Is a fluadyne radiator really gonna help with my FDs heat problem, on a hot day? i was driving my car today and the water temp was at like 225-230 F maybe even hotter. Is this a problem, or should i get a fluadyne radiator? How much will this thing keep my engine heat under control? Also are there any other things i can do to keep my car from reaching high temps even when im not driving hard at all?
adam

 

The short answer is yes. A larger radiator will help keep your cars temperatures under control. You can also increase the coolant copacity of your oil coolers, and do the fan switch mod. I went with a Koyo and I run CWR oil coolers.

 

Until you have some way of turning the fans on before the too high temps Mazda though were ok, there is little you can do except drive above 35 mph always. Screw the stoplights, I'm running hot!

Look on here for the fan mod (there are two, actually). By being able to turnm on the fans whenever you want, you can keep your temps all the way down to 180F ALL THE TIME (I do, anyway, even sitting in traffic in 85F weather). Or look for the Miata fan thermoswitch conversion if you don't want to screw with electicals much, or don't want a switch in your interior, or just don't want to think about it. The Miata switch will keep the engine temps to 215F, but you'll still be cycling. Running the fans does heat soak EVERYTHING in the engine bay on a hot day, so reefing on it from a stoplight CAN be a problem there...

The bigger radiator will not help the temp issue one bit if you are sitting in traffic. It's an airflow problem, in that you have none!

The bigger radiator DOES allow you to bring the temps down a little faster once cooling starts, and allows you to run cooler when airflow is no longer effectively increasing for a given increase in vehicle speed. What do I mean? At around 85 mph, you are pretty much stuffing as much air through the radiator front section as will flow through there. At that point, the stock radiator allows the temps to climb to 190 to 195F while cruising, if I've read some of the posts right. The Fluidyne in mine kept the temp to 182F while cruising at 115 across southeastern Washington, with outside temps in the 80's. Very nice.

Plus the stock radiator's plastic end tanks can leak as the aluminum fingers from the core start to weaken. Bad design.

That's what I know. Hope it helps!

 

Sure! The Fluidyne is a very good investment. You might also take a look at the PWR:

http://66.216.67.51/subcatmfgprod.asp?0=352&1=354&2=-1

As far as the temps, yes, they are a little high. You might first check your thermostat and verify it's working properly. Next, what water/coolant ratio are you using?

You might also check out some thing like Purple Ice:

http://www.royalpurple.com/prpice/prpice.shtml

It's been known to drop coolant temps down fairly well.

Good luck!

 

The Miata thermoswitch kicks in at around 185F. It's about $25 from the Mazda dealer.

 

Cheap easy fan mod:

http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/fan_mod.html

 

Yeah. Do the fan mod. I'd advise a radiator too. Bigger is better in my opinion..

 

Any mod which can rid of nasty problematic stock parts is a god given (almost) idea. Get a downpipe to flow out more heat from the turbos. Better/bigger oil coolers ain't a bad suggestion either.

 

oops... double post.

 

like everyone else says. You could also put some Water Wetter in the radiator. Very cheap 'add on'.

I live in Florida and with the Fluidyne, water wetter, PowerFC/Datalogit 'fan mod' (turn fans on 85C) I barely budge into the 90's and I use to have a huge problem with my car.

I don't think the CWR oil coolers will do much to your water temp, maybe a few degrees. In fact I have first hand observation...they were dramatic for my oil temperature and I highly recommend them but had little effect on my water temps as they were already ideal with the above setup. I added them about 6 weeks after the rest so I had a pretty accurate Before and After comparison.

David

 

I was told by MazdaTrix the only and best things to do for overheating problems was bigger radiator and oil coolers. The best part of an aluminum radiator is there is no plastic water tank that will leak or burst causing an overheated engine resulting in a rebuild from o-ring failure and warped housings.

 

The stock R2 oil coolers are good enough temps stay in the 180-195F sweet spot great upgrade for base touring models.I use a Sr ultimate rad 50% larger than stock in hot Miami my temps drop like a rock on the hwy to 180F no matter how hot it is.I was also using a Miata thermo switch but I noticed that after it heat soaked it starts to turn fans off at a higher temp that rated.

 

I live in florida and have the fan mod- my autometer water temp guage almost always stays on 180.
Previous owner said temp guage didnt seem correct- but as long as it doesnt show the engine is running cooler than 180- i believe it

 

I've had stock and large radiators on my FD's....what did I notice.....well nothing...If I raced more often or at all for that matter then I would spring for it...street driver...waste of money. I dont notice any difference..water wetter or not.

As for the fan/theromoswitch..that is a better idea.... if you have a PFC with datalogit you can turn them on at any temp....but dont turn them on too low...85C to me is too low for the fans to go on...90-92C is more realistic for the low fan to come on line. Anything lower they will be coming on all the time..needlessly in my opinion.

 

thanks for all the help guys!!

 

agreed... i dont notice any difference. i need to do that fan mod still though. anyone in the bay area experianced at doing this? beers on me! btw, i think its a good investment. why i dont know. LoL

 

Scratch hit me up, I'll show you how to do the fan mod. Less than 5 mins. Unless I have to ghetto rig something.

 

The Fluidyne or any aftermarket alluminum Rad is the way to go.....as the others stated, if you have the PFC just get with someone who has the Datalogit and change your Rad activation settings.

GEB.

 

rite on yo.. we should hook up ill buy you a double shot.
im a new alcoholic in practice.

 

Count me in foos!!

 

okay back to the subject of radiators. hehehe. its a good investment. so hurry up and buy!

 

KDR calls it a 180F thermostat, so I assum it's 180.

But yeah, good investment, it's the only other thing I plan on doing this summer. I was actually glad I didn't have my car today (94 degrees in the shade!!! This is new englad for christs sake!) I'd be scared to drive it w/o some type of cooling help.

 

Sorry to go off topic again, but like Scratch asked, if anybody wants to help a brother out with the fan mod near Baltimore give me a shot. I will provide beer as well

Now back to our regularly scheduled radiator talk...

 

I'm about to do the 180F (Miata) thermoswitch mod, so if you want I can take pics of how I get it done. Not that it's complicated, but it's much easier when you can visualize the process.

If you're talking about the manual fan mod, forget that I don't want the hassle while driving

Dave

 

Thanks bud....but honestly, I don't kow what the hell the difference is between the 2 because I haven't read up on them yet