Radiator

[TXblue240Z]

Well, I got my Z fixed yesterday, the electrical problem. Today, I was pulling into my girlfriend's driveway, when I stopped, the car made a strange noise, like th ebrakes lockingup, which kinda makes sense b/c I kinda stopped quicker than usual...except it wasn't my brakes. When I shut the car off and got out...my Radiator is leaking coolant, at an alarming rate...infact the whole thing drained faster than if I would I have removed the plug....so I put a hose in it, turned it on to see if maybe the plug had come loose or if i could determine the source of the leak...from best that I can tell, the damned thing separated at the bottom, or in some other way ripped open near the bottom... I couldn't see well because like all major car problems, this one happened after dark.... I'll investigate tomorrow...assuming it wasn't my lower radiator hose bursting or something easily replacable...where is the best place to get a new radiator for a decent price?

THanks!

[Bambikiller240]

The best local radiator shop in your area. (not necessarily the biggest, but the BEST) Depending on what happened, they could repair or recore your radiator.

You can buy radiators over the internet, but the ones I've seen have all been of inferior quality.

Usually your local shop will warrentee whatever work they do for you. They are close by if needed. The internet seller may do this also, but you'll be fussing around shipping bad parts back to them and waiting for a replacement part.

JMO

[beandip]

Call your local rad shop and see what they charge to recore yours' I recommend a three tube rather than the origional two tube. Other than that look to the wrecking yards . A 280 unit is to long and will hang out the bottom , from what I have been told. If you can find a 240 with a automatic I think they are three core. At least all that I have seen all are . The down side is it will likely be as old as yours.

[Sean240Z]

I had my rad recored last year. I went to my local Nissan dealer and they recommended a local rad shop. I had it recored with a three-core high-efficiency unit. I believe it cost in the neighborhood of $US 150. The 240Z runs much cooler now, I'm very pleased with the results.

Cheers,

[TXblue240Z]

ok, the one i have in there now is a three core. The rupture looks as if it was caused by the fan actually coming in contact with it, which i guess means that my engine isn't mounted securely....bad news i guess...thanks for the help. I guess I'll try to track down a good radiator shop... anyway ideas on why my engine would slide forward enough for the fan to contact the radiator other than a broken mount, and where would I start to track this issue down....

thanks a again for the help.

[Bambikiller240]

How bumpy was that road you were on when the lights went out? How fast were you going!?

In addition to bad motor mounts being a cause, it could be caused by the fan clutch failing, or the water pump failing, or radiator not mounted securely

[TXblue240Z]

the raditaor happened aside from the bumpy road. IT happened when i was braking pulling into the driveway. so I'm sure it's the motor mount allowing the engine to slide forward.

[Bambikiller240]

... anyway ideas on why my engine would slide forward enough for the fan to contact the radiator other than a broken mount, and where would I start to track this issue down....

Then why ask the above question!?

[Chino 240Z]

Strange how both mounts are broken at the same time. And for the motor to slide foward far enough to catch the radiator? what happened to your throttle linkage, wires, hoses and what ever else. . ? motors usually lift and not go foward?

I'd say-

In addition to bad motor mounts being a cause, it could be caused by the fan clutch failing, or radiator not mounted securely.

A bad bumpy road could have worked something loose? Hell, it work your electrical system loose!

[hls30.com]

Most people would be "uncomfortable" driving a car with such conditions, was the PO named Darwin?

When you get through finding all of the problems left by the PO, you will probably have a very nice car.

I think we all have had our share of suprises left by POs!

Will

[TXblue240Z]

thanks for all of the help..Still trying to track down a good radiator shop in the waco area. I went and looked over the damage again today and I noticed something strange...the fan blades are all fine, except for 2 of them which have notched up corners from rubbing on the radiator...these two are 180 degrees from each other... The radiator is mounted securely, and since none of the hoses, lines etc seem out of place, I am starting to doubt my lurching engine theory because, if the whole engine moved forward, then all of the fan blades would show signs of contact with the radiator... therefore, would a fan clutch going out cause the fan to rotate out of balance? And since I heard the contact the radiator when I was slowing down, but when idling it was fine, driving it's fine, but only when I decellerating quickly did it make contact, would this still be a problem that is consistant with a bad fan clutch? would a bad water pump also cause the fan to be unbalanced so that two blades only would touch the radiator? thoughts? thanks

[TXblue240Z]

Got the radiator repaired, found a good radiator shop... replaced the water pump, fan clutch and made sure that everything was good and tight...problem solved!