Your vehicle’s cooling system is more than just a radiator, water pump, thermostat, fan, and coolant. Well, OK, it is exactly that, but there is a lot more to an effective cooling system than just the parts, they need to be matched to properly cool the engine (and transmission/oil) consistently without overheating. There are so many variables in cooling system design that can cause major headaches. You may think you have a serious engine issue, but you may just have the wrong radiator cap.
The simple answer is absolutely not. There are so many different styles and types of engine radiators, it can get confusing, but there are a few styles that are the most common. Prior to the 1980s, pretty much every radiator was made from a copper-brass alloy, which offers the best heat transfer rate. The problem with copper-brass (CB for short) is that the tubes have to be thicker and they use solder to bond each tube to the end plate. This makes CB radiator cores thicker, taking up more space. In the mid-80s, copper and brass became harder to get, so OEMs switched to aluminum radiators. Aluminum also conducts heat well, just not quite as well as CB. The difference is that aluminum tubes are much thinner, so you can fit more rows of tubes in the same space as a CB core.
Aluminum radiator cores have more rows of tubes with thinner walls, making them more efficient when compared to the same size CB core. “We can move more coolant in a smaller space with aluminum” Cochran told us, “If we leave it based on space alone, we go with aluminum.” That doesn’t mean that aluminum cores are perfect, they do need to be protected from electrolysis, which is an electro-chemical reaction that is present in every engine cooling system. The fix is to run a sacrificial anode in the cooling system. Aluminum radiators are difficult to repair, so when they fail it is a replacement job.
