The Nissan Path

Installed the CSF all aluminum radiator yesterday - as good as advertised and a perfect fit! I haven't plugged into the OBD II port to see what the temperature is, but since it's a better two-row than the original and other people are seeing more consistent temps that are 5-15 degrees lower than before, I am pretty confident in the performance. I don't tow but I have met the limits of the stock radiator before, going up hill into the mountains with a full load of mountain bike stuff. So I figured I would install once rather than two or three times over the next however many years. Would not have gone for the $1K Griffin radiator, but at $350 on eBay over a $110 OEM replacement model it seemed reasonable.

Radiator replacement and coolant drain/fill is pretty well covered here and on the other forums, so just pictures here rather than instructions. One "Oh by the way" I would like to mention is that when you replace your radiator, it's a good time to replace the radiator mount bushings. These are $4 parts on Amazon. The ones in the removable top bracket are easy to replace at any time by popping the grill off, but the ones in the radiator side brackets can only be replaced while you have the radiator out.

Fortunately the majority of play in my radiator is in the removable top brackets, as I'm not likely to ever take this thing out again!

The other is that you will either need to modify your radiator cap or pull apart the CSF pressure cap. I tried the latter and it didn't work out quite right, so I went with the former. All it took was bending the edges of the clamp surface a little wider with pliers to fit the CSF spout.

Last is I undid the transmission cooler bypass with this, as have most of the Frontier/XTerra drivers. For what it's worth, no coolant came out of my "good part number" radiator when I pulled the caps off the integrated cooler, just the last drops of transmission fluid that had been inside it.

Here's the old radiator...new in 2010 (the "good" part number) but leaking at the top pretty badly:



And the new one from CSF, with requisite replacement hoses and thermostat:



Here's what it looks like installed:



And the radiator bracket and bushings up close:



Next summer when I return from deployment it will be put to a full operational test, going uphill in the hot months during a cross country move

Looks good man. I've towed a few times either at or very close (possibly even over), the limit of what the vehicle is capable of with this radiator and the temps never rose. One thing to watch out for, don't burn your arm/hand on the top since it's now aluminum and not plastic when you have the hood up. You think it'd be common sense, but I've done it a few times not thinking.

Great update thank you so much!!.

I may as yet do this myself.. This summer I had no issue though even uphill with a bit of load but mine is a '12 so likely less scaing inside.

palmerwmd wrote:Great update thank you so much!!.

I may as yet do this myself.. This summer I had no issue though even uphill with a bit of load but mine is a '12 so likely less scaing inside.

This is technically radiator number three. I could make the "good" part number radiator tap out uphill in Arizona near Sedona at three years old, and even when I removed it last month it was pretty clean on the inside. Admittedly that was really hot weather at moderate altitude and I had a full truck on a cross country move.

Now that I’m back from deployment and driving around a hotter state in the summer...

This thing is pretty awesome. Temps are rock steady even at idle in traffic. Sitting still coming off the highway to congestion, in the high 80’s, with high humidity it stays pegged at 196-198 and doesn’t go over it. Moving two heavy loads of stuff to storage from the ship to my new duty station didn’t bother it at all. Electric fan kicks on a lot less. Everything seems smoother while the engine stays cooler...

Not sure if anybody has ever dug this up here but on Xterras and Frontier forums there are some write ups on using 350z thermostats and openeds at a cooler temp.

Thupertrooper wrote:Not sure if anybody has ever dug this up here but on Xterras and Frontier forums there are some write ups on using 350z thermostats and openeds at a cooler temp.

I'm aware. Too many conceptual errors. The thermostat sets a minimum temperature, not a maximum. Without knowing to what, or why Nissan specified the higher temperature thermostat in my truck it's a big guess for them. There is a risk of damage to components from low temperature as well as high, and the stock thermostat by itself is not going to be a source of overheating. Just doesn't work that way.

When you're driving at a significant load, both thermostats are wide open. The limiter is the radiator (and other paths for heat exchange), not the thermostat.

Some notes now that summer is here, and I've had a chance to run the radiator through it's paces. Last weekend I drove from DC to Deep Creek, MD. It's past Cumberland and up in the mountains around 3,000 feet. Kept the gas pedal down while climbing while watching the temps. Stayed around 192-196, never touched 198. Air temp was in the high eighties with high humidity. The ECU never dialed the engine back, and other vehicles around me had to back off.

Last week we got the first hot week of summer in DC, with temps in the mid-nineties with swamp-like humidity. My commute home starts on I-395 in the southern part of the city, where it's bumper to bumper crawling for 20-30 minutes depending on time of day. I put both front and rear A/C to maximum to see what would happen. Once again, temperature stayed 192-196, and only briefly touched 198. A/C was never throttled back as usually happens.

Since the CSF has twice the heat exchange capacity I expected it to be much better - and it is. If I were towing big in the summer I'd want one of these. Will definitely come in handy when I'm pulling full loads of bikes and people next month.