Karma is for me, too! I started digging around the forum looking for coolant requirements and discovered issues start appearing at 100k. It dropped to -24F this week and I wasn‘t sure if the antifreeze was up to the task of -40F. I popped the hood and saw a little steam rising from the top corner of the radiator where the top tank clamps on. TJ has 99,300 and is right on schedule for issues.It makes absolutely no difference what antifreeze you use if you flush and clean the system on a somewhat regular basis. I clean and change mine every 2-3 years. I use the green "all makes and models" Prestone or Walmart brand in all of my Jeeps, regardless of the year. I just cleaned the system on my 03 with a good chemical flush and ran it for several hours, drained it and added the 50/50 Walmart green stuff. I'm still on my original radiator. I bragged about my 99' XJ having the original radiator (21 years old) 6 months ago and it started leaking a week later. I guess I will be buying a new one soon. Karma is a bitch.
Is there a repair for this or just replace? If I go with new, should I spend extra for the all aluminum or Mopar? Or go with the cheap units with plastic tanks? I don’t need extreme cooling yet also don’t want to replace a radiator every 3 years. I saw single row radiators online. Those are not as efficient at cooling but would they get to operating temps faster in extreme cold? Or is it best not to second guess the engineer’s design?
But 21 years is at least acceptable, not the 10 that so many hear think is normal. The Mercedes radiator may blow tomorrow for all I know, its one of the very few things that hasn't been replaced or gone through at one time or another. The others are the alternator and PS pump.
