I wonder WHAT made Mazda decide it was a great idea to use plastic instead of metal on radiators

Tonight while driving to my friends house, my temp gauge was reading a tad bit higher than usual. I didnt think much of it until I was exiting the freeway and noticed some smoke coming out of the hood. I immediately pulled into the gas station and figured my car was on fire. I hit the fuel pump kill switch and let the car die. I opened the hood just enough for me to get a peek and look for flames. After realizing it wasnt a fire, I opened the hood completely and saw coolant everywhere. Theres a giant crack on the radiator and coolant gushed out of it whenever the radiator hose was squeezed. After "filling" up the radiator, I get to my friends house real fast which is like 2 blocks from the gas station. He gives me a ride to my house to pick up a spare radiator (good thing I kept it around) and some coolant. Now I'm swapping a radiator outside wearing khakis with only the reflection of my head lights as a light source. 35 minutes later the car runs once again. This is the 3rd or 4th radiator that has cracked on me since owning 3 FCs in the last year and a half.

Moral of the story, BUY an aftermarket radiator ASAP. Even if your stocker looks perfectly fine (like mine), it will crack when you least expect it.

 

I hear you! Where's the best bang for the buck radiator to buy? Any suggestions guys?

 

Koyo

 

Fluidyne is nice

 

Jeez, guys- expensive stuff there!!

I replaced mine with one from Napa (all metal)
for 130.00 and it had all the stock sensor locations.

Wan- I am totally feelin ya- only I made the mistake of patching mine with marine grade epoxy. Worked really good for about two weeks, then the whole plactic cap just fragmented like sun rotted vinyl. I was damn lucky I didn't lose the motor!!

 

If you have the money, get a name brand one like Fluidyne, Koyo or any other performance radiator. If you're broke like most of the RX-7 crowd, an aftermarket STOCK replacement will work very well. The crappy stock plastic radiator works very well cooling the engine so an all metal one should work just the same if not a little better. These can be found for under $150 or you can find new/almost new ones at junkyards.

ps.
The plastic on our radiators = teh sux!

 

I'm a tightwad so when my plastic top tank cracked, I went to radiators.com $134 + S&H.
If you are really in a pinch, Bondo marine epoxy putty stick will make a good patch.
Of course after one crack, others will follow.

A temporary "limp home" fix is to fill up the rad & loosen the rad cap so it won't hold pressure.