Yeah PartsGeek has the Denso for $90.

Did your friend's father comment about how it was to work on the SC as compared to the Dingolfing wagons?

I ask because our SC430 is my wife's daily driver and I drive a 5-series, and find the Japanese products a little easier to work on (more room between components and better design for maintenance).

 

he said it was fairly straightforward. he's seen similar issues on bmw's, and said they last about 6-8yrs on avg on those. he has a tacoma himself, but their family has a variety of bmw's too. his son/my friend just recently got an '07 5 series, and I was actually pretty impressed with it, drove quite well. his dad is doing all the software updates on it now at the dealership, which i was surprised to find out can take an entire day to download.

 

Great thread, confirmed that I had radiator leak in the top section of my radiator that looked identical Sunny's radiator, but only on the driver's side. Replaced it with a Denso that did not have the foam. The best I can tell the foam does not allow air/dust into the engine bay, hence the reason the engine stayed so clean. Hopefully without it the engine will remain fairly clean.