The drain plug is stripped and coolant is leaking on the stock radiator. Sure it's still good other than that but the hole is probably stripped and I don't want to replace it with another plastic tank radiator. What are my options for a aluminum or copper radiator that take little to no modification to make work on a AT Max? I've seen the Mizu and Mishimoto aluminum radiators online, they're nice but most are for MT cars.

 

So the original plastic box rad. lasted 18 years,but you don't want to replace it with a similar one? What benefit does a metal rad. have over the stock unit? We don't have cooling system issues...

 

I just replaced my radiator last month. The top tank (plastic) was seperating frome the core, like they all do. The radiator looked original. So plastic is ok. After all, it lasted for 18 years.

In the Group Deals section, there is a deal on the Koyo brand radiator. The company is in Seattle. They charged me 101 dollars, delivered. I am in Portland, OR. Shipping might cost more to Texas.

The Koyo radiatior has the connections for A/T. Or it can also be used for M/T, like I did.

The Koyo looks like a quality radiator. It is direct bolt in. I am happy with it, and other members here in this forum are too.

 

To answer your question njmaxseltd, I don't want another repeat of the stripped out drain plug fiasco and I've always hated plastic tanks on radiators anyway. In your defense though, yes the (probably) original radiator has lasted this long with nothing more than a drain plug issue.

JvG, thanks for pointing me towards the Koyo radiators in the group deals section, I'll definitely take a look at that in the next day or two. Do they ship fairly quick or am I going to be waiting a while if I order one?

 

jfactor,

I ordered mine on a Thursday afternoon. I called their phone number. I had the radiator delivered to my workplace by Monday morning. I call that quick.

To be fair though, Seattle and Portland are only 170 miles apart. Texas is farther. I do not know how they ship.

For now, if I were you, I would just use epoxy glue around the plug hole. It might be a permanent fix. Sure you would not have a functioning plug any more, but you could always remove the lower radiator hose to drain the coolant in the future. By the way, the Koyo does not have a drain plug. So the lower hose would need to be taken off.

 

Interesting. How many times have you played with that plug? It never needs to come all the way out to drain the cooling system and it only gets snugged up. FYIW - In 200K miles, I've only drained my cooling system twice.

If you do go the stock route, don't rule out Advance or Nappa. I think I paid about 130 for my replacement. My old one also cracked at the seem, but like I said after all the years and miles it had on it, it served me well.

 

njmax, I drained the coolant when I replaced the thermostat and the hoses. Plug fell out once it was unscrewed, just put it in snug. That was probably over 15k ago, I'm done with plastic. I looked up the one you were talking about jvg, another plastic tanked rad. If I go the plastic route I'll just order one from rockauto. I may just pull the plug and try some teflon tape on it this weekend for a temporary fix, or maybe a condom as suggested my an acquaintance, that could be quite interesting in conversation. Either I'm replacing brakes, rotors and brake master cylinder this weekend so might as well while the cars up in the air. My final thought on using the Mizu or Mishimoto radiator since they're designed for manual transmissions is using an external transmission cooler.

 

Do what you like, it is your car and your money....

The plastic one lasted 18 years. I do not think that either one of us will be driving our Maximas 18 years from now when my new plastic one fails. At this point, both the plastic and metal tank radiators will out last our cars.

Good luck to both of us.......

 

Found one on amazon that looked the same as advance for 57 vs 110

 

I have the Koyorad and it does indeed have the same plug as OE. It has a rubber washer and comes all the way out like an oil plug.

 

asand1,

Interesting.....

One of the first things I noticed on mine was the lack of a drain plug. Maybe they changed them? I got mine a month ago.

I will have to detach the lower hose in the future. Not as convenient as a drain plug, but not awful either.

 

I'll be trying a Haste one for a 240sx when it comes time for boost.

 

I'm thinking of just going the teflon tape route to solve the issue. Car's starting to become a hassle on maintenance. The alternator died again recently and I just didn't feel like dealing with the pain in the butt again so I had the mechanic shop do it when I had the right control arm, ball joints and tie rod ends replaced. Mechanics hate my 4th gen.

 

When I needed a radiator for my 98 I bought one from Napa, but if I need one in the future I would get Koyo.

 

I ordered from importrp asking for the koyo rad and its a thicker core than stock. Cooling is fine, my drain plug does come out all the way (I ordered this over a year ago) and its still holding up strong. If you go the Mishi way you should invest in a tranny cooler (40$) or so from rock auto.

NJ, the dual cores like the mishi and griffin are great as they provide extra cooling that is definitely needed for FI cars or high comp builds. They provide better cooling over stock, napa, or KoyoRad. Wizard can vouch for this. I do recall coming across an old thread that showed the Mishi provides 10% better cooling over the Koyo.

Hope this helps OP

 

I feel your pain, man. I've stripped mine as well once. I think the key here is to only un-screw the drain plug when the coolant is cold. Nissan may have engineered this on purpose.

 

The car was cold, had been sitting overnight. Didn't want to risk spilling hot coolant on myself.