Ok, so my buddy emails me the other day and said his car was over heating and he took it to Dobbs. They told him the radiator and hoses were bad and wanted $500 for parts and labor. I told him I would do it if he got the parts. So I get the parts and the car yesterday from him and take it to my house to start the work. I see the radiator is leaking badly and the upper hose has a pin hole in it. So I get the top hose, radiator, and lower hose out and start to put the new stuff in. The lower hose I notice is about a 1 inch diameter while the stock, I believe, is 1.25. So right away I see an issue. I then get the radiator out and see the inlet and outlet on that is smaller then the stock radiator, at about 1 inch too. So then I look at the top hose and it is the correct one on the motor side but is to big for the radiator.. At this point I am thinking Autozone screwed up. We went to Autozone today and they said they clearly see the issue but all part numbers are correct according to their system. We return all the parts then head to Advanced Autoparts.....same issue!

What is going on here? Is this normal?

 

So what car and motor does your buddy have? I know it says "2000 Civic Si Raditor issue" but that doesn't necessarily that the car is a 2000 Civic Si, is it?

 

Everything is stock

Also, he just got the call from Advanced and they said they checked the warehouse and all other locations and they all match what they currently have...nothing matches what came out of the car.

 

sounds like they gave you d-series parts for that chassis. that would explain the smaller inlet/outlet on the radiator, and the smaller hoses. it seems there computer system is setup wrong and doesn't realize the b16 components are different than all the other civic chassis. at this point i guess you can try any other parts suppliers you haven't already, or get raped and pay stealership prices.

 

Is there another model I could tell them to look up and get the radiator from that one and it would work?

 

Any thoughts?

 

try buying gsr parts...that might help..just a suggestion

 

x2

 

Yeah but the GSR is a full size radiator and the Civic is a half size.....

 

Go to the dealership and get the hoses there or order them online at:

www.hondaautomotiveparts.com

www.slhonda.com

 

Wrong. The top hose on a GSR is angled different than a B16.

Del Sol VTEC would be the only other model that would have the same hoses. I'd have them re-check their computer and have them make sure their choosing DOHC VTEC for the motor and not SOHC VTEC.

 

Not that this is helping you, but just FYI, the locations where the hoses plug into the radiator is the same regardless of radiator size. For example, if one was running a GSR motor in a civic with a half size radiator, one would still buy GSR hoses. It's where the hoses plug into the engine side that matter. So again, you need to have them double check their computers and choose the DOHC VTEC motor for the 2000 Si. The Si's run dual core radiators stock.