My factory failed at 116,000 and just replaced with this.

Cooling Systems and Flexibles 3592 OE Replacement Radiator with Plastic Tank & Aluminum Core for 07-11 Jeep® Wrangler & Wrangler Unlimited JK | Quadratec

Ha ha ha. Probably not. I just need a solution. I was looking at the flexalite but I don't want to have to swap the trans cooler. The only other "all aluminum" was the Griffin.

I'm super disappointed in the Mishimoto. The look is fantastic and the fit is great, but having my second one start leaking just a couple of weeks after install........ :gak:

What are you wanting to accomplish? OE is probably sufficient for the vast majority of uses. Is it as blingy as an aftermarket? Obviously not, but "if it ain't broke"..
Griffin makes a high quality product, but again, what's the need/want?

What do I want to accomplish? Well, for starters, to have a radiator that is reliable. The OEM nylon/aluminum ones are garbage. For that matter, so are the Mishimoto. So I guess I'm trying to accomplish having a reliable vehicle through quality parts.

Mine gave up the ghost at 160k, just went with OEM and local, $100, life time warranty. Thought about others, but it came down, reliability and down time. At least local I can take it out and swap. Online, I have to do a warranty request, the the new one shipped, just too much time.

My 15's radiator just gave up at 23k miles. It will be replaced with OEM under warranty. Once the warranty runs out and it fails again I will be looking at mishimoto product. I do run now of their radiators in my 95 Eclipse and it appears to be a great piece.

Looking at the point of failure on my oem radiator it seems to have started near the top on the driver side.

Had the same problem with the OEM at just about the same mileage. I know a bunch of people that had their OEM radiator take a dump before 30k (all of which are 2015/16 JKs. I think this is an "FCA/Jeep unacknowledged" problem with these model years.

I opted to not do a warranty claim and just changed it out with the Mishimoto. The thought was to put in a quality radiator that I wouldn't need to think about for a 100k miles or so. I've installed 2 of these Mishimotos now and have already submitted a "refund" claim for the second. They have a serious problem going on with these. I wouldn't recommend anyone buying these until they figure it out.

Fair enough. If the OE isn't doing it (haven't seen the amount of OE failures you have, I guess), sticking to an established, quality brand like Griffin should suit you.
I hope it's an RS/GS so the catastrophic failure it could cause is less catastrophic. 4g engines do not like heat. ;)

Hi bkundingerii,

I just wanted to apologize for the trouble you had with our radiator. Did our customer service ask you about your vehicle / its usage when you contacted them about the refund? We've noticed a lower failure rate within the 15/16 JK's so I'm curious to know more details. I'm also going to speak with the project manager and engineer on this to see if they may want to take a look at your failed radiators. I also wanted to reiterate that we have sold a good number of these radiators and the majority of them have not had issues; however, our customers' satisfaction is our highest priority so we're taking the failures that have occurred very seriously and looking for a solution.

As far as the Griffin radiator goes, we've fit our radiator on both the 3.6L JK and the 3.8L JK without any fitment issues, I would assume that the Griffin would be the same.

Sorry again for the inconvenience,

-Steve

Steve, according to Phomma in your customer service, and I quote,

"Mishimoto is not having any issues with these radiators nor are we aware of any quality issues involving our radiators and the Jeep JK".

So, assuming that this is the stance of Mishimoto's customer service, can you tell us all how many "lifetime warranty" replacements Mishimoto has sent out for P/N - MMRAD-WRA-07 over the past 12 months.

I think your customers would be happy to know this figure. I know I have now had two warranty claims in 4 months, and from this thread there are probably at least a dozen more.

I'd be happy to send my radiator back, tell me where you'd like it sent and pay me $30 (warranty replacement shipping cost) and I'll send it as soon as I remove it.

I'm not looking to get into a whole debate whether or not Mishimoto is producing a quality product, the proof is in the pudding (2 radiator failures in a combined 6000 miles). My time and the reliability of my vehicle is far more important than the $390 price that this product is selling for. I do not and will not accept a replacement for a third time. At this point if Mishimoto wants to save face, they should offer a refund for the receipt (proof necessary) amount should your customers deem that necessary.

To have to call your customer service have a debate about "if there is an issue" is piss poor.

What?:rotflmao2:
For a Chinese core and some welded on end tanks?
I didn't even realize this was the price point, and that makes the whole situation even worse. I ASSumed these were selling at what any other janky overseas unit would run.

I hate it for ya, and hope they do the right thing.

Tell me about it. Live and learn I guess. I already bought a Griffin replacement, from your neck of the woods and 100% American made. I work with FCA on a lot of vehicle development projects and know where they are getting their Mopar units from and the failure rate.......... that's why I'm not buying an OEM replacement. They might as well be made by Mishimoto :rotflmao2:

Anyway, I'm sure Mishi won't do anything to save some face. They don't care. If they did they would stop selling this garbage.

I'm still curious about the OE failure rate, as it relates to total vehicles over a time period. I see mentions here and there, but I enjoy data. :)

bkundingerii,

I believe there may have been a miscommunication within our customer service. I think what Phomma may have been meaning to say is that we are not aware of a direct manufacturing cause of these issues. Either way, I can see how his response would feel misleading and frustrating and I will speak to them about how they address these issues in the future. We are certainly not dismissing the issues that customers are having with some of these radiators and want to do everything we can to make them right.

Our goal for warranty claim rates is always 0%, and some of our products come close to that; but as is true with any large scale manufacturing, a percentage will fail. That is why we offer our lifetime warranty and keep an eye out for trends, as we are doing here. With that said, I understand your want for a refund and that is perfectly acceptable within the terms of our warranty. If you've already started a warranty claim and have a claim number that I could reference, I will personally ensure that customer service gets that issued to you.

I'm also going to PM you in regards to having your failed radiator sent back for analysis; we will cover the cost of shipping, of course.

I apologize again for the frustration this has caused and hope we can make this right for you (and others) as soon as possible,

-Steve

landoawd,

I don't have any specific numbers that I can quote but I know they did an evaluation for model year 14 & 15 where they were having numerous leaks due to their Tier 1 supplier (won't name). The weighed the cost of a recall (and potential embarrassment) and decided it would be cheaper to do warranty repairs as they rolled in. This is all hearsay so no one @ FCA will acknowledge any of this. It boiled down to a failure point on the driver's side where the aluminum core was crimped into the nylon side tank. They suspected that the crimp was overdone and cracked the nylon. Thus, leading to a hairline fracture that would only leak over time. This is why so many haven't seen leaks until 20K+ miles. They can smell the coolant burning but no visible leak until the hairline fracture opened up a little.

Fair enough. I've got 11k to go to hit the "magic" 20k. ;)

If that interests you, then you'll want to apply for a job in the warranty/quality departments in FCA and be assigned responsibility for that part.

There will be a few people who will have that information.
1. The quality engineer at FCA who is assigned responsibility for that part.
2. The quality engineer for the supplier that manufactures that part if FCA does not directly manufacture it.
3. Anyone above those individuals in the food chain that they directly or indirectly report who have a stake in having that information.

The information is there, just like the information is likely available in regards to Mushimoto's failure rates. Nobody is going to just publish it and make it available to the public.

:rotflmao2:
I'll pass.

Resolution?
 

So, it's been over a month since Mishimoto has had their test vehicle and I've been dealing with their customer service.

Any resolution?

How is the test vehicle going?

I've been working with their customer service and they want their defective product back to study. I agreed but only if they give me a refund. They seemed to be complying. They sent me the prepaid shipping label to send back the defective rad., and are pretending to be working on the credit (don't know of any company that takes 4 weeks to process a credit). I still haven't gotten a credit.

They alluded to "possible chassis flex" as the problem, and according to Steve at Mishimoto they now have a test vehicle (had for weeks now) and we haven't heard anything. I'm guessing this isn't the case or we would have heard.

Not getting an update is telling, at least for me.

Now the question is, will they come through with their promise? Will they credit me the purchase price under the stipulation that I return the defective unit? Stay tuned, I'll let you all know where this goes, and don't hold your breath.

Oh, and here is the pulled radiator, first pic is next to the Griffin, the second is where the leak is, in the exact same place as the first (Mishimoto) one I replaced the Mishimoto "lifetime (which was 2 weeks)" warranty.

Sorry, had an issue uploading the photos.

Brian,

Sorry the refund process has been taking so long, I too don't know what's holding up the process. I'm going to try to reach out to 4-Wheel-Parts myself today and work with Justin to get this resolved, there's no reason this process should take this long. You will get your refund.

As per what I talked to you about on the phone, we initially thought that chassis flex may have been an issue but that was a working theory and we still aren't ruling anything out. The test vehicles that we had in were personal vehicles and have since been returned to their owners, after the engineer took any necessary measurements and 3D-scans. Unfortunately, these fixes take a lot of time and data; two vehicles for a few days is just not enough to begin making design changes. This is why we requested you send in your failed radiator, as we have with others. We would much rather take a lot of time and provide a new design that actually fixes the issues than make assumptions based on limited data that only serve to band-aid the issue. As soon as we have a definitive way forward I will post here with an update. I have also passed on the clearance issue that you mentioned to the lead engineer on the project to investigate further.

I apologize again for the frustration this has caused you and I will be doing everything in my power to get this issue resolved,

-Steve

Big thanks to Steve for taking care of me. I was able to get a full refund (radiator only, not time/coolant/and misc. hardware) for my faulty radiator(s). I have sent back my last failed unit for them to evaluate.

On another note, the Griffin fit, looks, and works great.

i actually havent been on JK-forum for a while, but in the midst of researching my own leaking mishimoto rad i saw this thread. i got the same excuse when emailing the rep.

instead of blaming body flex at ANY POINT do you ever think that MAYBE your quality control is shit? stop blaming the chassis, it sounds ridiculous. i dont understand why Mishimoto doesnt believe that failures can be related to the manufacturing and NOT the vehicle its going in. you do realize that bad welds will eventually lose integrity with enough heat cycles right? doesnt matter how sturdy the front end is. maybe you should take one of your radiators and heat cycle it with pressure in a lab, the exact same way it operates in a vehicle and eliminate the "body flex" and environmental influences. hopefully you will notice that shitty welds dont hold up, and vibrations from the road and engine do not help.

by the way, i've only put maybe 2K miles on the radiator even though it was installed at the end of 2015.

im heavily leaning towards going back to OEM since there was actually nothing wrong with my original.

this is on a 2010 wrangler.

here is my case number if you're curious; #ODV-207-25558

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2919/3...ab2fea4c_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2858/3...c3c0dc60_b.jpg

if you want to improve mishimoto then maybe you should make products that aren't shit. no one cares about your lifetime warranty if we have to replace it once a year. im waiting on my 3rd mishimoto radiator. how are you guys still in business?

i call complete BS on not having customers report issues. stop ****in testing vehicles, stop blaming the vehicles. maybe your manufacturing process and quality control is shit.

3rd mishimoto radiator in 2,000 miles...i win...

first one never even made it into my vehicle because the brackets were all jacked up. second one started leaking few days ago (2,000 miles later)

absolute junk. chassis flex my ****in ass. :rotflmao2:

i should start using that business idea, next time i wire up a house and it catches on fire i'll just blame the homes foundation.

only way its going to meet his expectations is if he expects it to leak

funny how Mishimoto hasnt popped their head in yet even though their last login was today:rotflmao2:

Seems like a smart move on their part. When people come across as being hostile, it's typically a lose/lose situation to try to diffuse. Just my general observations.

i see what you're saying.

but considering this is one of the largest JK forums, i would have expected them to try to defend their product a little more. :thinking:

or maybe they are just hoping the thread dies so no one would see it

I thought you were a troll, lol.

no definitely not a troll, just a very unhappy customer that wants to be heard

3rd mishimoto radiator just showed up to my door today

Good luck with this one. :thumbsup:

Personally, if I was you I would cut my losses and put the new one up on eBay and put that money towards a Griffin like someone did earlier in this discussion if you want an upgraded performance radiator.

Here you go......
https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/atta...1&d=1488796855
https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/atta...2&d=1488797094

my one issue with griffin is their warranty, as shitty as the mishi is they have a life time warranty (thank goodness), IF the griffin had an issue a year down the line i would pretty much be SOL. considering how little i drive my JK a leak that shows up 5K miles down the line would take over a year to show up.

until more guys start running griffin i may have to hold off on it. i would hate to be a guinea pig

You realize that Griffin is proven quality, as opposed to rebranded Chinese junk...right? The Griffin warranty used to be 2 years on off the shelf rads.

The reasons companies like Mishi offer a lifetime warranty are
1) to entice people that buy a warranty instead of a quality product
2) the cores are junk and cost pennies on the dollar

The best warranty is one you never have to use, especially with a radiator where there's a lot of work that goes along with actually using it. Now if someone came out and said, we'll come out, uninstall and re-install the replacement including all fluid replacement costs, if the problem is determined that our product failed under warranty then that would be a radiator warranty I would be interested in, no matter the duration.

you are absolutely correct, best warranty is the one you never have to use. unfortunately i need to get this leak to stop. i'll install this third radiator they sent to me and pray. if this one fails then i will get my money back by either selling or asking for a full refund from Mishimoto. at that point i will step up to Griffin or just go back to OE

Hi Charles,

I apologize for the late reply; we are definitely not ignoring the thread, just a bit overwhelmed by events recently. We're still in the process of narrowing down the cause of issues with this product and are in no way dismissing any possibility; but have to go where the data leads us. I apologize for the frustration you've had, but I'm trying to understand what you would like us to do for you. I know that you've received your warranty replacement; but if this is not what you want, we can definitely get you a refund (you may be asked to return the latest warranty radiator if it's not yet opened). As is the case with bkundingerii, we hate to lose a customer, but would rather you be happy with a refund than dissatisfied with a replacement.

Please let me know what we can do to help, and I apologize again for the frustration.

-Steve

I just bought a replacement radiator today. I was having a heater problem this past winter and suspected a small leak in my OE radiator. I purchased a radiator pressure tester this past weekend and confirmed my OE radiator had a small leak in it. I was originally considering replacing with a Mishimoto but paying double the cost for double the problems didn't seem like a decision I wanted to pursue. I purchased a OE replacement today. The original OE lasted me 120K miles, so I have no complaints.

at this point there isnt much you can do, i've already paid $30 for shipping of the new rad, and i dont want to ship it back. im just going to put my OEM radiator back and sell the replacement. I wont be recommending anyone to purchase mishimoto products. in every forum i've gone to, no matter the vehicle, people keep reporting issue after issue after issue. literally changing radiators more often than their oil. since i installed my first mishimoto radiator i've only changed the oil once. a radiator shouldnt be a wear item, it's ridiculous