resharp001

I have purchased and now installed a Griffin radiator (5-00152) in my ’13 JKU with 95k miles on the clock. Looking back, I replaced my factory radiator in April 2018 due to a leak at the fins. I did not note the mileage at the time as I’m accustomed to doing in my maintenance records, but I’d ballpark that at 60-65k miles based on the date. The OSC radiator I’ve had in the jeep for the last 30 miles wasn’t leaking, but the last couple summers here in Texas I’ve had some real issues with coolant temps easily rising up to 240° on a regular basis for even 30 minute trips on the interstate. I’m pushing 37s with 4.88 gears so my temps are all relative….but the idea here is I’m hoping the Griffin helps control things a little better.

The Griffin wasn’t terribly priced, though with their radiator cap and tax it was closing in on $400 from the Q store. I’m glad I ordered that cap because the factory cap was not even close to fitting. I had seen older reports that the factory cap did work, so there must have been changes. BTW, I don’t care for this Griffin cap. It’s a hexagon, but it’s smooth. It’s really hard to get a good handle on to twist it.

Keep in mind that these comparison pictures are against an OSC radiator, though the OSC is supposedly manufactured to factory specs and I don’t recall it being any different than my old Mopar radiator, and fitment was good. The most obvious thing missing on the Griffin is the transmission line mount fro the ‘12+ down at the bottom driver’s side corner. I have not yet determined what I will do with those. I suppose I will ziptie them to stabilize as much as possible.











The fitment of this radiator was decent. The threaded bungs on the front and back to attach the a/c condenser, transmission cooler, and the fan all lined up nicely. I already noted the omission of the transmission line mount which kinda sucks. The mount for the a/c lines at the top on the driver’s side did not line up well at all. Those lines feel completely solid however due to how the condenser is bolted to the radiator up front.

All in all I’m satisfied with the radiator. Time will tell on the cooling abilities and if it’s any improvement over the previous. I will update with results here in the near term so there is a good apples-to-apples comparison on coolant temps in the summer heat.

With 95k miles on the jeep I figured it would be good maintenance to replace the water pump while the airbox and radiator were out of the way. In order to get to the WP the alternator, tensioner pulley, and idler pullies come off. I was pretty surprised how worn the idler and tensioner pullies were, on top of how easily my WP pulley was to spin. Made me glad I was changing the WP out already, and I ran to the store to pick up 3 pullies to replace the others. The biggest surprise I got when I pulled the WP off was what that gasket looked like. Look at the pitting on the inside of the gasket that covers the WP impeller –








The brown is just discoloration from the heat I believe, but that gasket should be completely smooth! So are all those little bits cycling around in my engine, radiator, and heater core? I’d think they’d be so small as to not clog the radiator, but given the OSC was only $100 and I don’t see re-installing that ever, I’m going to chop it up and take a look inside.

This job just sucks in general. It wasn’t fun replacing the radiator last time, and it wasn’t fun this time either. It doesn’t help when you have to remove a winch just to get the grill off, and the bolts that hold the a/c condenser to the radiator are just terribly placed. With an aluminum radiator it took even more patience to get those in without risking stripping the threads in the bungs.

Mr.T

Excellent review & write-up! Looking forward to reading more. Did the old waterpump gasket have gasket-material facing the impeller blades, or is there a rough metal surface that's missing metal from cavitation, or something else?

Seizer

Keep us posted about your temps, I’m curious if it improves. Good luck Resharp.

tjkamp

Curious for sure.

Replaced my factory with another Mopar 2 years ago, and getting the coolant smell again already.

karls10jk

If you're at 2yr/24k miles then you're still in Mopar warranty. I'm watching the thread because yoI'll be dropping in another Mopar as soon as Northridge gets them back in stock.

resharp001

So the WP gasket is pretty much just what you see there for the 3.6L. I should have taken a comparison picture with the new one. It is primarily metal with rubber outlining the openings. There is nothing missing from what covers the impeller there. The new one is just smooth metal, as I presume this old one was at some point. It perplexes me a bit how it got like that.


If you guys have followed any of my things in the past, you know I typically make some mistakes. It seems to be my best way to learn unfortunately. I'm not ashamed to admit those mistakes, even when pretty boneheaded. So the aluminum radiator came with a brass plug for the drain. I was smart enough to realize those threads needed something or else they would leak, but not smart enough to use the proper product to do so. Apparently teflon tape is comical to use with antifreeze . I topped things off last night and heated the engine up only to see a leak right there at the plug. After searching the web a bit I found a lot of discussion on a Corvette forum and headed off to get some #2 Permatex, which in hindsight seems pretty damn obvious. That cost me a day as I had to drain the radiator to fix the situation. I've topped it off 2 times now and will top off when i get home tonight, throw the grill and winch back on and get it out of the garage. I'm anxious to see if this thing makes any difference or not. (I had emailed Griffin last night after hours to ask what to use on this......and they literally just responded to use Teflon tape .)

I commented about the fitment before. So this thing is sitting a solid 1/4" or more towards the passenger side. It's not a huge deal to me. Even if it was sitting perfectly that a/c condenser line on the side wouldn't line up with the threaded bung without drilling a new hole in the bracket, and that's not going to happen due to the space to work in. Anyhow, I did try to improve how it was sitting last night, but it is what it is. The lower isolator is dictating that it can't scoot anymore to the driver's side. The only thing you'd notice when you open my hood is that the radiator cap is closer to the PS reservoir. Oh well. If I had spent $1k on a radiator these little things might steam me a bit more. I think they are manageable though.

Also, having to remove this Griffin cap so many times is a bit aggravating. Telling ya, it's not easy to get a grip on it. I've resorted to one of those rubberish things you'd use to open a tight jar cap in the kitchen. It really helps get a grip on it. Seems pretty stupid as all you really need to add to this cap is a couple tabs so your hand doesn't just twist all the way around when tightening or loosening.

Stay tuned for results.

wickedartstudio

I ran the same Griffin rad for a little over a year until it started leaking at the exact same spot as my original factory rad (where the tank meets the cooling fins on the driver side). I went back to a Mopar rad after that. I think my rig ran a little bit cooler with the Griffin, but it wasn't by much. I hated the Griffin cap as well. Hope yours works out better!

resharp001

Thank you for the feedback. I don't have high expectations for longevity vs. any other rad out there, but I'm sure hoping for more than a year. If I can eek out just some slightly cooler temps then I'll be happy. Drove it to work today so we'll see on the way home pretty quickly. A good apples to apples comparison to what I've been seeing over the last couple months since it's heated up here in Texas. I'll save all the screws and bits from the old radiator, cuz if this fails on me I will succumb to the fact that the best option is indeed just another factory rad.

Sixty4x4

Try loosening the top rad mount bolts a bit and let it move when the front end flexes in extreme wheeling. Takes the stress off the rad from body flex. Use blue Loctite on the bolts and they won't back out. IE don't compress the rubber grommet just barely run the big steel washer on to it. Give me a call in 2 years and let me know if it worked out. My Mopar rad is years old (5 or so) and it does not leak yet and it moves a bit more than stock.

wickedartstudio

Couldn't agree more! The core support flexes a lot more than I thought. The last time I replaced my rad I used blue Loctite and ran the two bolts in with my fingers only. Been about a year now and no issues.