Radiator blew out
 

Last night on the way home from work. Had to be towed to dealer. A little
over $400 parts and labor. Leaked at the top, he said. Is this unusual?
First time my '96 left me stranded. Of course, it's never been 10 years old
before, either.

Radiator blew out
 

In article >,
"Frank Berger" > wrote:

> Last night on the way home from work. Had to be towed to dealer. A little
> over $400 parts and labor. Leaked at the top, he said. Is this unusual?

Not really. Heat and age degrade the plastic top tank; when it turns
olive green, its days are numbered. I replaced mine preemptively with a
$130 all-metal radiator for an automatic Miata, with about twice the
capacity. Not a difficult job, just tedious and hard on the back.

--
Lanny Chambers
'94C, St. Louis
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Radiator blew out
 

you might want a new set of hoses to 'insure the job'. overheating weakens
hoses. and age is no friend to them either. if you have never replaced the
hoses now is a good time... a full set of 9 original equipment mazda hoses
can be had for $75 from www.finishlineperformance.com. for another $7 you
can get a set of grommets for the firewall to ensure against water leaking
in from the engine compartment (these weather seal the two heater hoses that
enter through the firewall).
http://www.finishlineperformance.com...n&key=MIAD1005
http://www.finishlineperformance.com...tion&key=M1042

"Frank Berger" > wrote in message
...
> Last night on the way home from work. Had to be towed to dealer. A
> little over $400 parts and labor. Leaked at the top, he said. Is this
> unusual? First time my '96 left me stranded. Of course, it's never been
> 10 years old before, either.
>

Radiator blew out
 

Lanny Chambers > wrote in
:

> In article >,
> "Frank Berger" > wrote:
>
>> Last night on the way home from work. Had to be towed to dealer. A
>> little over $400 parts and labor. Leaked at the top, he said. Is
>> this unusual?
>
> Not really. Heat and age degrade the plastic top tank; when it turns
> olive green, its days are numbered. I replaced mine preemptively with
> a $130 all-metal radiator for an automatic Miata, with about twice the
> capacity. Not a difficult job, just tedious and hard on the back.
>

Do you remember how long it took to change it out? I've got all the parts
(including the related hoses etc) in the garage, just haven't found a good
time to do it yet.

-Scott

Radiator blew out
 

Scott Hughes wrote:

> Do you remember how long it took to change it out? I've got all the parts
> (including the related hoses etc) in the garage, just haven't found a good
> time to do it yet.
>
> -Scott


Part of the answer depends on whether your car has the plastic
undercarriage shield. Removing that part adds some time to the process
if it is installed.

On my car, without needing to remove this shield, I can swap the
radiator in about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. This includes gathering the tools,
draining the antifreeze and filling it back up.

Like Lanny said, it is mostly tedious, swapping the fans back and forth
and dealing with the hoses. If the hoses are old, they can be hard to
get off. I cut them and then use vice-grips to twist them back and forth
until they come free. Of course, you only need to remove one end of the
hose when doing a radiator swap, so that helps time-wise.

A set of Rhino ramps and a good crawler can make that hurting back that
Lanny mentioned a non-factor as well.

Pat

Radiator blew out
 

In article >,
Scott Hughes > wrote:

> Do you remember how long it took to change it out?

About an hour. The worst part was loosening the bolts obstructed by the
power steering cooler--very cramped, and blind. Bending over the nose is
what caused the backache--if you have access to a lift, you would be
better off removing the undertray (which I didn't do) and working from
below. I didn't need to replace any hoses, just drain the system, remove
the fans, and swap the radiator.

It may be possible to remove the radiator and fans as a unit, I dunno.

--
Lanny Chambers
'94C, St. Louis
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Radiator blew out
 

Lanny Chambers wrote:

> About an hour. The worst part was loosening the bolts obstructed by the
> power steering cooler--very cramped, and blind. Bending over the nose is
> what caused the backache--if you have access to a lift, you would be
> better off removing the undertray (which I didn't do) and working from
> below. I didn't need to replace any hoses, just drain the system, remove
> the fans, and swap the radiator.
>
> It may be possible to remove the radiator and fans as a unit, I dunno.
>

Ahh, I can see how bending over the thing and dealing with the fans
while they are on the car would not be fun.

I don't remember any bolts that were hard to see or to get to, and I
have removed three miata radiators in the last year.
There are two bolts to secure the radiator that are easy to access, then
the radiator and fans just lift out as one unit after disconnecting the
hoses and the fan electrical connections. It is a tight fit, but it
comes out easily enough.

I can't see trying to deal with the fans any other way than with the
radiator off of the car.
You are going from a nightmare job to a very easy task of sitting over
the radiator on a bench with a socket wrench and all the room you could
ever need to remove and install the fans.

Pat

Radiator blew out
 

"Lanny Chambers" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Frank Berger" > wrote:
>
>> Last night on the way home from work. Had to be towed to dealer. A
>> little
>> over $400 parts and labor. Leaked at the top, he said. Is this unusual?
>
> Not really. Heat and age degrade the plastic top tank; when it turns
> olive green, its days are numbered. I replaced mine preemptively with a
> $130 all-metal radiator for an automatic Miata, with about twice the
> capacity. Not a difficult job, just tedious and hard on the back.
>
> --
> Lanny Chambers
> '94C, St. Louis
> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Just heard from the dealer. After replacing the radiator and repressurizing
the system, the water pump is leaking. When I complained that I asked about
replacing the WP a year ago when my timing belt was done, they said it
wasn't leaking and they didn't recommend it. His response was that probably
the car overheating yesterday blew the WP seal and a new WP would have blown
also. I'm inclined to agree, since I had been looking for signs of the WP
leaking for a while and found none.
Oh, I need front and rear brakes also. Big $$$.

Radiator blew out
 

Frank Berger wrote:

> Just heard from the dealer. After replacing the radiator and repressurizing
> the system, the water pump is leaking. When I complained that I asked about
> replacing the WP a year ago when my timing belt was done, they said it
> wasn't leaking and they didn't recommend it. His response was that probably
> the car overheating yesterday blew the WP seal and a new WP would have blown
> also. I'm inclined to agree, since I had been looking for signs of the WP
> leaking for a while and found none.
> Oh, I need front and rear brakes also. Big $$$.


How many miles are you at? I would be highly suspicious of their water
pump story. 6+ years of reading this newsgroup and I have never heard of
a radiator blowout or car overheating to cause the water pump alone to fail.
If the temperatures got that high for that long, you would probably be
looking at engine damage as well, unless possibly the pump was getting
ready to go anyway.

It could be coincidence, a very small water pump leak that can't be seen
yet, or a flat-out lie by the dealership. What you are going through is
how big dealerships make most of their money.
Selling cars doesn't bring in nearly as much money as overcharging
customers for factory parts and charging 2 book hours for a 45 minute job.

Also, by front and rear brakes, do you mean pads, rotors, calipers,
master cylinder, etc.? If it were my car, I would get that miata to
another mechanic for a 2nd opinion.

You can save quite a bit with things like remanufactured calipers, pads
& rotors from Trussville, and even a halfway decent shade tree mechanic
can do a safe and good brake job. It is incredibly easy to do.

If you have the money, however, there is no question that it is easier
just to have it towed to the dealer and to (hopefully) have it work
afterwards.

Pat

Radiator blew out
 

"pws" > wrote in message
...
> Frank Berger wrote:
>
>> Just heard from the dealer. After replacing the radiator and
>> repressurizing the system, the water pump is leaking. When I complained
>> that I asked about replacing the WP a year ago when my timing belt was
>> done, they said it wasn't leaking and they didn't recommend it. His
>> response was that probably the car overheating yesterday blew the WP seal
>> and a new WP would have blown also. I'm inclined to agree, since I had
>> been looking for signs of the WP leaking for a while and found none.
>> Oh, I need front and rear brakes also. Big $$$.
>
>
> How many miles are you at? I would be highly suspicious of their water
> pump story. 6+ years of reading this newsgroup and I have never heard of a
> radiator blowout or car overheating to cause the water pump alone to fail.
> If the temperatures got that high for that long, you would probably be
> looking at engine damage as well, unless possibly the pump was getting
> ready to go anyway.
>
> It could be coincidence, a very small water pump leak that can't be seen
> yet, or a flat-out lie by the dealership. What you are going through is
> how big dealerships make most of their money.
> Selling cars doesn't bring in nearly as much money as overcharging
> customers for factory parts and charging 2 book hours for a 45 minute job.
>
> Also, by front and rear brakes, do you mean pads, rotors, calipers, master
> cylinder, etc.? If it were my car, I would get that miata to another
> mechanic for a 2nd opinion.
>
> You can save quite a bit with things like remanufactured calipers, pads &
> rotors from Trussville, and even a halfway decent shade tree mechanic can
> do a safe and good brake job. It is incredibly easy to do.
>
> If you have the money, however, there is no question that it is easier
> just to have it towed to the dealer and to (hopefully) have it work
> afterwards.
>
> Pat

91K. I do not suspect my dealer of cheating me. I think independent
operators are more likely to cheat and to be incompetent. That is why the
dealerships get away with charging more money. I have had three instances of
clear-cut crookedness over the years. All 3 were gas stations.