Wtf Do I Have 2 Radiators ?

[Wacky Dee]

Ok I was just mucking around the front bar looking at the fan, hoses etc when I noticed i have TWO heater cores .. each is about 2cm thick and the one at the front was completely COLD (after a long drive) and the one behind it was HOT AS.

Is this the stock system set up?

The core at the front doesnt appear to be connected to the one behind it (the HOT one)..there's about 5cm of space between them so um WTF ? I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that stock radiator is only about a 2cm thick core so I think I have 2 cores on my front reo bar ..one of them apparently doing nothing and no its not a FMIC, I only have SMIC with the stock piping going to turbo..

!?!?

[Get EPIC]

I believe that is your air con condenser mate

[nisskid]

I believe that is your air con condenser mate

[Fluroman]

air con condenser

lol id say thats what he was looking at. .

[Wacky Dee]

yeah ok I thought it would be something like that but why on earth would they put it right infront of the radiator core so that no air can get to the radiator ??

[blind_elk]

It can't be blocking the radiator, otherwise your engine would continually overheat. Pretty certain the car manufacturers would have thought about this.

Air goes through the A/C condensor and then through the radiator. And it also has that dirty big mo-fo fan on the engine to draw air through both units.

[Wacky Dee]

I'll just have to stop by a car yard and look at another skyline I guess ..I'm sure it's normal (the condenser, not me)

[Wacky Dee]

when is the fan on top of the air condenser supposed to kick in ..when you switch the aircon on or is it supposed to be running all the time? I don't think I've ever seen it on

[tridentt150v]

Only turns on when the car temp rises and it needs it. Otherwise all your fan air comes from the motor driven unit.

If your doing say 40km/h, there is enough airflow so that neither fan is on - no fan is working. Its only in traffic and stinking hot days that the fan needs to work.

[2LV8ETR]

I'm stunned................

[Wacky Dee]

oh I see ... in that case my fan clutch may be sticking or something because I had the consult plugged in as I was driving and noticed it coming on very rarely even when the temps rose to 96c in traffic

[wanta180]

just take it for a run untill it gets fully hot and then park up and let it idle. jump out of your car and sit there untill it comes on. If it's playing up you would have noticed it running hot etc. if your temps have all been good it should be fine one would think.

[blind_elk]

when is the fan on top of the air condenser supposed to kick in ..when you switch the aircon on or is it supposed to be running all the time? I don't think I've ever seen it on

In the seven years this forum has been alive, no-one has ever thought to ask that question

[RBwhatever]

hahahahahahaahahahahahaha !!!!!!

Denis for president

Edited August 21, 2009 by RBwhatever

[RBwhatever]

you're not mechanically minded are you denis? totally understandable, but I gotta admit it was a hilarious question hahaha

[mosquitocoils]

Yep, it's already been solved, I know, but that's your air con condensor. I had EXACTLY the same thought when I first saw it... plus my front mount in front it both of those... was rather confusing for someone who didn't know how turbo cars worked... lol

There are some posts on here about wiring the fan to come on all the time (or be wired to a switch so you can control it) I thought... in the tutorial section. I believe it's for an R32... could be wrong about all this info by the way haha. But there might be some answers for you in that tutorial.

[Wacky Dee]

you're not mechanically minded are you denis? totally understandable, but I gotta admit it was a hilarious question hahaha

thank you thank you I try my best to amuse everyone

I'm not ashamed to admit I know next to sweet f'all when it comes to cars and a month ago I didn't even what a thermostat did exactly, today I replaced mine

Speaking of which .. I flushed the cooling system with some Nulon product (had to leave the thermostat out for this to save myself time when rinsing the shit out..) and refiilled it with the green Nulon premix (33% coolant 66 distilled water) Anyway, question is, aren't 34's supposed to take in 9 litres of coolant ?

I could barely fit in 5.5 litres and that's with the overflow bottle included .. yes I've bled the cooling system via those 2 screws on each side of the plenum (yes 34s do have 2 of those..) and radiator cap.

I've also drained the radiator and block (from the thermo side). Is it possible there was still 3.5 - 4 litres of OLD COOLANT left in the block on the right hand side and in the heater pipes? Seems kinda ALOT to be sitting inside half the block and heater pipes.. Oh yeah I did have the heater on full when flushing/rinsing the cooling system..

How much coolant were you guys able to poor in there last time you flushed old coolant ??

[gotRICE?]

There is a bolt on the block, turbo side that you can undo to drain the block completely.

So yes there would have been some coolant left in the system.

But if you had the thing flushing for long enough it was probly just water.

[Wacky Dee]

yeah I know about that bolt on the right hand side but from all my research most people were saying to leave it alone because 1) it's extremely hard to reach 2) a total PITA to remove as its probably become a part of the block so to speak..

So no I didn't drain from that one, just from radiator drain and from the thermostat side. So question is, could there have been 4 LITRES of old coolant/water still in the right hand side of the block and heater pipes??

[mad082]

it is common for the radiator to be slightly blocked (which flushing doesn't clean out) and that reduces the amount it takes. also it isn't just the heater hoses that hold some of the fluid but the heater core as well. and without knowing how exactly you drained the coolant it is hard to say how much coolant was left in there. i know that when i drained my 33 i put about 7.5L back in (says it is supposed to take 8.5L)