Edenney

Thought about doing this myself but realized it would be absurd to risk breaking the radiator and quadrupling the cost of this job, just save $50 in labor rather than have someone experienced take the risk. Took it to a shop, tactfully suggested to the guy that he be extra cautious because the nipples are notorious for easily breaking off, and handed the job over to him. He assured me he'd be very careful and thanked me for the information, then came back about 10 minutes later to say that the moment he touched the reservoir the neck immediately broke/crumbled off the radiator. I was very frustrated, but there was nothing that could be done at that point but to go check things out.

As he had indicated, the plastic neck had sheared off unevenly about 3/8" above the top of the radiator (I think the neck normally sticks up about 1.5", maybe a little less). I observed the pieces that he had removed from the hose, and the plastic neck was completely disintegrating, it literally crumbled when I picked up some of the larger pieces and squeezed them at all. There was nothing he could've done, clearly it's just a poor design and/or very poor quality plastic. He said that he's seen this same type of design on other makes and models, such as some Toyotas, and he's never seen this problem, which points toward inferior materials.

He attempted to clamp the hose down over the remaining portion of the neck, but the moment he applied any pressure at all with the clamp, the little bit of neck that was left just broke as well. As a last ditch effort to keep me from having to buy a new radiator, he ran down the street and bought a custom piece of metal tubing and hose. He cut the neck on top flush with the radiator, then attempted to tap a hole into the top of the plastic, slightly larger than than the neck was, which he would then use to thread the metal tube into and thus create a new neck. He said he'd used this trick in the past when the neck on a similarly styled radiator had accidentally gotten bent or broken off, and it had worked great. Unfortunately, as soon as he tried to tap the hole into the top of the plastic radiator, the pathetically weak plastic just cracked, and that was that.

So, despite all the precautions, I wound up having to buy a new reservoir and a new radiator, but at least he charged me almost nothing in labor to replace the radiator since he felt bad for me. Obviously if it had been his fault that the neck broke I would've made him pay for everything, but it was obvious to me that he did nothing wrong. Whoever posted that if the car is several years old, you're almost certainly going to have to replace the radiator anyway was right. Even if it had survived the reservoir change, it would've failed in the near future, no doubt at some inopportune moment in traffic on the freeway, on a holiday or something.

Alterego667

I am on my second tank. Sensors always bad.
It's just 2 wires when they are connected light is on.
When they are not connected no light.
I just unplugged my sensor fixed the dang red light on my dash.
Of course bare minimum you would need to look under the hood once a week.
I always do and figured its not a problem for myself.

Plus right when your needle shows warmer you know to check your car anyways.

Rexpelagi

I know others have mentioned it, but just to re-iterate that small radiator nipple leading to the reservoir is really weak. I was trying to get enough room to take that line off the reservoir (wasn't even messing with the radiator side) and the line snapped the nipple right off. I hadn't looked into this thread because it seemed pretty straight-forward, but now I wish I would have.

Be extremely careful with that radiator line. As these cars get older breakage may become borderline unavoidable.

For whatever it's worth, 2004 with 57k mi - I know many owners are well over this level.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

All u need to do to avoid this is, instead of trying to pull/twist the hose off, just use a razor blade and slice the hose open.

eddybear

Has anyone used any aftermarket ones like this ? (considerably cheaper than the $120 - $150 price tag I see for the OEM)..


800ml Cylinder Radiator Overflow Reservoir Coolant Tank Black Aluminum Can | eBay

RX_4+4

Wake up old thread! Time for new light!


Is there an aftermarket YET on the Radiator Reservoir? I have been looking in different threads and even on amazon. I don't see almost $100 for the danged little tank when a radiator can be had for $50!

RX-Tuner

Yes there is and with options to best suit your needs as well!

https://www.rx8performance.com/collections/new-products

RX_4+4

^ sorry partner, guess you didn't get the part where something over like 50 bucks is a lil crazy to me.

wannawankel

FYI Mazda issued a TSB 01-040/10 that covers VIN up to JM1 FE**** ** 403405.
see more at: http://parts.arlingtonmazda.com/docu...40-10-2375.pdf

DESCRIPTION
Some vehicles may experience the coolant level warning light comes on even though the correct amount of
coolant is in the coolant reserve tank and radiator.
The coolant level sensor float in the coolant reserve tank (A) is deteriorated and absorbs coolant. The float gets
heavy, and sinks, causing the the coolant level warning light comes on. As a mass-production change, the
design of the float has been modified.

bgreene

The date on that tsb is 2010. Would a dealer still honor it now?

Prescription-8

For anyone following this thread years down the line and considering a Bennett Built unit, note that unlike the stock reservoir, BB's doesn't have internal passages or baffling - it's just a box.

This means that under high Gs you'll get a false low coolant light that gets triggered by the sensor getting coolant starved. You'll never experience it under normal driving, but it will present itself as an issue during rapid elevation or directional changes.