Need advice about radiator repair
 

I need a little advice for my 94 RX-7. Okay, here’s the deal.

Problem:

I drove home the other day with no problems. I pulled into my driveway and turned the ignition off. As soon as I turned the ignition off, steam started coming out of the hood. Neither the temperature gauge nor the overheating warning system showed any change at all. Water began pouring out of the radiator. Water / coolant pretty much just pours right through it at this point. I did not start the engine again. I had it towed to Jeff Hass Mazda the next day. I’m in Houston, by the way.

Questions:

1. Jeff Hass Mazda is saying that two radiator hoses, the radiator, and thermostat need to be replaced. That sounds completely reasonable. The car is 10 years old, and those parts are original, to my knowledge. So, I can accept that they need to be replaced. They are quoting me a little less than $1,000 for the whole thing. Is this a reasonable price quote for the task at hand?
2. Does anyone think that the engine could be blown? As I stated above, I didn’t have any problems whatsoever while the engine was running. It wasn’t until after the engine was turned off that the problem was encountered.

Any advice anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

1. Those things sound reasonable to have changed out. You might think about purchasing an aluminum radiator and let them do the install. As for the price, if you aren't doing the work, it's hard to complain about labor costs but if that $1000 includes part, it doesn't sound bad. Have them drop the cost of the radiator, pick up an aluminum one and have them install that with the rest of the stuff.

2. I wouldn't necessarily say it's blown. I'm sure they would thrown in a compression check for you if you are that concerned.

Good luck!

I bet you $400.00 of that 1k is the price for a brand new radiator. Have them break the charges down so they can tell you what you're being charged for the individual parts/labor. Pick up an aftermarket aluminum radiator if you can afford it as well instead of the stock replacement.

You don't have to use Jeff Haas.

You can also use MazMax, they will do that work.

If you want to go cheap, I have my old OEM radiator, with about 10,000 miles on it, that I would let go for $100.

Also, you can get the hoses cheaper through Jeff Haas' Mazdaformance site, for about $18 and $12.

Thanks for all the quick replies! Now I get to ask more questions...

1. How much does an aluminum radiator cost?
2. What are the advantages of an aluminum radiator?
3. I Called MazMax, but they were closed when I needed to get my car towed. I've heard good things about MazMax and Jeff Hass. I have just never used either one. Is one better/cheaper than the other?

Thanks

Call Jeff Haas and see what their labor rate is, I think it is $75 at Maz-Max for RX-7s.

To give you an example, when the labor rate was $60/hr and I was a lazy slug, I had Maz-Max install my M2 Radiator and new hoses, it was 186.75.

$1000 sounds high IMO.

These prices are from Mazda Motorsports; they are what the dealer pays:


N3A1-15-200A radiator for manual trans $321.10
8AF5-15-171 thermostat $7.95
N3A1-15-185A radiator hose $9.10
N3A1-15-186 radiator hose $11.65

Total parts= $349.80

Labor for all this should only be a few hours even with draining/refilling the system. Even allowing their parts markup this estimate sounds too high to me.

Also, if you go with Maz-Max, talk to Bryan Smith only. He doesn't have an issue with you having them install your own parts, but the owner does, so it has to be done slightly on the QT.

They are usually around $400-450.

The stock radiator has plastic end tanks when can crack from extreme heat (which might be what happened to yours). While it took 10 years to happen, you can get an all aluminum one for about the same price (new) and most of the aftermarket aluminum radiators are a little bigger which can offer better cooling (but not necessarily).

Thanks for all the advice guys. I really appreciate it.

Depends how much you wanna spend...y not do the labor yourself? You could spend around $350 get the $300 all aluminum radiator special...new hoses and t-stat...and install it...its fairly straight forward

i got another question about the radiators in the FD, most importantly on an auto version. If the stock needs to be replaced would it make more sense to pay the for the expensive stock again to keep the feature of the trans cooling portion or does anyone know off hand of any direct replacements for the auto radiator? TIA

hmm I know that auto supra guys just add another transmission cooler when they get a front mount beause it blocks the one on their radiator. if its an auto then its not a r1 so you have a free vent to put in the cooler there. just tap into the existing cooler run some lines mount it and you are done. or if you get an aluminum radiator then just use the new cooler itself. The stock radiator works really well though. if you could find a stock auto one with low miles for a good price youde be all set again. just some options....