Hey all, my girlfriend's XJ is at it again, with her radiator leaking and the task falling onto me to replace it. She says the current radiator is about 5-6 years old, bought at Advance for something like 180 bucks. I've watched videos of how to replace it and it seems easy enough, so my real question lies in what brand of radiator should I be looking for? I've never done a radiator before, but I've always heard that OEM are usually way more expensive, so we're hoping to do an aftermarket that may have a good reputation behind it.

What brand do you all recommend for an XJ? Hoping to balance budget with reliability.

edit: And sorry for the newbie question here, but are radiator caps reusable between radiators? I think hers is still good so I'd like to just throw it on the new one if it doesn't come with one.

 

I have been ok with Spectra on my Wrangler and Cherokee. Tough to beat on a tight budget and most auto parts places stock them. Rockauto has the best price if you can wait a few days for shipping.
You can reuse the cap, but if you are in need of replacing the radiator, I would get a new cap. The rubber piece does compress and wear like any other part. Other things to consider when replacing the radiator are upper and lower hoses (especially if you have never replaced them), thermostat. Heater hoses. All of those rubber hoses wear from the inside out so you don't know they are going to fail until they actually fail.