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.

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

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

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

pws > wrote:

>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.

After I bought a 10 mm nut driver at Sears, the shield does not frighten me
as it used to.

Leon

>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
--
Leon van Dommelen Bess, the Miata Bozo, the Miata
http://www.dommelen.net/miata
The only thing better than a white Miata is two white Miatas

Leon van Dommelen wrote:

> After I bought a 10 mm nut driver at Sears, the shield does not frighten me
> as it used to.
>
> Leon

I am sorry that it ever frightened you, but you are clearly a complete
pussy, so it is not a shock to me.

A person like you who is so easy to find should probably not be so quick
to insult people in a public forum. (I count 3 from you in 2 days)

That is not a threat, just an opinion on safety and common sense.

Pat

"Leon van Dommelen" > wrote
> After I bought a 10 mm nut driver at Sears, the shield does not frighten
me
> as it used to.

Back to the ease of of removing the shield and ignoring perceived insults -
I added an electric screwdriver to the mix and can remove the undercarriage
shield in about two minutes. There are 3 screws, 2 nuts and 6 bolts. As Leon
mentioned, they are all 10mm. My Black & Decker with its articulated handle
allows easy access to the horizontal bolts in the wheel wells.

I pull the shields for every oil change to not only get improved filter
access but to get a good look at what is going on with the engine.
Especially for the short crank '90.
--
Ken Lyons '97 Brilliant Black/'90 Classic Red
Inside the Beltway
[Remove the first two digits to reply]

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

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

In article >,
pws > wrote:

> 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.

Yeah, well...I obviously followed the wrong set of directions.

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