The Best Radiator for Your 1995 and Earlier Toyota Pickup or 4Runner

One of the best ways to keep your Toyota's engine cool is by upgrading to a 3 row radiator. While there are other 3 row radiators, one of the most popular for bolting into early Toyotas is the CSF 2314. Why does going from a 2 row to a 3 row help?

The huge area in the middle of the radiator with the thin, easily damaged parts is the core. The core is made up of flat vertical tubes that carry hot coolant from the top tank to the bottom tank, which is cooled along the way by air moving over the tubes and fins. The thin fins are soldered to the radiator tubes and dissipate heat that is being carried by the coolant.

In a 2 row radiator, there are 2 rows of tubes. In a 3 row radiator there are 3 rows of tubes. A radiator with more rows is typically thicker than one with fewer rows and will hold more coolant. And (this is more important) the extra row of tubing and fins tremendously increases the surface area that is exposed to the air. For the same amount of airflow, excess heat has more surface area from which to dissipate.

Now we’re not saying you’re going to die in the desert because you didn’t have a three row radiator (probably alone, surrounded by beer cans and tears). But we are saying that a fresh 3-row radiator will give you peace of mind in a Toyota that needs to perform in the heat at trail speeds.

You can swap in a Toyota V6 engine and you’ll already have the cooling capacity.
Planning a 6 cylinder 5VZFE swap? You’ll need a bigger radiator and the three row will do the job.

Built in auto transmission cooler.
Most of these radiators have a transmission cooler in the bottom. If you run an auto trans, this is great. You can get your trans fluid up to temp a little faster and keep it where is needs to be. If you run a manual trans, you wouldn’t use this cooler. However, in some circumstances, you might decide to plumb in your steering so that you can keep your steering running cool. If you don’t have a use for it, plug the holes with something you can remove later.

These radiators are all metal.
Most radiators today are made by gluing plastic tanks to aluminum cores. In fact, it’s quite possible that if you just order a Toyota pickup or 4Runner replacement radiator willy-nilly you’ll end up with a plastic/aluminum radiator - you won’t even get a factory-like radiator. While this newer type seems okay we like the fact that metal radiators have brazed seams and can be repaired by a competent radiator shop. Plastic/aluminum radiators are generally throwaway parts when you have a problem.

A three row Toyota radiator is a bolt-in replacement for many Toys! The bolt holes match up and the inlet and outlet are properly sized and placed. Although thicker, this doesn’t interfere with the fan.

As far as we can tell, a 2314 will bolt in without modification to 1984-1995 4Runners and 1986-1995 Toyota pickups. That said, this should also be a near bolt-in Toyota Hilux radiator for earlier, pre-1984 trucks. The biggest issue you may have is that some hardware may be different. Early trucks use 12mmx1.25M hardware to hold the fan shroud. The CSF 2314 will come with 10mmx1.0M nuts welded to the engine side of the radiator. In other words, be sure to have some 10mmx1.0M bolts around just in case. 30mm long ought to do it.

People have adapted the 2314 radiator to Tacomas. Tacomas have a single core plastic/aluminum radiator. The inlets and outlets are on the same sides as the radiators in our table below and are the same sizes. However, they are much taller and wider (and thinner!): 22 5/8” x 25 1/4” x 15/16”. A 2314 or one of the other three cores requires custom brackets to fit into a Tacoma, so this is not a bolt-on mod for Tacos.

You should know a few things about your radiator so that you can ID what you have and pick the correct new radiator. Check out our diagram:

One important thing we’d like to point out is that the core is only the tubes and fins. The core does not include the tanks. The core does not include mounting brackets, shrouds, extra bolt holes, inlet/outlet, or anything else. Fins and tubes only. On a side note, it is possible to get your radiator repaired if you have an all-metal one. Here is an overview of radiator repair that a shop might do. Radiators with aluminum cores and plastic tanks almost always have to be replaced.

We suggest that you measure your core to make sure you’re picking the correct size radiator. If you're fitting a radiator and you don't know exactly what you need look closely at our images below and particularly note:

• core size
• fill location
• oil tank width and port placement
• fill placement
• drain placement
  

Some of their locations are different and could prevent a radiator from fitting in your Toyota.

You’ll notice that on most of these radiators, the biggest difference is the height of the core. All of these radiators have the same core width (Don’t confuse this with thickness!), inlet location/size, and outlet location/size. If you’re upgrading a 1984/1985 4Runner or a 1986-1995 Toyota mini from a stock two core radiator to a three core, you most likely want the CSF 2314. The ONLY significant dimensional difference between the stock radiator (in the table this is the two row CSF 850 or the CSF 895) and the 2314 is the number of rows and a slight height difference. Your stock radiator cap will even fit.

You may notice that your new radiator has two hose barbs on the bottom of the radiator. These are normally used as automatic transmission coolers. If you want you can cap it off to keep dirt out of it if you won't be using it. It is completely separate from the main part of the radiator so it won't leak coolant if you don't cap off the two ports. Some wheelers use the tranny cooler to cool power steering fluid by running the low pressure line from the steering box to the cooler.