I have just noticed that there is some greenish/blueish crud from dried coolant on the top of my radiator, where the plastic and metal connects. My car is a 2004 WRX manual and has 46k miles.

I showed it to my mechanic and he said I would need to replace the radiator soon.

I have concluded that I will get a Koyo full aluminum radiator, in order to solve this problem once and for all. Since if I get the Subaru unit again, it might just start to leak again later. Plus, the price of a new Subaru radiator is not much cheaper from a Koyo.

However, Koyo's full aluminum raditor price seems to vary A LOT. Some places online sell them for $400+, while people on EBay are selling them for ~$350 shipped. Are the ones from EBay authentic? Has anyone heard of fake/replica Koyo radiators? Does anyone have any experience?

 

sux about the radiator. especially since your cars barely 3 years old. Koyo is very nice and the price is about right. i got a used one for my rx7 for 200. but you have to be careful with ebay. the vendor may say theyre selling a genuine koyo radiator, but chances are, its a knockoff. theres nothing wrong with knockoffs, but you may have filiment issues and they arent made by a reputable company. in essence all aluminum radiators are the same. its quality and reputation you really have to look at. eBay? buy at your own risk! oh, and just cause the vendor is a power seller doesnt mean his parts are actually Koyo.

 

koyo fits awsome 18 month warrenty

CSF is life time warrenty and doesnt fit as well

 

Thanks. My Koyo has just arrived. I will get it installed soon. Costed me ~$340. Not bad considering that the OEM unit costs ~$260 already.

 

Is your car still under warranty? If it is and you haven't installed the Koyo yet I'd have the dealer give you a new radiator since they owe you one. After the dealer sees the defective radiator in the car install the Koyo and sell the OE unit. I had the same problem on my 02 and mine was replaced for free. It's ridiculous that Subaru hasn't revised their design.

 

I've already checked with them and the radiator is only covered under the 36k warranty, and I have 46k on the car now. Too bad...

 

You went the right route then. It would be silly to install another piece of crap Subaru radiator. I'm at 105 K right now and when this one starts leaking I'll be buying either a Koyo or Speedmonkee. Should be coming up soon.

 

Question: I plan to replace the radiator cap at the same time. Should I replace both caps? My 2004 has a cap on top of the radiator and another one closer to the intercooler.

Also, how much more coolant does the Koyo take? I plan to buy 2 bottles of Subaru coolant and 2 bottles of distilled water. Just to make sure.

Thanks!

 

no need to replace the other one if its nto leaking

 

I got my Koyo off of ebay over a year ago and had no problems, it was 340 shipped.