Everyone,

Well, I feared the worst with my car losing coolant over the past week or so. No visible sign of coolant was on the ground, yet every time I took her for a drive the morning after my coolant level was down much more than normal in my fill neck.

So, I rented a coolant system pressure tester from Autozone and tested my cap first.... check, no problem there. Then I pumped my car up to 15 psi and within an hour or so it had dropped 2 to 3 psi. Looked and couldn't see any leaks, so I'm thinking CRAP, motor may be gone.

Anyway, I left pressure on the system and went out into the garage this morning and noticed a couple small puddles of coolant under the car. One spot seemed to be coming from my upper radiator hose, but the other spot (unfortunately) seems to be coming from the core of my Mazdacomp aluminum radiator. This stinks since I paid $615 for this thing back in 2000 and thought it was a quality unit. Oh well, time for a new Koyo or Fluidyne. As long as I've got her apart I'm planning to replace my thermostat, and put new U/L rad hoses and turbo coolant hoses in as well. Also might try to disassemble my water pump and get some of the light leakage that seems to be coming from the bolt holes.

Anyway, just needed to vent a little!

 

Dont buy a new one until you check it closely. You may be able to get the radiator repaired - maybe a stone hit it, etc.

 

Yep that's an all aluminum rad so repairing it should be no problem. Probably cost you about 100 to 150 max.

 

Dave/Fritz!

Thanks guys. You made my Sunday. I guess I assumed that if the leak was coming from the fin area that it couldn't be repaired. No external visible damage to the fins or rad itself. I will definitely look into getting it repaired next week, and thanks again!

Tim

 

Even if the leak is in the fin area, it still is probably fixable. The tubes that run between the fins can be welded, either just to stop the leak, or, if the tube is badly damaged, the bad section can be cut out and the ends welded to block off that tube and stop the leak.

 

Thanks Dave,

Yes, I've contacted a local shop here in Phoenix who makes custom radiators for the Street Rodding community and he said they would look at it and give me their determination as to whether or not it's repairable. Funny that the Mazdacomp rad is made for Mazda by AWR Racing, who buys their cores from Ron Davis Racing here in Phoenix. Up until yesterday I had never even heard of Ron Davis Race Radiators, but when I went to check out their website, man... they're huge, and the product they put out seems to be VERY nice. I'll let you know if I'm successful at getting it repaired. My main concern is that I may have some kind of galvanic corrosion going on inside my system which may have caused the hole to form. I should take a voltmeter and do a test to see if my coolant is worn out. I doubt it since I change it out on an annual basis, but I do run a high ratio of distilled water to coolant (70/30). If that's the case, they may need to replace the entire core, or I'll be looking into something different.

Thanks again,

Tim