Problems with new csf radiator.... Anyone?
 

I'm wondering if anyone has had any issues with the new version of the csf radiator? I have the one for an auto trans and I have a coolant leak coming from the radiator itself. I was hoping it was just a pinhole in a line but it's not. I don't know if anyone here remembers the nightmare I had when my local Nissan dealership installed mine but it came down to an O ring that was installed with it that wasn't the proper size. This caused all the freon to leak out within minutes of me picking up the car. After I took it back in to get fixed there was another issue that is kinda difficult for me to even explain but what happened was the next time I turned the air conditioning on the car bogged down really bad like it didn't have enough power to turn the belt and it dumped fuel which caused it to smoke but this was only temporary. After that happened I took it into r/t tuning to see if they could figure it out and of course the car wouldn't reproduce the issue and since no codes were thrown it remained a mystery considering it just stopped the issue all by itself. I have no clue if any of this is related but I'm hoping someone here can help. Pleeeeeeez!

A wild guess on the bogging would be ice forming and froze something in the area of the belt and "jamming it?" When you have low freon charge and the system runs for a while, the compressor can form solid ice blocks.

YzGyz

I'm sorry bro I guess I didn't lay out the time line well enough. The bogging down issue and radiator install happened last August so I seriously doubt it was ice. Thanks for responding tho. Please let me know if you think of anything else.

Yeah, I have the CSF Triple Bypass radiator. It was all ****** up. I guess it's an issue they knew about because they sent me a new "revised" one. No issues so far. If you had it installed professionally and have your mechanic explain the issue, you should get one free of charge.

I've had my triple pass since July 2014. No issues yet. Maybe 2000 miles on it though

I had some drain plug issues. CSF did a pretty good job taking care of me though.

Jeez ok thanks guys ill call them

It just sux cuz i paid nissan 1200$ to install it and only got about 4k miles out of it. I know i hot raped on the install but thats a long story

I wouldn't pay the dealer to do the work. The radiator is advertised as a drop in, but my experience suggests otherwise.

Haven't had a problem with the condenser staying sealed though. There is a CSF employee who cruises the boards, if you search some of the other CSF threads you can find him.

O

i have an AC guy who comes to my house whenever i need my radiator moved around for whatever reason. last time he was here the O-ring on the CSF condenser tubes was an incorrect fit to connect to the CSF radiator itself. we had to reuse the stock condenser tubes since he didnt even have a properly sized O-ring for the CSF provided tubes

My original CSF has a leak, they sent a replacement quick

Daym ! was about to order one !
any other options ?

I'd still order one. Made in the U.S. support has been great for those of us who have had problems

I wouldn't order through Stillen though. CSF was decent support, Stillen was a royal PITA.

O

OK thanks for the advice. I called and left a message and I emailed them so I'm hoping to hear back from them tomorrow

funny is.. how everyone here is bashing on Mishimoto radiators quality, design, blah blah blah .. and how good the CSF's are and are USA's proudly made ..etc. but after some good researches i didn't find anything against the Mishimotos but only good reviews lol. On the other hand, a good number of negative reviews against CSF's.. lol where the hell the quality and the "USA" made gone ? Oh and not to mention the cooling effecincy for Mishimoto's too .. ( CSF's good too in that matter but i'm just sayin )

anyways, i think i'm getting the Mishimoto .. but problem is that it's only made for MT and mine is AT ..Now i understood that i still can use it if installed an external tranny oil cooler ( which i'm using right now actually ) .. but i need to understand this, when an external trans oil cooler installed in our cars, does it usually delete the oem internal oil cooler ?!

The only way to fine out is to stick your nose under the car. And trace the transmission lines.

anyone ?! Before i stick my nose under the car and trace the transmission lines :)

:) :)

What are you asking?

^ Did you read my post #16 ? :)
Thank you ..

Well, you got 2 choices. Go ask your mechanic what he did. And see if he remembers. Or stick your nose under the car. Because no one here can answer your question. Because we didn't do the work or have seen your Z.

I have a 7AT and run the CSF triple pass for a 6MT in my car. The only problem is that if you live where it gets cold the internal cooler also helps heat the trans fluid in cold weather. I live in south Florida so its not a problem here.

lol it's not a matter of you people being seeing my lines or not .. well what i meant is - in general - when an external trans oil cooler installed in our cars, does it delete the oem internal oil cooler ?! that's my question and do pardon me if didn't make this clear at the beginning ..

Well, there are existing connections for the factory cooler lines, so I'm going to guess that when you use those connections to connect your aftermarket trans cooler, the factory lines get abandoned. So the answer to your question would be yes. Unless he drilled and tapped new connections for the new cooler.

I'm no expert though. Just my :twocents:

You didn't.

There isn't any in general. Personally, I wouldn't delete mine

CSF has had a few leak issues but their customer service is top notch and they take care of you. Mishimoto on the other hand has piss poor customer service and more than just a few quality issues. I wouldn't let any friend of mine put Mishimoto crap on their car. In fact my tuner has a pile of their failed parts in the corner of the shop.

As for your issue, no clue, drive MT:tup:

Thank you boss that what i wanted to hear ..
Anyways, i'll trace it down n find it out ..

oh and for those who sing about the customer service of CSF being top notch, thats really great u kno .. i'll eagerly wait for a leakage so i enjoy their customer service for a good experince record! oh and not to mention that i'm located overseas so that wud be more fun !

:ugh2:

You realize you put a part from a much more failure prone manufacturer on your car, and if something goes wrong with it they won't do a damn thing to help you, right?

Well it is not like a Mishimoto part has caused engine failure....wait. :stirthepot:

Mishimoto spends more on advertising and saving face than actual product R&D. Despite the good reviews you might have read, they make $hit parts. They are essentially the most well-known Chinese brand :ugh:

hold on guys lol .. i'm not against CSF radiators at all, i'm just trying to tease you to convince me more on these lol

Anyways, i'm placing my order for CSF, just waiting for Rod@z1 to respond to my e-mail, maybe i'll get a coupon or somethin :owned:

:tup:

Z1 is great. They'll take good care of you!

My brand new CSF A/C condenser was leaking, so my shop sent just the condenser back to CSF and they sent an entire new radiator and condenser set back to us. I think that's pretty good service!

I actually originally bought the radiator from Z1 as well during black friday, but it wasn't installed until the build was completed last month.

^ yea .. Who's next ?! Anyone else ?! Keep em comin guys :)

^ This is why I hate the internet..

I appreciate all the kind words and support from the people who are using our cooling systems.. I'm also very sorry to the supporters who have had problems. I hope that my customer service was enough to make up for the few issues that we've had, and that everyone is satisfied wih their purchase. We'll only be able to grow our company with happy customers.

cheers,

Ravi

Mine started leaked after like 6-9 months of being installed (tiny leak)... I emailed Ravi, I had a new one within... A week or something.

Can't get much better customer service.


EDIT: with the amazing support, I'm waiting to buy more cars so I can buy more CSF. If they made one for a Maxima and a LS400/430, I would buy one for the Max, and it would sway me to buy a beater (Lexus) ASAP

Ravi, if a customer has a leaking radiator, how against "stop leak" products are you? And does that void the warranty?

I only ask because I've used stop leak in cars that weren't worth more than the bottle of stop leak, BUT they worked fine, and for thousands of miles

Just placed my order for the radiator thro Stillen.
That customer service is really reassuring from what it seems!

Oh btw .. i'm located overseas n i paid like $300 for the shipping alone :)

So when I receive my new radiator how will I deal with the issue of the trans cooler/fluid? Can this be done at home? Isn't it a closed system?