Does this failure happen on 1990+ Toyota, Honda or other brands?
In my experience they all have a problem.
Most often the plastic cracks right where the tank make the 90 degree turn out towards the crimp or near it. I would guess the plastic and aluminum expand and contract differently and as the plastic age hardens it cracks.
The aluminum & Plastic radiators have about a 10 year / 150k life expectancy regardless of make or model. After that it's borrowed time.
In a 12 month period I replaced about 20 radiators and all but two of the new ones were purchased from from RockAuto because of the price. The Rockauto Quality was fine but the price was between $75 and $150 cheaper from Rockauto.
I have had 2 problems with Rockauto.
One was a rebuilt power steering pump came in dead. Owner wanted the car back and couldn't wait for the new pump. They said get a new pump and they would bring it back. RockAuto said at that time I had to send the old one back before i get a replacement. OR buy another one and eat the price of the first one. I think that policy has changed.
The second problem I had was a "Prefilled" A/C compressor kit that came in with no oil. Big warning sticker across the compressor ports said "Prefilled with 6.2 oz of oil, DO Not add oil to the system."
I trusted the sticker but it had no oil. When it came back it was so full of metal filings I had to strip out the dash and replace the evap unit when it came back. There was no cleaning it.
Rockauto sent me a replacement kit with the same part number but the Big warning sticker said "Prefilled with 5.1 oz of oil, DO Not add oil to the system."
I Contacted GPD who made the compressor kit and they said it was prefilled and it must have been something else. I sent them the pictures of the parts boxes, compressors and stickers to show them their quality control. Crickets, they never responded again.
I will NEVER BUY A GPD product again. I have installed more compressors than I can remember and the only one I had a problem with was that one.
Aside from that I have had decent luck with Rockauto. Lately thought the local parts prices are coming down or Rockauto is going up.
