This is for my friends car who lives 4 hrs from me. I dont' want her car to be breaking down on her and I was wondering if it is a good choice to replace the stock radiator even though there is nothing wrong with it. I think its around this mileage that stock radiators go out. thanks

 

mine started leaking around 90k. if the hoses and belts are still factory i would at least replace them. The rad. may be overkill bt if you have the money go for it. Most of the time the radiators start seeping at the seems where the plastic and aluminum meet.

 

i had to replace mine at bout 90k.....but yes if you have the extra cash....go ahead and replace just to be on the safe side....eventually you will have to...

 

If you're tight on money leave it alone. If you can spare some cash you should be replacing several things at that mileage interval. Change your hoses, the radiator, the stat, and the cap, and of course don't forget the Honda Coolant. You might as well do it all at once instead of having to replace piece by piece. If she's actually driving 4 hours to see you then she should really get it all done and you should chip in

 

My car has 103K miles and the radiator just started to leak. As FormulaGSR said it seems to be coming from where the aluminum meets the plastic.

 

i basically do all the maintanence for her and i live in dallas and she lives in houston. So far its worked out great, that her car's never broken down since everytime she's in town, i do lil things for the car. I was just wondering if replacing the radiator at 120k as a preventative maintanence is a good idea because i dont want to see her car break down in housto.

 

If you (or her) have the money, I guess it wouldn't hurt to replace it, otherwise I would just leave it alone for now. If you buy a replacement one from a site like radiators.com you could get one fairly cheap. While you're at it, I would replace all of the hoses too.

 

OT: i made it from nort houston to Carrollton in 2h45min once. I was flying the whole way though. I averaged 3 hours. If shes in h-town you need to go visit her down there. its a fun town for a weekend or so. THe racing scene there is awsome as well.

 

At that milage i would be more worried about replacing the timing belt, water pump.

Usually the radiator does not have a major failier. It will just start to leak a little around the top tank, sometimes it will be the bottom tank, but both of mine have been the top. Once it does srack it only leaks a little fluid, and you can usually smell it.

 

I agree with Racer, the radiator usually springs a small leak, so you usually have ample time to fix before catastrophic damage occurs. Have you replaced the coil, ignitor, plugs, wires, timing belt, water pump, tensionor, oil pump, blah blah blah. I am not suggesting replacing all of these, just curious why you singled the radiator out, cause she might sell it before that radiator ever gives out.

I would definitely make sure the timing belt is fresh tho.

 

i've already replaced everything else..(timing belt, water pump... etc) at 90k. Replacing the coil? ignition coil? Should that be replaced?

 

my coil took a **** on me at about 135k. it was spontanious as hell too. i was cruising on post and ias i came to a stop it died. THat was all she wrote. (i pushed it back to mu barracks and fixed it there. if you've never pushed a car in El PAso TX for over half a mile in august you've not lived). But anyhow when they go out you dont get much warning so ya, i'ld look into replacing it. I just replaced my entire dist. with a reman from distributorking.com i believe.