Radiator Cracked, AGAIN!
 

This is the third time I've cracked a radiator. First time was the stock Visteon radiator at an autocross event. Second was a Mishimoto piece, they claimed was due to improper brackets which I had to wait a month for. Now, the replacement Mishimoto piece has busted a crack in almost the same place in less than a year.

I haven't talked to Mishimoto yet today but I hope they will still honor their lifetime warranty because that is the only thing that is keeping me with them. I really believe they make a good product, but something could be improved. It noticeably keeps the temps down on the car. If they will send me a new one, I am going to try and have some braces welded to it to help keep it from flexing, and install it myself to take the time to make sure every bracket it lined up correctly. I'd have to find a good aluminum welder. I really don't want to spend the money for a Fluidyne, which I've heard can suffer the same problems, and a Ron Davis radiator is probably out of the question.

Anyone have ideas or solutions to keep radiators from cracking. I think it's the horrible roads around where I live (Arkansas sucks). With the bumpy roads and the stiff suspension, the car has to flex and works to pull the side tanks away from the core of the radiator.

Maybe this would be a good time to inspect the front clip throughly to make sure their are no cracks in that. A weak front clip could lead to premature part failures.

I dont get on too many other forums but you are the only person I seen post about this kind of issue. You can see I been a member here for 6 years...

Well, I'll let you in on a secret since you probably hit the nail on the head. The front of the car has been replaced in the past due to a wreck and probably is a little out of whack. I'd love to know more about the history of the car, but the previous owner did tell me about the damage and everything looked pretty good so it didn't bother me much. I'm the third owner though, the car was originaly sold in Las Vegas. I wish I could talk to the first owner. The car gets aligned with no problems and drives perfect. It has some quirks and stuff but it's a great Mustang. I really think the engine has been out of the car too, it pulls hard for a nearly stock (as far as I know) Mustang (in my experience, and also been told by others).

I sent Mishimoto an e-mail with the warranty return form, and pictures of it leaking. I got a reply in 30 minutes telling me that a replacement should ship out within the next 24 hours. If everything works out then I won't regret buying a radiator from them. $225 from American Muscle in 2008 has stretched itself pretty far.

I think I am going to install the radiator myself this time and make sure everything fits as perfect as possible. I would like to find someone who could weld some cross braces or something to help stiffen the radiator for some added protection.

I'm goin with Stanger on this one, not heard a lot about this happening. Are you running a strut tower brace? Your front clip may be weakened somewhere from Auto Crossing. Its strange that it happens in close to the same spot. Check the radiator support for any signs cracks or broken spot welds and look into a strut tower brace. Good Luck and hope a freebie comes your way.

I know of one spot that I should take a picture for you guys to looks at. It actually looks like the inner fender is cracked, close to the strut tower. I should probably be more worried about it but I put out of my mind hoping for the best and figuring that there is so much metal there that nothing could happen. There is proably even more stress there due to the coilovers. I don't run a strut tower brace, although I will have to rethink that one now that the issue has possibly become apparent.

Already got an order confirmation for the radiator with it being shipped. So far so good, they are working pretty quick. Last time it only took about a week for it to get here.

Alright, I had to go take pictures of it since I was starting to worry and I haven't paid it much attention since I first noticed it, probably close to a year ago.


Your all going to be like "WTF, you bough a P.O.S!" But, my college graduation is tomorrow, maybe someone will get me a 2011 5.0 :rolleyes:. Would some good welds laid down there fix any possible issues?

That needs attention ASAP! Its the anwser to your problem. That needs to tig welded and reinforced. While you have the radiator out check the front radiator support over closely for signs of cracks like I said before, also pull both headlights out and check the metal in those areas. Then if you contiune to Auto Cross install a strut tower brace to tie the front together.

Yeah bro, that crack/break right there is no bueno. Probably the root cause to your issue.

you need me to chop off the front of my car and send it to you? That front clip is broken. You could weld there though. The metal is thick enough.

FAWK! I'll have to get a shop to look at it to see what they'd do and how much it would cost. I'd really like to avoid having to replace the whole front clip ($$$). At the least I will have it welded up to prevent any more cracking.

Edit: damn, now we got Mishimoto ads at the bottom of the page.

I've got two Mishimoto paper weights in my garage and I didn't have anything like the damage your front end has. The first one lasted three days, but looked nice and the car ran cooler. The second lasted three months, looked like a chimp welded it in the dark, and the car ran just as warm as it did with a stock piece.
I said no more BS and got a refund. Then ordered a Fluidyne. I'll admit the bottom of my core support was slightly tweaked, putting minimal pressure on the brackets, but the First Fluidyne still lasted about eight months. Took a sledgehammer to it and the second Fluidyne has been in close to a year with no problems.

the front of the chassis is fucking with both of you. I'd suggest you're good candidates for strut tower braces. 01FR500 races and has serious repairs that need done. jameslf, not sure why the front of your rig is flexing but a STB will help.

The welds on both of mine looked pretty good and appreard to be of high quality. I think the second one looked a little better, but never compared them side-by-side. I bought the first one in July of '08 and it lasted till January of 2010, so right under a year for this one. I'm going to make sure my stuff is welded up and straight, maybe fab up some kind of structural braces, and get a good strut tower brace or something. Hopefully that will fix the issue.

It's not that the front was flexing. I don't hit the twisties very hard these days. This car is actually my gas miser so I'm pretty easy on this one. The previous owner had run over a rather tall curb and backed off of it, catching the bottom of the core support and pulling it forward enough to put slight pressure on the radiator when the brackets were tightened all the way up. It didn't seem like that much at the time.

No matter how much of a difference it was, three days before springing leaks is ridiculous. And having two radiators that look so different in their construction and don't even have the same style drains in them doesn't say much for a manufacturer.

True that. I've got my stock unit if you want it.

So R3d, do you think a STB will really benefit or work towards fixing my possible flexing issue. MM has the strut tower braces on sale 20% today, $111 isn't bad but I don't want to spend it if isn't going to do me any good. I've always been against running one due to probably having to remove it if I want to work on the engine, take off the intake, anything like that.

Edit: Did EVM go out of business? Seems like I remember them having a super hardcore strut tower brace but can't find thier website.

I can say that when I took it off my car for the 5.4 swap that I very much noticed the difference. It really helps keep the squirm out of the front end. With a couple more bars it'd be even better (from the core support to the strut tower). Make sure you tap the bolt holes in the strut towers and use the backing nuts. That'll keep the thing from loosening up.

Thanks, though some reading I think it's does have some benefit, but not for cars that have cages or chassis stiffening beyond subframe connectors. I thought about having the strut tower nuts welded on, that way I can take the STB off easier without having to get under the car. If I could do that, I could live with taking it off and on. Also, would it clear the big JLT intake pipe?

Hey FR, I sent you a PM a couple of days ago to call me cause I can't type worth a shit. I repaired a Fox bodied car like this a couple of years back that was cracked like yours and its still fine today. I wanted to tell you how to do the repair.

1. Remove fender and plastic inner liner. Check all around damage area for any signs of other cracks or cracked paint. Sand the whole area down to bare metal (under the hood and inside the fender well. Drill a couple of 5/16 holes in the damaged area appox 1 inch from the crack. These will be plug welded later.
2. Use 1/8 steel plate to gusset or reinforce the area where the cracks are. Cut and bend the plate so it extends about 3 inches pass the crack and weld plate with a countiuious bead. NO BUBBLE GUM. This takes some time to form your gusset
and may have to heat the plate to form it into the shock tower.
3. Now to repair under the hood, using a small grinding wheel, follow all the cracks and remove all the rust and make a small "V" in the metal. Next drill a small hole at the end of all the cracks, drill completly though using a 1/8 bit. This will stop the cracks from spreading. Now plug weld all the 5/16 holes and weld all the cracks making sure to penetrate the new 1/8 plate.
4. Clean all the welds up with a grinder and prime all the bare metal. Good as NEW

Sorry man, I forgot about that. I ment to PM you my number and call you in the afternoon when typically people are done with work and such. Thank you very much for the help and information though, I appreciate it. This crack and rediator issue is going to end up being my big winter project for the car, along with the torque arm.

Its all good, I wish you could just weld it from under the hood but its just not enough to hold ...long term. This may seem like overkill but this insures a permanant fix. Its like that 5th spring thing you were talkin about when I welded in my sub frame connectors, there is alot of flex in these unibody cars. Good Luck

Ive seen alot of reviews that Mishimoto Radiators always crack....

I would get another one from jegs or something

I've read a lot of the same and did a lot a research, after buying my first. I found that the early Mishimoto radiators were of a little less quality, but were improved after a while. I've seen side-by-side comparisons of Fluidyne and Mishimoto parts and they are very similar. The welds and build quality of mine looked very good. When it's not cracked, it's a damn good radiator. I just can't see spending the money on a Fluidyne when Mishimoto keeps sending me new ones for free. If they stop doing that, then I'd probably switch.