i just got a 1995 4 door special edition integra with 130k miles from another honda tech member..

i had the car for about a month and i noticed that the old stock radiator was leaking somewhere on the top end tank or right near the filler neck, i couldn't see it leak with the car running at idle so i figured it must be leaking when there is more pressure (driving the car)... anyways i replaced the radiator cap just for the hell of it. seemed fine for 4-5 days didn't notice anymore leaks, i thought cool done deal, i went on a trip to canada and on the way there i notice it leaking.... coolant all over the underside of the hood and the engine bay this time... blah blah i topped it off the rest of the trip, got home and ordered a new radiator from
"RadiatorBarn.com" for 102$ shipped with a lifetime warranty... i pull the old rad out and yup it was toast.. install the new one, no problems... i drive the car for two weeks, the coolant level doesn't even drop in the overfill tank.. excellent

fast foward to today, i move my car and notice a small but noticeable puddle in the driveway sure enough its coolant, i pop the hood with the car running and i can see it bubbling out of the end tank/seam... the tanks on this radiator are plastic and the core is aluminum. so it's part plastic and part aluminum.

i call up Radiatorbarn and tell them the deal, the guy i talked to said that it is quite common and they are having alot of returns from integra owners, he said that honda has a bulletin out that the integras with higher mileage are making 2 to 3 times more pressure in the cooling system and destroying radiators... he also said something about upper/ higher rpms (funny mines stock LS, rarely take it to redline) i asked him why and how could that happen? what would cause that? and of course he really didn't know, as to he was just the parts guy... he wasn't rude.. he was actually very helpful, and they are even paying/sending me a UPS label for shipping the old radiator back to them.

im just looking for some feed back/ideas/opinions good or bad.. thanks homies

 

Mine broke at about 50,100 miles, right when the warranty expired.

 

stock honda radiators are aluminum w/ plastic endtanks. I got a CSF one for $125 shipped back in March, no problems yet.

My original one had almost 160K miles on it before giving out.

 

yeah the one i just got from radiatorbarn is "CSF" brand also....

the one i pulled out of the car had aluminum end tanks.... so it wasnt the stock radiator? it looked like it sure had 130k on it.. all green, missing fins

 

i think my radiator is a stock one and my car has 202 k mi and its just now going. what is the best type or radiator i could buy with out having to pay over like 150

 

down here on ground zero....

thanks for the highjack


jk. dont buy from radiatorbarn until we get this thing sorted out

 

The leak on the top seal is a common thing. Happened to me a while ago when I had about 50k on the car and a Spoon radiator cap. I just brought it to a radiator shop to replace the top seal and clean out the radiator. It has been fine ever since and I am using the oem cap now.

 

Over the 165,000 miles I owned my 94 LS it's had 3 different radiators in it. Not sure if it's the same problem as yours though.

The OEM lasted a long time. The replacement started leaking after a few months and got replaced again. I sold the car a few months later, so I don't know it the new radiator held up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mazinger &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Over the 165,000 miles I owned my 94 LS it's had 3 different radiators in it. Not sure if it's the same problem as yours though.

The OEM lasted a long time.

</TD></TR></TABLE>
147,000 on my 94 GSR and still got the orig. radiator. Prob croak on the way home, LOL
chris

 

wow a 103 dollar radiator ***** the bed in less than a month?

i bet you it is steel with plastic top and bottom tanks.

this isn't the first time i have heard of this with the p.o.s. radiator barn radiators.

did you use honda coolant?

don't waste your time sending back the radiator. get them on the phone and get your money back and put it intoa Fluidyne.

my radiator **** the bed and instead of going the CHEAPO route, i spent the extra 2 bills on the fluidyne.

even without the a/c fan the car runs cool, and the only time i will break the fluidyne is when a- i crash head first into a staionary object or
b- run the internal temperature of the engine up to the internal temperature of the earth and even then a spot weld will fix it.

 

...stock part cracked on the top tank at 100K...
...CSF replacement part sprung a leak at 135K, 1 year and 3 days after buying it; the Limited Lifetime warranty was useless...
...installed a used Fluidyne, has no problems and now at 185K...

 

*****update*** 11/3/2004

i checked my fluids tonight and once again i see coolant all over the top seam of another brand new radiator this has been 3 radiators in about 3 months... im ****** pissed!!!!!!!!! im calling radiatorbarn (again) first thing tomorrow and ripping someone a new *******.

3 radiators, each one has to be uninstalled, thats about 4 times going on 5 that i have installed/uninstalled a radiator... imagine all the coolant i have wasted $$$

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nuckingfuts &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">*****update*** 11/3/2004

i checked my fluids tonight and once again i see coolant all over the top seam of another brand new radiator this has been 3 radiators in about 3 months... im ****** pissed!!!!!!!!! im calling radiatorbarn (again) first thing tomorrow and ripping someone a new *******.

3 radiators, each one has to be uninstalled, thats about 4 times going on 5 that i have installed/uninstalled a radiator... imagine all the coolant i have wasted $$$

</TD></TR></TABLE>

sucks bro...good luck...maybe you need to try another company...

 

thanks i think ur right but heads up for anyone thinking of buying from RB.com

 

the upper outlet on my old radiator BROKE OFF and it was then that I noticed it was plastic. never realized many newer cars use plastic tanks and I was appalled. the dealer wanted over $300 for a replacement, Kragen got me one for $100. it's been fine since and I have a heavy foot and over 170k miles....tho I have had to replace numerous coolant hoses over the past year...

 

the last one was all aluminum, the first one was aluminum with plastic end tanks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by au-gsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

don't waste your time sending back the radiator. get them on the phone and get your money back and put it intoa Fluidyne.

my radiator **** the bed and instead of going the CHEAPO route, i spent the extra 2 bills on the fluidyne.

even without the a/c fan the car runs cool, and the only time i will break the fluidyne is when
a- i crash head first into a staionary object or
b- run the internal temperature of the engine up to the internal temperature of the earth and even then a spot weld will fix it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i dunno how much of that you decided to read or what not but i would go with it also... i know it's alot of money but think how much you've wasted in coolant... at $7 each and if you've done 3 of these you've probably went through atleast $50 worth of these, and think if it's another plastic endcap aftermarket "oem replacement" radiator it's destined to happen again, so if you decided to keep your car for another 50k miles there goes another $100 to replace it again if it does last this time...

just my thought anyways... i somewhat know what it's like... i just threw a flex fan through a $500 radiator in my truck

 

last night i finally got my gs-r running and i noticed a pin hole .... so today i will order me another radiator ... but at my shop we had a 98 integra special edition go through 4 radiators in a 6 month period we tried 3 different brands koyo, csf,modine ... all of these are quality brands but i guess the integras are pretty hard on these radiators in the end a csf radiator worked (well so far 5 months sence last one went bad) so i really doubt that radiator barn sells junk it is just a problem with our cars ... btw i did a block test and a compression test on that integra to make sure the engine was not the problem

just get another replacement and try it again

 

Just curious if maybe the added pressure that is destroying your radiator might be caused by a faulty/failing thermostat. When was the last time you replaced it?

Just a thought!!!

 

no need for a high performance radiator. just go oem! i have an oem '99 gs-r radiator (all aluminum) if you are interested. pm me if interested. if you aren't gonna be modding your car heavily or racing it, you will just be buying a "bling" radiator. there are probably a few people selling thier stock radiators on this board also. do a quick search of the classifieds. good luck.

 

I had the same problem on my last GSR with the plastic top developing a hair line crack just below the filler cap. I replaced it with an all alum/metal one, never had any problems with it after that.

 

yep..same ole thing happened a few years ago to me. i bought a fluidyne and no problems ever again.

 

hey thanks for all the replys. im glad HT can still have topics where users try to help other members and not straight up bashing all the time i did put in a new thermostat, i did that when i replaced the radiator the first time, also new rad cap (stock) and new upper and lower hoses. car never ever runs hot either..


i really cant afford the fluidyne although the idea of finally being done with this mess really seems nice. i can get green coolant at myjob now so im going to keep filling itup until the new rad gets here, if this newone blows again im def. getting my money back and saving the rest to get a fluidyne.

ps. yes the one i blew was "all aluminum", the 2 radiators before that were aluminum core, plastic end tanks...they did not last long at all.


anyways thanks for all the input and opinions guys, later