As I was driving along the freeway the other day, my radiator decided to go. Full, catastrophic failure. I can count at least three cracks in the core. This was a brass radiator (from AutoZone) replacement I installed a year and a half ago. I've been running the orange Zerex Extremelift AntiFreeze since installing it, as I came from the most corrosive environment in the US.
I was just curious if i'm a victim of "getting what I paid for" or if the Zerex degrades the brass.... or if there might be some other problem in the car that would cause the radiator to go like that. Up to this point temperature gauge never peaked above 1/4-1/3 deflection from the left.
I bought a fluidyne replacement and new FAL fans (one of the cracks shot fluid onto the motors oh my old flex-fan which immediately shorted out) but don't want to install them if there might be some reason for my previous radiator failing, still present.

Also, for those who have the fluidyne radiators, does it come with a cap? I'm going to be leaving on vacation for a week and want to get it ordered if I need one. Thanks in advance!