I am putting in a new radiator, the steps to changing it seem pretty straight forward, but I am wondering about flushing the system. Do I go to a shop and get the system flushed beforehand? Or do I flush after the new rad is put in? It would seem that if I flushed after, the crud could get settled in my new rad. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.....

 

id vote flush b4.....wouldnt want any crap in your new rad.....a tric 2 flushin also is to hook some sotra suction up to the tb coolant line....theres alot off coolant that you can miss when flushin, that sits in there...what i did was i have a funnel that sticks in the filler neck with a great seal (no leaks) and is abt 3ft tall...then fill the funnel pull off the tb hoe..and vaula...or if you have a small fluid pump....an old fuel pump will work great...
rad swap is easy...wich rad did u go with? flyuydine..koyo...?

 

SR Ultimate Rad...very, very nice! I bought it from the guy who won it at the Sevenstock raffle. Now I have the radiator and the M2 exhaust everyone was drooling over.

I feel like this...

 

but here's another thought...

your radiator holds a decent amount of fluid, so if you flush it before, you're going to lose some of what you just put in when you drain the old radiator... seems kinda pointless.... as a matter of fact, when you drain the radiator, you're going to loose most of the coolant in your car.

so... when you take off your radiator, unscrew the bolt in your block and drain the rest of it out as well... then, not only will you get a fresh clean radiator, you'll flush the system out at the same time. a pic of the drain plug is at the bottom of this page: http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobinette/flush.htm

and deffinitly pull off the coolant hose that goes back to the throttle body when you're filling it back up.... it's SOOO much easier. It can literally take hours to refill if you try the fill, start, bleed, fill, start, bleed method.

if you're having someone replce the radiator for you... I'm sure they can empty the block through the drain plug as well.

radiator replacement is good idea.

 

OK, here's the totally 100% **** retentive way to do it:

1) Start engine, let warm up to operating temp, turn on heater to high and fan to low speed. (it's already friggin hot enough in Phoenix as it is) Turn off engine, let cool slightly until there is no pressure on the filler cap (you'll know after you burn the **** out of your hand the first time)

2) Put front end on jacks. (you'll need to do this anyway to change the radiator) Open draincock with a LARGE phillips screwdriver on bottom of radiator, get burned by coolant pissing on your head. Open 14 mm bolt on bottom of engine, driver side, above oil pan rail, with socket wrench and get burned again by scalding hot coolant coming out of this hole.
Open AST cap (if you have it) and filler cap. Watch with amazement as yet more coolant spills all over floor. Let cat drink coolant. It's yummy. (sorry, I'm a dog lover.....).

3) Replace bolt, (don't bother putting teflon tape on it until the last drain) replace cheezy plastic phillips head screw stopper thingy. Refill with distilled water only. Replace caps (2).

4) Repeat steps 1 and 2 and 3 (obviously leave the car on the jacks) 2 more times. Now you have a clean system with just distilled H20 remaining as a remnant in the coolant passages.

5) Don't forget to put teflon tape on the 14 mm drain bolt after the last drain or you'll have to do this all over again when it starts leaking - oh yeah, there's a soft aluminum (aluminium if you're British) crush washer on this bolt that you should replace as well. Copper works fine, you should be able to get one an identical size at an auto parts store. Make sure it's the right size or get OEM.

6) Buy a new OEM filler cap, and AST cap if needed. Install new hoses, OEM works just fine. Don't be cheap. Don't even think of using anything except the OEM clamps on your hoses.

7) Bury cat.
:p

 

Jeeez it seems like a lot of bull **** to do....and I don't have a garage or jackstands...I live in an apartment complex where you are not allowed to work on cars (or you will be tied up with piano wire). I thought this would be a simple unbolt and bolt on. I guess not. Oh well I think Jay at RXforyour7 could probably handle this better than me. I'm a putz....I admit it, Oh well now I really feel like this....

 

yeah, it's not the easiest thing in the world to do, and will take at least a couple hours... you have to pull out lots of stuff - air filter, IC, hoses, crap...

but it's well worth it... *especially* if you live in AZ... you live in AZ don't you?.. just pull into someone's driveway & go at it there... you don't need to know them... just tell them you broke down as you were trying to turn around. heheheh.

 

ok first you do not have to use jackstands to change the radiator. it is faster to pull the airbox/intercooler and get it from the top. the best way to flush it cooling system is the use some kind of pressure washer and put it in where the fill cap is (note this is not really epa approved) oh and btw you do not have to turn on the heater the core is constant circulation.

mike

 

Are you talkin 2nd or 3rd gen?

 

I spent an awful lot of time under my car when I was changing the radiator, but I also spent a lot of time above the car. It ended up taking two people with one under and one over to get everything to fit without bashing everything to pieces.

We tried from both directions, but we couldn't work it from the top.

Just my $0.02!

 

????took me 20-30 mine to install a koyo with only minor wiggling...how can u get at it from the bottom? isnt the condensor in the way?

 

OK, we're talking about two completely different radiators here.

I'm talking about the MazdaComp competition radiator, I think total it's 50% larger than stock. And from being under the car you know that there is little room for 50% more radiator.

The condensor *was* in the way. That's why we had someone under the car, to guide the radiator down without bashing up the condensor.

Tight wasn't the word for the fit... or the pucker factor involved that would have resulted from dropping the radiator.

How large is the Koyo one?

 

The Koyo is listed at 55mm thick and the Fluidyne is listed at 38mm according to the www.absoluteradiator.com site

 

is it a bad idea to use the worm gear-type clamps instead of the stock clamps on the lower and upper radiator hose? It seems a bit more reliable..

 

Well, the stock rad has plastic-ish end tanks and nipples so I think the spring claps limit the tightness tourqe of the clamps. This is not the cas with aftermaket rads......I think.....