Mike Kramer

I've been struggling to find OEM parts from my local dealership. The most recent one is a Radiator, mine is leaking. The Audi Part# is 4B3-121-251F. In your experience, what has been a reputable after-market replacement. I contacted Mishimoto, they reply that they don't carry one for my car. FCP Euro doesn't have any on their website and Cooling Wizard is like $1200 for a radiator that requires modification to install. My other go-to ECS Tuning & 034 Motorsports doesn't have it available on their website either.

Amazon has one that appears to be a direct fit for like $300 but I've learned not to jump on the first one I see! Thanks in advance for your input!

Grisho

I have had some luck with Audi tradition:
RADIATOR > Tradition Shop (audi.com)

Unfortunately, this one show unavailable, but it still might be worth asking them. I think this is an Audi (Germany) classic kinda parts shop that is good to see. If they have enough inquiries, they may decide to produce some more (I'm totally guessing if that's the case). They do not ship to the US though, so if you hav a friend in Germany that can reship it would be great. (I got the small rad fan shipped to Bulgaria and picked it from there on my vacation so they might ship all over Europe). The local Audi dealers (In Los Angeles - Santa monica Audi) said that they cannot order from this catalogue, which did not and still doesn't make sense (that was in 2022 so maybe checking again is not a bad idea if this has changed).

Another option is to try to repair your current one at a local reputable radiator repair shop.

Let us know what you end up doing, as me and others will likely need one too as our cars age.

Mike Kramer

Thank you for the suggestion. I will look into that idea of repair shop, good idea. It would likely put me out of a car for a few days longer than I care to have, but i'm skeptical about getting one from Amazon on some no-name brand that may likely leave me stranded somewhere!

Grisho

Yup, I have the same thoughts on non OE parts and also that they may damage other parts on the car.

Mike Kramer

So, after much procrastination, I finally got around to buying the Amazon "GO-Parts" Radiator. Will wait and see how the quality of it is!!
I will have my factory radiator rebuilt and put on the shelf for when I need it again! Hopefully NEVER, but we'll see.

Grisho

Nice, thank you for the update!

alexandrabeen

thanks for the advice i had the same problem

Mike Kramer

Thanks for the comment, but I have some bad news on the Go-Parts brand radiator. It did not fit! Side by side, it all looked to be okay, but at the lower driver side there is an extra fitting on the OEM radiator that wasn't on the New Parts radiator. I ended up returning the New Parts radiator and reinstalled the OEM one. I have had no luck.

hahnmgh63

I hate to say it but the Wizard cooling all Aluminum radiator might be the only choice although expensive. Being all Aluminum it'll probably outlast the life of the car. Mine is fine now but since I plan on keeping the car until the end I've been thinking about buying one as a spare. If there are at least 5 or 10 of us maybe we can get a group buy and get a little knocked off the price? Since they have dealer price then you know they have enough of a mark-up to knock some off the prices.

Grisho

I quickly looked at it and the connections seem different compared to the genuine radiator picture on ECS:
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...or/4b3121251f/

and the Wizard cooling one: https://wizardcooling.com/i-30504361...-radiator.html

Looks like the genuine radiator has 5 connections and the Wizard one has 3 connections, maybe 4 if the one on the opposite side is a hose connection.