Coolant System Upgrade

[Halogen]

Figured the next project on my car would be to replace stock coolant hoses and components with tougher aftermarket ones (if available). I'm damn sure no one has touched the cooling system since the car was released from factory, not even sure if previous owner did regular flushes.

Reason I want to take care of this now is that I'll be doing some long haul trips this summer and I want to make sure the engine has sufficient cooling when and where it counts. Nothing worse then blowing a coolant hose out in the middle of nowhere. Which has happened to me before.

Just wondering if anyone has done a cooling system upgrade on their 3 ? How much work does it require ? How much estimated total cost ? Any special tools needed ? Suggestions for good aftermarket replacement parts ?

Thanks

[WhiteSpeed3]

i think midnightgfx has some coolant hoses done i beleive it was samco that made them and he was testing them out

[Halogen]

Looking into new hoses for Mazda 3 now. Some suppliers from the states, but I dread shipping, brokerage and customs charges.

Question: Think it would be better to use screw type clamps over regular pressure type clamps ?

[WhiteSpeed3]

yes it could be better as long as u dont over tighten them cuz i'v seen ppl tighten them to much and split the hose

[midnightfxgt]

Samcos are pretty tough, so clamp them on. Factory, I would leave alone.

The factory lines arent soooo bad. My only complaint is the "y" shaped pipe. Its multi-pieced and clamped together. OBX is the same I think, and Samco made it all one pc, which is nice. :)

-John

[Halogen]

Waiting on OBX hoses now, will probably cost me close to 100$ after customs. Ah well...car needs em, will make me feel 100% better for a good 2 years.

I was checking over the engine today and noticed there are a lot more hoses then just the 4 main coolant, might look into replacing those once I figure out what they do.

Any high quality hose (that fits) will do right and then just cut them to size ?

[TheMAN]

unless you're going for looks and your car is highly modified, you're just going to be wasting your money on such an "upgrade"

1) canada will NEVER get as hot as the southern US
2) if people have overheated the cars and popped hoses, don't you think there would be lots of screaming angry owners on the forums and mazda would've recalled such a major problem already? fact is, it never has happened
3) auto makers do LOTS of testing on their vehicles before being released for sale.... they test it in the cold arctic weather to make sure the car still runs right and also test it in places like death valley where it can get to 50 degrees... they engineer the cars to withstand those temperatures WHILE the A/C is operating

I have NEVER heard of any cars that have major cooling issues from within the past 20 years, maybe minor problems yes, but major problems like systems blowing up and stranding someone miles from home on a brand new car? NO WAY

coolant flushes are completely unnecessary with cars that have all aluminum engine blocks... the only reason flushing was done before on old cars was because the engine was iron block and sand (from the sand casting process) breaks off and builds up in the cooling system... also, traditional style antifreeze used silicates that contributed to build up in the system... new cars have also done away with silicates and most automakers now use organic corrosion inhibitors that prevent such buildups from happening

your best thing to do is leave everything alone and just drain and fill the system... flushing it will do more harm than good because flushing is usually done with tap water and minerals in the tap water is harmful to any cooling system as it will cause buildups in the system! this is why it is imperitive that distilled water be used if concentrated antifreeze is used.... if your car has FL22, then you do NOT mix it with any water and just use as much as you need to fill it up!



bottom line is, I think you are just over paranoid about the stock components in your car... I've driven my 15 year old van back and forth from TO many times and its STOCK cooling system was never religiously taken cared of either

[azn_outlaw]

Nothing really much you can do as people have said over and over...

Honestly, just change the coolant and add a coolant additive that will improve heat transfer...

Two companies come to mind:

Royal Purple "Ice" Radiator Additive
Motul (have no clue what its called, but they have one as well)

[TheMAN]

royal purple ice and redline water wetter both contain silicates in it, not sure about the motul one... but as I already said, that stuff is BAD for the car... I used water wetter on my protege before and it built up this nasty gunk in the coolant tank

but before you dismiss it, the redline DIESEL water wetter does NOT contain any silicates (corrosion inhibitors) in it, and so it is safe to use with any antifreeze... what's better is it's in a concentrate so one bottle can last 3 coolant changes... you get a better deal out of this! this is something people don't know about and redline won't tell you this either... the regular water wetter is designed to be run in a straight water system, that's why it has the silicates... while they say it is "ok" to run with antifreeze, what they don't tell you is it will "overdose" your cooling system with it as it's already a concentrated amount in that little bottle

[OILm.ca]

Redline Watter Wetter or Royal Purple ice ..

Will not do anything to Coolant is made for water and Yes it does work in some applications...
No point adding it .. to Pre Mixed or Mixed Coolant Antifreeze ...waste of money ...

Beside It won't have any effect on thermostat-controlled/fan-regulated temperatures

[TheMAN]

"premixed" coolant is only a waste of money if your car takes conventional non-silicate coolant (pre-07 mazdas for the most part)... it is NOT a "waste of money" when the car calls for a specific type of coolant (FL22) and pretty much the only way to get it is from the dealer... putting in the wrong stuff and later finding out that you broke a bunch of things because of that IS a waste of money

all that so save what? 10, 20 bucks?
you sell oil, not coolant, so I forgive you for your ignorance

[Halogen]

OBX hoses arrived around 2pm today (e-bay order = 6 days from the US). I had to make a quick swing by parts source to get better fitted clamps. It was raining here all day, so I had to rig up a mig shift tent over the engine and drivers side wheel well (as I was installing a CAI as well). Was finished everything by 7:30pm (including clean up).

I was glad that I didn't have to pay any border charges and that the installs came together nicely. I flushed using a gallon of de-ionized water (from CT) and mixed my coolant with the same stuff. After everything is said and done, I'm very pleased with the car now. New coolant, new hoses, new intake, no leaks, more torque, cooler engine = more Mazda 3 love. :hawt

One thing I did do was fill the coolant expansion tank a little over max, could this be bad for the system ?

TheMAN - Thanks for the insight on coolant additives and cooling systems. Strange, I actually had a bottle of the RedLine water wetter in my hand and decided at the checkout I didn't want it. So, guess that was the right decision. Also, you make a lot of valid points, it wasn't a necessary investment, but I was running on 100,000km, so I felt it more or less about peace of mind and yes, a little about looks and also about the challenge.

[MazdaSpeedx4]

I think what he was trying to say is that adding Water Wetter to coolant is waste of money ? Because it will not improve anything It worked in my NEON but it could be placebo effect.

[TheMAN]

OBX hoses arrived around 2pm today (e-bay order = 6 days from the US). I had to make a quick swing by parts source to get better fitted clamps. It was raining here all day, so I had to rig up a mig shift tent over the engine and drivers side wheel well (as I was installing a CAI as well). Was finished everything by 7:30pm (including clean up).

I was glad that I didn't have to pay any border charges and that the installs came together nicely. I flushed using a gallon of de-ionized water (from CT) and mixed my coolant with the same stuff. After everything is said and done, I'm very pleased with the car now. New coolant, new hoses, new intake, no leaks, more torque, cooler engine = more Mazda 3 love. :hawt

One thing I did do was fill the coolant expansion tank a little over max, could this be bad for the system ?

TheMAN - Thanks for the insight on coolant additives and cooling systems. Strange, I actually had a bottle of the RedLine water wetter in my hand and decided at the checkout I didn't want it. So, guess that was the right decision. Also, you make a lot of valid points, it wasn't a necessary investment, but I was running on 100,000km, so I felt it more or less about peace of mind and yes, a little about looks and also about the challenge.
100k is still relatively low mileage for a north american car... my van has 300k on it and all that was replaced was the radiator hoses themselves... let's just hope you don't have problems with the hoses because OBX is known to make crap... I personally recommend hose techniques hoses, their silicone hoses are top notch and they are thick and reinforced well... samco is also my other recommended brand... both very good brands and used by racers everywhere

water wetter DOES something, not a whole lot but it does something... all it does is make the coolant more "slick" and this helps coolant flow better... it by no means just magically lower temps, but because coolant flow is more efficient, heat exchanging capabilities could be more efficient in the radiator... so while ultimately your engine temps will still be limited by the thermostat, the entire cooling system won't have to work as hard to stay at that temperature... all I got to say is, some race cars run their engines with thermostats too along with straight water and water wetter... does it mean it won't do anything? I seriously doubt that!


don't worry about it being over full... it will just "boil off"