Hi Everyone!!

I am an original owner of my VX with 235,000 miles on the clock and just now working on the 3rd radiator. Also, I know a little bit about auto repairs as I owned an auto transmission repair shop for many years. There has to be a difference between an OEM radiator and the typical aftermarket radiator.

The OEM original I had failed on me about 4 years ago, the plastic crown cracked. We just bought an aftermarket over the counter. I didn’t pay much attention to the old core just threw it away.

But there has to be a big difference. I never noticed, with the OEM radiator, this slow creeping up of the heat gauge in hot weather and on a steep grades. I even pulled a 16 foot Komfort Lite trailer 1000’s of miles mostly between Montana and Los Angeles. Never ever a heating probem with the OEM.

I was immediately dissatisfied with the after-market radiator. Yet, most (95%) of the time it was okay but the heat gauge seemed to wander alot more, whereas the OEM seemed to nail the needle just below midway point on the gauge consistently no matter the weather or load. So I started poking around on the internet and found a “two row” after market radiator on Ebay from a local distributor here in LA. I ordered it ($100 seemed pretty cheap to me) and 1 day later it was delivered. First of all, it was NOT 2 rows, second of all it was a exact duplicate of the aftermarket one I had in there already! Never paid much attention to it in the first time install, however this time we scoped it out closely. It’s a skinnyass radiator. I called the distributor and he said, “2 rows” was a typo and this was the only radiator available. I said, okay and I sent it back and they refunded my money, no problem. I didn’t need it because the “one row” radiator I already had in there was working ok. So I began to wonder if some of the VX owners with this gradual overheating on grades, etc. had an OEM radiator or the inferior type aftermarket version?

Now, fast forward to last week.. Boom! Cracked plastic crown in an almost identical place that happened to the OEM unit 4 years earlier. This is a regular drive so I needed the car pronto. I ordered a new one from another Ebay distributor. It came 2 days later. The box said, “American Eagle Radiator Company”… but my suspicion is it should say, “Chinese Buzzard Radiator Company”… It is an exact copy of the one we took out. Not just a little bit close but is exactly the same. BTW this is a very simple install even without a hoist. 10mm socket, 1 blade 1 Phillips head screw drivers, 2 feet of 3/8in power steering hose, 8 hose clamps( I use 8 cause I’m paranoid 4 will work) , one gallon undiluted anti-freeze + wawa. 1 hour or less install. I replaced the trans cooler line hoses too.

So far it works fine, but I don’t trust it. I know that a few VX owners have installed Ron Davis radiators and if possible maybe could kindly chime in here and report on how their all aluminum radiator works in this hot weather? I’d Like to learn more about it and how I would go about getting an exact copy of the radiator like, I think, VX Kat has. As I recall they are around $650.

Thanx
John