, in summer.

I also want to do an electric-fan mod. Easy option to shut off the fan for any deep-water crossings, and for possible MPG savings/horsepower improvements from reduced crank losses when the fan doesn't need to be running. (In winter months at low engine output levels.)

(OTOH: an electric fan motor is going to be a lot more sensitive to water/mud than the stock crank-driven fan..)

Going to read around the TW forums & see if I can dig up what looks like the best-of-breed solution. Probably a Mishi radiator; I really don't like the CSF aluminum-bung-on-aluminum-drain setup. Mishi's drain looks far better implemented.

Whatever I go with, I also don't want to %#*(& around with having to weatherstrip the shroud for proper radiator fit/air flow.

 

im probably gonna ginuea pig test the $150 eBay one
Big Lol if it works…

it says 3 row instead of 2. Not sure if it comes with bushing fitment kit or what. I would hope so. It says Tacoma fitment.

Audi used electric fans for a while. Two of them. Not exactly a wheeling rig though.

I thought the point of clutch style is it is water crossing ability by automatically slowing down? Seems it succeeded for me in the past.

 

Hmm maybe the only time people break the standard clutch fan on water crossings is when they PLUNGE IN at 15-25mph and high rpms. All theoretical for me; the deepest water I've been in came up about 1" above the hubs on standard P265/70/R16 tires.

If I got any aftermarket rad I would probably hydrotest it overnight at +25% above design pressure before installing, as a leak/lemon check.

 

Is URD the best place to buy the CSF Radiator?