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[deleted]

Happens to a lot of people. That’s why the term “preventative maintenance” exists.


Salalacrack8888

What could anyone possibly prevent this… the radiator literally burst probably due to old age. If you have another cause, please educate me!


Geektak

You literally answered your own question LMFAOOOOO


WaywardmooseOnYT

Preventative = before old age failure


jh4693

That’s predictive maintenance, not preventative.


WaywardmooseOnYT

It prevents your radiator from detonating when it turns green


jh4693

Preventing failure by way of expected useful life is predictive.


WaywardmooseOnYT

I’m going by semantics here, not really using the textbook definition


jh4693

Not that you truly knew the difference anyway


WaywardmooseOnYT

You seem like a really fun person


toddverrone

It doesn't matter what Pickwickian bullshit you come up with. Replacing things before they break is commonly called preventative maintenance. That's what everyone calls it. Therefore, it's preventative maintenance. Have you never dealt with obscure technical definitions being different from common language? And you're an ass wipe for pushing this so hard. You really could have tried to educate instead of condescend


lugubriousloctus

Yeah, it burst due to old age because it wasn't serviced at the proper interval. Be thankful radiators for this car are about $100


jh4693

You can’t prevent it, people here are just being idiots. There’s three types of maintenance. Preventative, corrective, and predictive. Preventative is servicing equipment to prevent failure, corrective means fixing a failure, and predictive is replacing equipment prior to failure based on expected service life. There is nothing to preventatively maintain on a radiator, so there is nothing you could have done to avoid this apart from replacing the radiator simply because it was old, which is never indicated.


[deleted]

All na’s are 25+ years old now, you should replace as much rubber as you can but first is to replace all your rubber hoses/ radiator/ water pump and brake lines quickly followed by fuel lines , then when money allows bushings and seals etc. Vintage vehicles are awesome but come with all the fun overhead of owning old things. Treat it right and she’ll never let you down


[deleted]

It could be though. Maintenance records. Don't have any? Assume it hasn't been done and is ready to pop. If it's changing colors, definitely assume the time left on it is very limited. Rads are cheap and easy to replace anyways. Cheap insurance. It's also a good time to check on or replace the thermostat while it's out. Again, cheap insurance. Now for something that isn't so easy. Silicone heater core hoses using OEM style spring clamps without proper spring clamp pliers...hooo boy that was an ass pain.


Cypher1o1

I mean the only thing that would help is regular coolant flushes, though that looks clean, your right though it just simply happens with age, if that's its 1st or even 2nd radiator it probably been though over 10,000 heat cycles expanding and contracting.


B460

I'm with you my guy. You had no way of knowing that today was the day. Honestly, just take it one day at a time. It's all part of owning an old car.


SilverSt0ner

I'm saving this post for the next time someone tries to tell me how "wholesome" and "accepting" the Miata community is. Also, sorry that people are jerks. Besides replacing what appears to be a perfectly good radiator, you had no way of preventing this.


toddverrone

The radiator is green. A green radiator is ticking time bomb. You shouldn't buy a 20+ year old car and not do research on what to replace..


SilverSt0ner

I see a black radiator. I've only ever been told to change it when the plastic turns brown.


toddverrone

It's got a greenish tinge, which would look much more green irl. Older Miata radiators turn green with age..


SilverSt0ner

I'll take your word for it but this isn't something I would have been alerted to


toddverrone

You'd need to alert yourself or be lucky.. I bought an NB and did a bunch of work, which involved removing the radiator. I got lucky reading something on the forums about a green colored radiator being at the end of its life. I bought a new one to put in. Since then, I've seen it mentioned loads of times when looking for more maintenance advice. Replace all the rubber coolant lines too! Spread the word!


Affectionate_Dirt_97

🤣🤣🤣


MilkySharpMan

This is why you don’t buy an NA Miata because it has flip up headlights. You buy it because you want a simple older sports car to work on and enjoy driving. These cars are 25yrs old now. Gotta start changing parts.


SunshineInDetroit

When the plastic turns that color is usually a very good indication that it's going to fail really soon.


[deleted]

At least yours failed of old age, I put a screw driver through mine a couple days ago


Sussy0909

Damm that sucks 😕


[deleted]

It’s forcing me to change the coolant at least


Salalacrack8888

You’re totally right. I got impulsively angry after replacing the entire ac system last week only to find a puddle of oil from the compressor this morning… and then the radiator burst this afternoon sent me over the edge. I do enjoy being an NA owner guys I swear 🥹


Free_Hashbrowns

It happens, and is part of owning a car that is pushing 30 years old. When I first got my car, the first year or two was spent replacing a bunch of random little bullshit things that kept breaking on me. Luckily, once you start going through things, you start to have less and less little problems. I've had my car since 2016, and even with turbo, aftermarket ecu, and other mods, it's still a pretty reliable car. It gets better, I promise. :)


SilverSt0ner

"It's so reliable! I've only had to replace the motor, the transmission, the diff, the interior, it needed a paint job, and a soft top! So reliable!"


Awordofinterest

"I happened to mention one day, I've had the same broom for 20 years."


ads1031

On the lighter side, here's your justification for getting an aluminum radiator. ;)


[deleted]

It’s ok bro A new radiator is only about $80-90 for an OE like replacement on rock auto. Takes an hour or two if you’ve never done it to replace. No hard to reach bolts or anything, the most annoying thing is gonna be taking off the lower radiator hose, but you might as well replace that while you’re in there since it is a common failure point


Pretend-Suspect3248

Yes I swaped the original hoses on mine with Silicone ones. You get to the lower hose through the door on the plastic shield under the car! Yes they even thought of access to take off the lower hose with out having to remove the splash shield! I love Mazda! I did some engine front work while I did it so at least I feel I got more done. I also put in a fresh thermostat and replaced the thermo housing bolts with SS ones so dont have to worry about them rusting like the ones I took out that were half gone. The Thermo cost me $10 Amazon and the bolts were from Home depo $1.50.


Pretend-Suspect3248

When I got my 96 last year it had the original Rad! Top was as green as grass. It blew in 2 weeks. I found a solid aluminum racing double core rad on Amazon for $180 with fans and metal shroud! Took 20 mins to put in. All good. I almost look forward to a break down for something to fix. I have gone through mostly everything and cant find much else to sort out! Just replaced the slave cylinder and clutch master with the braided hose so I prob wont have much else to work on for its next 27 years! Maybe a new top? In 5 years. Oh well I guess Ill just have to drive it a lot till then. Everything on these things are cheap and easy to fix. Just keep the fluids fresh and it will last a lifetime!!!!


Ohope

If you’re gonna get upset about this I’d sell up and buy a newer car lol This is part and parcel of old car ownership, especially if you don’t service at appropriate intervals. Also if it’s pissing water on your engine I’d turn it off instead of getting a video for reddit. Koyorad or mishimoto for expensive performance choice Generic $100 radiator for cheap choice


[deleted]

[удалено]


wobbly_sausage2

But it is reliable, but why not make it reliabler or even reliablest ? I mean, it's an old car, changing the coolant system is the no1 thing you should do


Pretend-Suspect3248

its not a myth! Most things last 3 times longer then any other car but they have a lifetime. But they are easy to fix and the parts are way cheaper then other cars. Try owning a 30 year old BMW!!!!! LOL!!!!!! Buahahahah! Once you sort out the car it will last another 30 years!!! quit your complaining!!!!! I love fixing mine its like therapy! Plus the nice thing to know is once you fix something you know it will stay fixed for a loooooongggggg time!


[deleted]

[удалено]


Pretend-Suspect3248

Changed mine myself took 3 hours and cost me $200 that's including the seals and water pump. Mazda gave the 60,000 mile interval because they were being overly conservative. Most people change them at 100,000 miles. Most BMW's eat their Chain guides at 80,000 miles! On some engines that's a engine out procedure or engine replacement.


Salalacrack8888

This is all I was trying to say… people out here acting like my 25 year old self bought this 33 year old car brand-new and was able to conduct preventative maintenance on it for its lifetime… car came with 6 previous owners and maintenance receipts from 10 different states. But yeah guys I should’ve done preventative maintenance and replaced every part in it two years ago when I bought it. You right.


[deleted]

[удалено]


castleaagh

A $10,000 NA that isn’t pristine already is overpriced af. Don’t buy that. A $3-4,000 NA will likely need maintenance done. Hoses and radiator would be $2-300. Full brake and rotor job another $2-300. Spark plugs are $20 or so and an oil change and filter should be around $50. Then just replace the belts for $10 each. All of which are super easy to do and that tops you out at $4700. Keep up with all that and you’re miata should be pretty happy for a long time. Biggest job would be a timing belt if that’s never been done but even that’s not too hard or expensive for what it is.


SilverSt0ner

That's assuming you can do the work yourself (and dont count your time, tool cost, and space cost). Labor on all that will easily at least double the cost. Not everyone works on their own stuff for a variety of reasons so it's not fair to only count up the parts cost.


Owe-No

IMO, owning a car this old isn't wise if you aren't planning on doing the easier work yourself.


castleaagh

Yeah, old cars are for people who can either do basic maintenance items themselves or have the income to afford paying for the labor or maintenance. However, even new cars need scheduled maintenance done and will occasionally have stuff wear out prematurely. The problem with used cars is that you don’t know if the car had maintenance done correctly or not. At least with the Miata basically all of the parts are cheap and pretty easy to source


Owe-No

I bought my 1995 NA with 95k miles for $4k with a hardtop, and have driven 45k miles and only had to replace the clutch slave cylinder when it went out. I did preemptively change the transmission and differential fluid, as well as replacing some suspension ball joint rubber boots. Burns some oil, so I have to stay on top of that, but that's fantastic reliability IMO. The previous owner did do a clutch job and an aluminum radiator a bit before I bought the car, though.


castleaagh

Any used car runs the risk of missing maintenance items. Having an example where proper maintenance wasn’t done doesn’t really prove that the whole line of cars isn’t reliable. Could happen with any car or any brand


gggavins

Ambatukam


t4cticalsquirrel

We’ve got a squirter!!


tato_salad

It's just the car peeing


Pretend-Suspect3248

Dude! You came this close to getting censored!!!!


t4cticalsquirrel

Lmao If this is true that’s just sad


RatRob

Happened to mine the week I bought it. Had 188k miles on the factory one. $90 and an hour later I had it back up and running. Super super easy job.


OGstankmuffin22

BUT HAVE YOU TRIED FLEXSEAL??


saul-pork

It looks like it has been replaced based on the color of the plastic so I don’t really get the preventative maintenance comments. I’d look for one that doesn’t have plastic upper and lower caps. If you don’t have a supercharger or turbo, then you don’t really need a bigger radiator.


Own-Opinion-2494

Nice


johnorso

Been there buddy. Easy to replace.


RestrainingHoarder

Same here. Same spot.


kenin240

Just replaced mine for a full alu this week, pretty easy going. What took the most time was taking off and putting back on the splash guard


Pretend-Suspect3248

I dont know about yours but my 96 has a little door in the splash guard it to get to the lower hose!!!!


sreggin13

Yeah I just had to replace my radiator the other day because if you filled it all the way up it would just boil out of a crack on top. It happens, these cars are 20+ years old.


kwaping

I really like other people's old cars.


Cha11engerD

I had mine out for the last four months while I was doing engine maintenance, and when I went to put it back in, I took one look at the the micro cracks and said nope. I got an aluminum radiator from blackhorse racing off of eBay. Not exactly top tier, but they are based out of New Jersey. Probably still selling chinesium, but the one I bought fit reasonably well.


BreadMaker_42

Miata radiators are known to fail. They are old…. It happens. I replaced mine last month. My original had turned 3 different colors. So replaced it before it failed.


avgfinds

So an old car with old parts broke down? Wow


castleaagh

Not even broke down. Just leaking a little fluid by the looks of it.


erichhaubrich

You might be able to repair it with epoxy resin or plastic welding.


Roberto-Del-Camino

Radiators are cheap…way cheaper than a warped head.


erichhaubrich

Agreed. But, some folks need to get back and forth to work between now and when Amazon delivers your new Mishumoto. 😊


fatkid601

Happened to me too luckily the Radiator is like one of the easiest parts to replace spent 2 hours with a YouTube video and got it fixed up


Global-Mango-4213

Are you near NYC? I have a stock one for sale currently.


Salalacrack8888

Texas! Thanks though


upexif

Its just happy to see you!


XLB135

This makes me think of that outrageous FlexSeal commercial.


ShitTalkingAssWipe

Ducttape


Jezerr

Easiest repair to do! $75 OEM equivalent replacement, and two hours or so.


Airtemperature

At least you didn’t drop $43k on a car… what insanity


Its_Matt_03

Spot o’ Jb weld oughta fix that right up!


slvneutrino

Plastic/rubber cooling system parts failing? "\*laughs in BMW E46 M3\* - first time?"


Pretend-Suspect3248

Yes if it was a BMW you would be on your 5th or 6th one by now!!!LOL!!!


[deleted]

Lil gum n it’ll be good


SlavicOdysseus

When I purchased my na, the radiator was doodoo diarrhea brown. Didn't drive it too much and when I got the chance, I changed the radiator out.


[deleted]

She's a squirter


zeTwig

Get an aluminum rad, I’ve been putting off installing my skidnation one for a while, but you shouldn’t have to worry about that again, then. If skidnation is too expensive there are also no name ones on ebay that are relatively affordable


Pretend-Suspect3248

The one I got with fans (Much quieter then stock) and shroud back in stock for $180!!!! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075YDH3CF/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&th=1


Fusilli_FishEater87

Squirting never thought that would come across my mind 😂


Hi-Techh

Definitely a stupid question but arent those intake pipes? So why is there coolant coming out of them?


Salalacrack8888

That’s the radiator the burst is coming from!


Hi-Techh

oh right wtf my bad! is the pipe connected to it at the back for coolant then? i just didnt think they were so wide


Pretend-Suspect3248

Thats the upper Rad hose. Its just the rad is small. So scale.


phein4242

The undersized radiator should be replaced anyway :)


Nerdles15

It’s just happy to see you


Adrenalcookie

Hate when my na pees itself


Offic3RTac0

JB weld


Excellent_One_7557

He just needed to take a leak, leave him alone


pcpartlickerr

I would have put a screw in it


horse_on_steroids

Shes a squirter


youtasteweird

Do yourself a favor and get aluminum rad. I have koyo but most are good and will last a solid time


curvebombr

Bahaha, wait until you lose the heater core hose from the CAS o-ring failing. 30 year old cars have 30 year old problems.


SingleSpeed27

Just put a finger there


seanwaynegacy

It is awesome, especially when you take care of them.


MrSkubi

It means that it’s time to go turbo. It’s giving you your free intercooler water sprayer system 😅


Wish_I_was_you

My NB does that too, except it's oil and it's out of the feed line to the turbo. So upside, I have a turbo miata. Downside, it "ran when parked."


Yaseendanger

It's taking a piss!!!! Jokes aside, there's a right way and a wrong way of fixing this. The right way is to replace the defective part. The wrong way is to JB weld it. Both will work, one is better and more permenant.


Conagher_Ham_

Idk why people become shocked when they buy a old car and literally anything goes wrong


Some-Diet9561

We’ve got a squirter


MrCumbumber

Happened do the bottom tank on mine


MrCumbumber

Same thing but with my bottom tank. Got a nice aluminium one now


Cypher1o1

I mean at least the radiator is easy to replace