my radiator popped a nice whole towards the top of it, and it's literally pissing coolant almost all the way up on my windshield. it looks like the previous owner tried to patch it, so i cant tell if they popped the whole in it, or the problem came about from old age.

now i have a radiator from a donor car, that seems to be in fair condition. but am i eventually gonna run into the same problem?? my stock radiator on my other mazda was crap, and cracked in the same place on two different radiators, so i ended up buying a aftermarket one

anyone have similar experiences??

 

Yes and no. You can fit a 3 row core radiator in an SA.

 

the stock radiators are fine, never had a problem with one.

 

im using a new oem sa radiator in my car temps is are good
i got a s5t2 in it

 

Take it to the rad shop to have the hole patched.

 

so.............anybody else have any bad experiences??

 

Nope, never had a problem with any of mine.

 

Radiators wear/corrode out. Sometimes it's simply the solder joints that give way, other times they corrode through. What, did you think the rad would outlast the body?

The biggest problem with radiators is the owner's lack of maintinance.

 

79-83 (3 row) raditors are the best. Copper is more conductive than aluminium. When you see people replacing there raditors with aluminium ones its because the stock ones had plastic tanks. They dont make them like they used to.