When I rebuilt my G37x, the transmission cooler tube was wiggled several times and looked stressed. I put JB weld on it just to keep it from getting moved or bumped and it has been fine for 8 years now but I have some free time and want to fix some lingering issues on the car (rotten braces and a very small oil leak probably from when I had the timing cover off). I was looking at a new radiator but don't see any reasonably priced OEM style radiators, they are all 100% aluminum. I've had good luck with CSF on my Porsche but I see a lot of threads on this forum about the CSF radiators leaking on their G37 (Im looking at the CSF 3271). These seem to be older threads though, 2017-2020ish. Was this just a bad period or is there another brand I should go with? I see on the vendors site that TYC 13004 is just a little more and has a marking for being more popular. Any advise on which one to go with? I'm open to other brands if they are similarly priced.

I considered an external cooler for the transmission but then I'd have to run an inline thermostat or risk overcooling in the very cold winters and it just wasn't worth it for me. Also, the radiator is 17 years old at this point and probably not a bad idea to just replace it rather than bypassing it for the transmission.

 

Thoughts on just spending a little more on an OEM radiator and looking for a deal/discount? I've only seen negative reviews of CSF, but as you mentioned, they are most older reviews. TYC gets alot of negative press as well.

The fact that the engine coolant is shared with the transmission cooling duties makes me want to lean towards biting the bullet for a few hundred extra and sticking with OEM. I've also thought about buying a 6MT radiator and running a transmission cooler separate.

Having the transmission fluid and coolant mix keeps me awake at night more than the heavily discussed gallery gaskets. Blackstone oil analysis helps.

 

I did my oil gallery gasket 3 years ago when the car went into lip mode. That was a long weekend but I installed new chains, water pump etc which is one of the reasons I'm ok with putting a little more into the car because it drives great.

I've looked into the OEM radiator but I see 2 part numbers: B1D60JK90PNW (about $483 which is on the line of acceptable) and 21460-JK90B ($658) both before shipping. The only picture I find of the cheaper one is on a nissan site but it is an all aluminum radiator including what used to be the plastic upper coolant hose fitting (not original design to my car). AI says that is a "value advantage" part that infiniti makes for older vehicles. So I'm not sure if a TYC or equivalent will be what shows up if I order it. It says the OEM one is $658 before shipping which is more than I'm willing to spend on a spare car my wife uses for like 12 miles per weekend. I'm already walking the line of getting a newer car but I recently did both front wheel bearings, new tires and a control arm in the last 12 mounts.

If I was the one driving the car, Id absolutely agree with you and get the external trans cooler. But that is a lot of additional connections that could leak and my wife drives the car 99% of the time. She would never notice drips in the driveway or the trans making any odd noises. The other option I was looking at which seems to be the best one for now is something like the Hayden 698 which is tube and fin so not as efficient as a setrab but the 3/8 fittings are just part of the tube and the 698 has a thermal bypass built in, so no inline thermostat with an additional 4 connects. This would also prevent mixing of fluid and I wouldn't have to drain the AC system. I'm not super familiar with Hayden but for under $100 all in, it's hard to not go with that option.

 

My G is ecutek Z1 tuned, w berks hfc, invidia full stainless exhaust w custom muffler deletes, z1 cai, setrab 34 row oil cooler, z1 aluminum skid plate & many other mods that arent really relevant to engine / trans cooling! this info is for mainly background.
I do push it pretty hard at time! Now its the 1st week of June & its about to get hot. i know these cars get hot. I was hoping the CSF radiator would be a good cooling system upgrade. So i went with it, the CSF (CSF 3271) radiator with the a/c condenser from Z1 for my 2013 G37X 7sp sedan, figuring it would not only be a cooling system upgrade, but also provide some reassurance that the transmission cooler part of the OEM radiator wont fail & mix coolant w the transmission fluid. Leading to, well you know.
So im 2 weeks in to the having the new CSF radiator in the car & i have been driving it as much as I can to see if its made a difference & Honestly as of yet im not really seeing any lower engine temps at idle or in traffic, but the temp does seem to quickly come down to 175-80° as soon as i start driving. I have a digital gauge cluster & I can see the engine oil temp, engine/coolant temp & transmission fluid temp via gauges in the cluster. Im not sure whether the temp gauges are good or not! If I did not have the temp gauges idk if i would really acknowledge the difference in trans fluid temps because @ 200° its not high enough to have the transmission warning light come on. With the OEM cooling system, my transmission fluid temp NEVER rose above like 180° under the most spirited driving on 100° days. Now with the CSF radiator installed & the built in transcooler in the CSF unit im seeing transmission fluid temps going up as high as 203° under some aggressive twisty backroad driving. The trans temp when sitting at idle stays around 180-190° when before the CSF radiator it was about 165-170° . The temp will drop very slightly when I start taking it easy. I know 200° isnt necessarily above the limit for transmission fluid
but I was hoping trans temps would at least have stayed at about the same as the OEM.

idk the physical difference between the OEM radiator trans cooler system versus the aluminum CSF radiators trans cooler system.
Im kinda frustrated with the $700 (+ labor) CSF radiator. Especially since the only part of the radiator you can actually see is the kneck where the upper radiator hose connects. I can hear my father telling me " if it ain't broke dont fix it!" Now i feel like i never should have touched the cooling system & the CSF was no upgrade. Im actually considering going back to the plastic side tanked OEM setup & eating the labor costs on both sides. .

If anyone besides the other 2 in this thread had any experience w CSF radiators please lmk



i appreciate you taking the time to reply!

 

I spy with my little eye....

My engine cover.

 

The burnt copper matches the Akb calipers.

 

Huge fan of the look.

 

Hell Yah, thats definitely nice! Im on my 3rd G! That rwd or awd? what mods you done?
im ecu tek z1 tuned
Z1 cai
Berks cats
Invidia q300 full stainless exhaust
Custom muffler deletes
horchkiss f & r sway bars
Bc racing coil overs
cuzco strut tower brace

Nismo v1's (reps)
Full digital gauge cluster
paddle shifters
Akebono bbk upgrade
batt , brake & radiator cover are CF hydro dipped
plus 100 other things...lol..
We Did a dyno day last summer hit 349 whp!
Where you located? Im in CT.
I kick it w a iocal club
​​​​​@ctmodified

 

Brooo, i like that wrap on the bumper! I bought 2 rear diffusers from 2 different online vendors & it ended up being the same exact parts, like they all selling for Alibaba or something!
Needless to say , they did NOT fit my car, at least not right out of the box! I suppose i could have a autobody professional cut and stretch & make them fit. I said F*@! It & Im gonna do exactly what you , just wrap it. If u can send me a pic from behind your car id appreciate it. Im not sure if im gonna do the black or cf.

Thanks

 

I think the best setup would be to get the manual tripple pass radiator and use an external transmission cooler.
This way you have a decidated radiator that has full passages for coolant, and the external transmission cooler would have its own surface area and core to cool the transmission fluid separately.
I don't know what the temperature values are, but have two friends running this setup and happy with it. Both of them had bad valvebodies and swap to this setup after the replacement