Radiator Core is shot

[vanalogs]

My radiator was leaking and I took it in to a shop near me and the guy at the shop told me it was no good anymore. I would have to re-core and the copper is very expensive. Does anybody know of a good shop in the Southern California area or does anybody have a radiator for sale for an 85 2wd? I am willing to pay pal and cover shipping costs if the radiator is priced reasonably.

[vanalogs]

My radiator was leaking and I took it in to a shop near me and the guy at the shop told me it was no good anymore. I would have to re-core and the copper is very expensive. Does anybody know of a good shop in the Southern California area or does anybody have a radiator for sale for an 85 2wd? I am willing to pay pal and cover shipping costs if the radiator is priced reasonably.


Also is there any other solution and using a different radiator that isn't copper? I had found an eBay link that Tim posted but is no longer available I've been searching eBay but I haven't found anything yet. I don't know much about radiators other than mine is a piece of crap

[TheCarolinian]

I don't know if there is a difference between the 85 and 86 but Rockauto has them for the 86.
https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?make=TOYOTA

[vanalogs]

I don't know if there is a difference between the 85 and 86 but Rockauto has them for the 86.
https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?make=TOYOTA

Thanks dude! Appreciate the help. By the looks of the photo the radiator is exactly the same. But ultimately I think this would be A question for Tim or somebody else that has experience with this. I feel like I am 95% sure it would work

[Ian R.]

Hey Vanalogs,

I have called a few shops in long beach/signal hill with regards to a 4x4 4-row recore. What was the price quote? If the quote was in the ballpark of 350.00, it sounds about right.

[llamavan]

'86 rad won't QUITE fit in an '85. Tried it. :no:

I have a permanent search on eBay for the '84-'85 rads and nothing has come up for about a year.

If recore is an option (ie, the tanks are good), it's your cheapest and best fix anyway, even if new ones were available.

Gwen

[vanalogs]

Dang. So no luck at all for the 86 rad to fit? Even with a little shaving? Any other option? I think even the tanks are busted on mine.

[vanalogs]

any other radiator out there in the world with the same dimensions?

[technocj]

I had the radiator re-cored by the best local shop in my area. I could not find a new one for the 85. $400.

[ratatouille]

I'm not familiar with the 2wd radiators, but locally to me here in HB I stopped at 3 or 4 shops with my 4wd radiator and they all made me nervous with their "eeehhh ya we could probably try to rebuild it.." responses. I had one of them even quote me $1200. I ended up contacting a friend who has classic cars and he takes all his old radiators to Macs radiator in Bellflower. When I went in the guys were confident and said he'd worked on a few of these before. I broke the rubber mounting bracket when removing and they fixed that without charge and swapped in a new plug as well. I asked them to do a high efficiency core. I paid about 400 and I remember it being about a 2-day turn around. I was very happy with how it was operating. I feel the high efficiency is the way to go if you do a rebuild. 6 months later I noticed a small leak and went back and they fixed it on the spot as I waited. No problems since, I've been running it hard for the last year or so.

[Jlhollowx13]

I had my 4x4 rad recorded recently with a high efficiency 4 row. It was 325 I think by a shop in california. Not sure if it will work but I have a 4x4 auto rad I might be willing to part with. It might be clogged up though but would be cheater to clean it than rebuild.

[vanalogs]

I found a small shop to re core mine for $100