I'm going out of my mind with my mysterious overheating issue, I can't figure it out, and I'm tired of coming home from work pissed the hell off at the car and ruining my day over it. I just need to buy a radiator cause I have a feeling thats just what it is.. and if it isn't, guess I'll just keep throwing money at the damn thing until its fixed.

Now the problem is, there are all these cheap aluminum radiators (like the one sold on Punishment Racing) for the GST/GSX's but no love for the NT guys.. anyone know where I can buy one for a 2gnt at a reasonable price? Not like 400 dollars for the Fluidyne..

There are a couple "Koyo brand" aluminum radiators on Egay for $150 shipped but they have plastic end tanks.. didn't think Koyo made any with plastic tanks..

Yes, Fluidyne radiators cost ~$400, but you can pick one up for significantly less if you don't mind one that's used... just make sure it's in excellent shape. FYI: OEM fans won't fit on a Fluidyne radiator w/ any kind of turbo setup whatsoever (it's 'that' much bigger), so expect to pick up some fans as well - I like my FAL fans alot.

Replace the Radiator Cap, Thermostat?
Does your heater blow hot air when you turn it on?
Have you tried bypassing the heater core?
Have you tried flushing your coolant?
What color is your coolant, exhaust?
Is your water pump flowing?
Are your fans working, tried wiring them to run always?

- J

Yeah.. I'd love to find a used one for a couple hundred bucks. But do you think one of the Koyo ones on ebay will be alright? Here is the one I am looking at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-99-ECLIPSE-TALON-ALUMINUM-KOYO-RADIATOR-2-0-NONTURBO_W0QQitemZ400052839041QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item5d2501e281&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=65%3A12|39%3A1|72%3A1205|240%3A1318

I already have a couple slim fans I need to put on, they got in today. I am not running the stock passenger side fan (ac fan) because of clearance issues. I have a Treadstone downpipe and it comes about 1/2"-3/4" from the bottom of the radiator at the bottom bend.. why it goes forward toward the radiator, I have no idea.. theres plenty of room to angle it more toward the ground (90 degrees), even with A/C. So I have a 10" fan I will use as a pusher on the passenger side, and a 12" for the driver's side. They're Zirgo fans, flow 1200-1350 cfm each. On the driver's side the IC piping comes off the turbo at a 90 degree angle and the IC pipe is resting on the lower radiator hose, pushing down on it. I can't see that being the root of this problem, but I got the slim fan for the driver's side to allow me to clock the compressor a bit more and get that IC pipe off the radiator hose.

>>Replace the Radiator Cap, Thermostat?
Yes, got a new 1.1 bar cap and a new 195 degree (stock temp) thermostat and installed them. With the 1.1 bar cap, it's taking longer to overheat and cools back down faster once I get moving and stay off the throttle but it inevitably DOES overheat still.

>>Does your heater blow hot air when you turn it on?
Yes, VERY hot and in fact this is the ONLY way I've been able to keep the car at a reasonable temp. By overheat, I mean it's at 5/6 of the gauge (almost on H) and reasonable is about halfway on the gauge. Before I turbocharged the car, I would be a little under 1/2.

>>Have you tried bypassing the heater core?
No, what are the advantages of this? The heater core seems to be the only thing cooling me down, which gives me hope..

>>Have you tried flushing your coolant?
Yes, flushed with Prestone radiator flush solution and water, refilled with a bottle of Royal Purple Ice (like Water Wetter) and filled it out with Prestone 50/50 green coolant. Burped it properly with the radiator cap off and all. This was over a week ago.

>>What color is your coolant, exhaust?
Exhaust is clear, no colors. So I'm not burning coolant at all. Coolant is light neon green. I left an upper radiator hose clamp off last week and the hose blew off when I tried to drive the car. Lost a lot of coolant and topped it off with distilled water. Like 1/2 gallon. So it's diluted.. the other day it actually got so hot that the coolant was boiling in the reservoir and spilling out. This was before the new rad cap.

>>Is your water pump flowing?
I hope so.. it's only been in for about 1,000 miles. I replaced it when I did the timing belt. Is there an easy way to test?

>>Are your fans working, tried wiring them to run always?
Only running the driver's side (main) fan right now. It comes on when I turn on the AC switch, and when the engine is up to temp. How do I wire them to run always? Can I easily jumper a relay or something and do this? When I get my slimlines in I do want to wire BOTH to run when the car is running too.

By the way.. in the morning when I go to work it doesn't get hot, even if I push it kinda hard a few times (~10 mile drive). Then on the way home even if I baby it, it gets really hot.

Beginning to think there just isn't enough airflow to the radiator.. I do have a 3" thick FMIC filling the entire hole in the 2gb front bumper. I didn't remove the black strip at the top cause my IC is smaller (height wise) than most people on here and just barely fills that hole.

Please help!

i got sick of buying shit radiators. the ones with the plastic end tanks. LIKE the koyo you have on your link. it's shit. buy it once, buy it right, get an ALL ALUMINUM and you'll thank yourself. trust me, they'll keep busting. i'll never go to a factory radiator again.

Hit up http://www.maperformance.com/ and see if they have any of their N/A radiators left from the group buy.

Originally posted by Mike431635
By the way.. in the morning when I go to work it doesn't get hot, even if I push it kinda hard a few times (~10 mile drive). Then on the way home even if I baby it, it gets really hot. Beginning to think there just isn't enough airflow to the radiator.. I do have a 3" thick FMIC filling the entire hole in the 2gb front bumper. I didn't remove the black strip at the top cause my IC is smaller (height wise) than most people on here and just barely fills that hole. Please help!

I have a 4" thick intercooler and completely blocks my radiator and I have no cooling issues.

I run a Fluidyne radiator with two 12" pushers as well.

Just buy a Fluidyne and get it over with :)

May have to just do that.. just bite the bullet and call it done. Is there room for pushers on the front of the radiator with the AC condensor still on? I have like 3-4" of space between the IC and rad, and I'm not willing to lose AC being a Florida guy. I would burn up.

I still have this feeling like it can't be that simple.. other guys are running this same setup.. IC blocking the radiator, only the stock main fan, stock rad, and no cooling problems at all. Yet I've tried just about everything and maybe my car is just a special circumstance. Or the rad is just heat soaking like a mother cause of the DP coming so close. The dp is heat wrapped and after running the car, I can touch it with my bare hands after 10-15 mins. I DO have a massive exhaust leak at the manifold, but the heater lines are wrapped above the mani and I didn't think the ambient heat would affect it that much either.

If the heater comes on and blows hot, it means the hot coolant is flowing through the heater core, so the water pump can't be the culprit, right?

It just seems like after extended driving / when its warmer outside the car runs hot. Right now I'm talking to another 2gnt member about one of the Visteon radiators right now, so hopefully that will solve my problem.. combined with the fans.

I agree w/ Mike & 420agreenvilleSC... buy quality once and be done with it. Keep in mind that the Fluidyne radiator is a big a** radiator which dwarfs the OEM (it's a beast); if only to caution you w/ already having clearance issues.

Not running your passenger fan isn't helping anything... I'd get your slim fans on pronto. Not only will you have two fans instead of one, but they blow more air as well.

The entire post on wiring of fans is here:
http://forums.2gnt.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=5&topic_id=105373&mode=full

Dave's picture (that you care about) is here:


Buy some 10ga wire, crimp some connectors, and bridge #3 & #4... now your fans will run whenever the key is in the 'on' position.

If you heater is blowing hot air, that means you most likely don't have a low coolant issue or air in the system. Therefore, you should not need to bypass the heater core. Also, this does not confirm or deny a bad water pump.

Adding more water than coolant will transfer heat better & faster, but coolant has the benefit of raising the boiling point of water as well... if you have issue with boiling over in your resevoir, I'd suggest going back to a 50/50 mix.

You can remove the ribs of the front bumper as you mentioned; this will help alot, along with wiring your fans to always run. I've got a thread of my own discussing this a bit (& more) a couple posts down.

- J

Good stuff.. yeah I think I'm gonna buy the rad off the guy here on 2gnt.. it's not a Fluidyne but its an all-aluminum one made by C&R. Then I'll jumper the relay using that pic (thanks a bunch) and see how I do with the slim fans.

Btw, you mentioned taking the "ribs" out of the front, this would allow me to get more room to install pushers. I need to trim my bumper support to clear the IC and put it back on. That should be all the support/crash protection I need.

Could you show me a pic of your setup with the front bumper, support, IC, etc out of the way? If you have one that is. Or anyone else who is rocking that type of setup, even. I really want to see how I can fit those pushers in front.