Didn't break the nipple on the radiator? :P

Nope, I was really worried about that, but the connecting hose had a fair amount of flex and I tried to avoid pulling the nipple in the wrong direction; just try to keep the nipple vertical and use the flex of the hose to get a good angle to pull it off. It was a pain, and had to work slowly, but it came off eventually.

lol good job. I pulled it vertically as well but it wouldn't give so I lost patience and pulled really hard...and the nipple broke...then the coolant reservoir replacement became a radiator replacement job.

Just out of curiosity, how much $ and how long did that take? At some point I would like to swap out the stock radiator for something with better cooling efficiency since I live in FL.

I just replaced it with some Ebay stock replicate radiator...for $150. OEM costs $350!

It took me a long time, just because I always take my time on working on the cars...maybe 10 hours? Maybe a mechanic can do it in half of that. (I always take 3 times of time of what a mechanics would take. :P)

10 hours ? ...

Ha..Like I said I take forever when I work on my car...I just like to play with stuff when I'm in there. Believe or not it took me 18 hours to change 4 shocks lol. (a 4 hour job for mechanics). So yeah if you are good and have right tools devide that number by 3 or 4.

For future references, i found buying the actual hose and just cut the original one around the nipple can *potentially* save u the cost of a new radiator

They are doing this plastic bullshit on purpose. Cuz they know 90% of the time people will break it upon removal, easy money right there.

This is a good idea. If I ever have to do it again this will be the route that I will take.

Good tip, not sure why I never thought of that. Hope you don't mind that I stole it for my thread https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...53#post3232953 and put it in the first post. Guess I was too consumed with everything else and it didn't actually happen to me, but that beats the crap out of buying a new radiator! :)

Getting ready to do the replacement. May even add a DIY post with photos as there aren't any yet. To avoid potential nipple breakage can you just remove hose from coolant tank itself leaving it attached to radiator and then add new tank ? Service bulletin says remove from radiator first to avoid breakage.

You may want to pull the nose to make getting to upper tank nipple easier.

Sorry for resurrecting a year old thread but had to share my experience.

I did a coolant flush and replaced my reservoir today. It actually wasn't as difficult as everyone on here talks it up to be. It was a bit of a pain however, what took forever was doing the flush. I managed to avoid breaking the radiator nipple but I broke the petcock screw on final installation. I called the stealership for price on a "plastic screw" and got quoted $17 and one day for delivery. I said heck to the no and went to Advance Auto who had it for $8 and becoming my automotive savior as of late. Anyway, don't get frustrated with the reservoir........a little patience goes a long way.

I refilled with Prestone 50/50, Redline Water Wetter, & distilled water. Presto.......coolant warning let gone.

Hose that connects to the radiator nipple
 

I know this is an old thread, but perhaps one of the many people who have posted in it could help me out. I'm looking at doing this job myself and I have the new reservoir. After so many people have warned about possibly breaking off the nipple on the radiator, and recommending just cutting the hose and replacing it, I need help identifying precisely which hose I would need to order/replace. I'm not very mechanically inclined and I don't have many tools, so if anybody is likely to break this off it would be me. Could someone who's familiar with this job and the part I'm referring to, perhaps go to Onlinemazdaparts.com, look at the cooling system parts diagram for a 2005 RX8, and tell me which part number is the cooling hose that I would need to order, cut and replace? I've looked at their diagram and I just can't tell which hose it is, as the diagram does not show any hose that connects to a nipple near the top of the radiator best I can tell, much less on the passenger side. There are several hoses in the diagram however. If the hose or a suitable replacement could be purchased from an auto parts store, I'd be open to hearing about that as well (although I'd still really appreciate it if someone could identify the manufacturer's part).

Any other suggestions are welcome, and if anybody happens to be aware of a DIY guide or video for this job I'd really appreciate it (I've searched youtube but couldn't find anything).

Someone else needs to verify this, but I believe it is 15-184.
If you are just replacing the bottle, there is no need to even disconnect it from the radiator and run the risk of breaking off the nipple. Just remove that hose from the coolant bottle end and put it on the "new" bottle.

While I use OnlineMazdaparts, sometimes they aren't the best at locating parts. Try this link and see if it make more sense?

COOLING SYSTEM. Fits: 2005 Mazda RX-8 | Jim Ellis Mazda

Once you locate it in the picture, then bounce over to the right and scroll down until you see 15184, the click on the blue box beside the $19.16 price and that will show you the stock codes appear to be N3H115184D ; N3H1-15-184A; N3H1-15-184B; N3H115184A; N3H115184B

I tend to use these guys to better identify parts.

But again.................if you are replacing the bottle and not the radiator, and that hose looks in good shape, just leave the radiator end alone and disconnect the bottle end of it, then stick it on the new bottle when you put it in.

Maz, the problem with just disconnecting from the coolant bottle is that you can't really reach that end on a stock 8 unless you twist the coolant bottle out several inches. Doesn't seem like much, but that tension is all it takes to snap the radiator nipple. This is exactly what I attempted to do, and the end results. Just the tension from moving the coolant bottle itself broke the nipple.

Mazmart sells the bottle with the hose included, so you can just cut the hose, which is a cheap preventative measure that works.

Did mine without breaking it, but then again..........I'm pretty careful. Learned long ago that "Johnny Torque Wrench" usually doesn't pan out......of course unless you do have to just muscle the crap out of something. :)
With a set of long nose pliers, I was able to release the hose clamp with the bottle still in place, then carefully work that end of the hose off. But, I guess I knew about the dangers on the other end and didn't want to go through that exercise.

Feel free to go up to my post........quote it, and give him your two cents. He may not see this way down here.

I need some help. I just recently bought some Mishimoto silicone radiator hoses for my 2005 Shinka. I want to know how to change them out. Or do I need to take my car to Mazda and have them do it

Honestly.......not being a smart ass, but if you don't know the basic steps. You better have someone do it. Are you mechanically inclined at all?

Yes I have some mechanical knowledge. I can do basic tune ups and change out ignition coils on my rx8. I just can't seem to locate all the hoses without removing my front bumper. I was hoping there is an easier way.

I was not to impressed with the hose kits available from us, IMO this 2 piece kit bull is useless, replaces half the OE upper hose. Thats beyond me. I expected more, in the end I had to piece two kits together to get all hoses replaced, except for the heater core line! Just think by now someone would offer a complete kit, or at least a completer 3 pc kit.

Half of a good thing, stills leaves you with half crap!

I have a 3 piece radiator hose set. Just wanna make sure I don't have to remove the front end to replace a few hoses

No, you don't. Just drop the splash pan, pull the air box and the battery and you should be able to reach everything.

There are 9 coolant hoses though, and the 3 piece set is usually the major hoses, but that isn't where problems show up.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTMzWDgwMA...N3pw~~60_3.GIF

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!

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

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

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

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.

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

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.