i just got my car started after the engine swap and was idleing it for like 30 min when suddenly the top of my rad blew apart, would this just have been a clogged rad that had too much pressure, or is there a problem to fix before i get a new one??

 

when you say "blew apart" do you mean the top popped off and flew across the driveway... or is sprang a leak and squirted coolant out

unless your compression chamber is leaking into your cooling system via a bad coolant seal, you had an old rotten radiator in need of replacing


was it running hot or steaming out the tailpipe???

 

If it was a stock radiator (w/ plastic end tanks), there was probably just a crack in the plastic or the tank/matrix joint failed.
Naturally, this would happen after the car had warmed up and pressurized the system, and was component, not system failure.

If you blew the top off an all metal rad then you've got a bigger problem, I think.

 

How about Mr Gloom and Doom? Like the *new* engine has bad coolant seals and that leaked pressure into the cooling system and blew that puppy up??? No, that's not a nice thing to suggest, but...........

Then again, I've had a crack in the top of a stock radiator and I attributed it to me resting my darn hand on that spot too many times while looking at the engine, plus it flat got old and went through too many heat cycles. Koyo radiators are a good replacement or a cheaper method is one from Mazdatrix, or......scrap yard.

 

so, what exactly happened

 

the plastic top to the rad actually blew over the fence, i thought it was someone slamming a door lol but yah no smoke out the tailpipes and it was after it warmed up and pressurized so there must have been a clog in the rad.

 

they tend to fail from time to time. just get a fluidyne one and be set.