I just bought my first RX-8 less then a week ago. Its a 2004 Touring Automatic with 69,000 miles and is in great condition. While driving it home from the dealer I noticed the coolant light coming on and off but the coolant level was perfect and the car was running just fine. Yesterday about 15 mins into driving it I heard a loud boom and pulled over to see the underbody kinda blown apart and coolant leaking like a major wound. Im just curious if this was a common issue or just a freak thing that happened. Also any info about this incident or the car in general you guys can give me would be very appreciated. Thanks!

 

It is likely it's the coolant overflow bottle that exploded. Not the radiator itself. The cap on the bottle must have been stuck and not releasing pressure.

 

Wow. Thats crazy, never heard anything like that before. The radiator top and bottom is made of plastic, and being that old it will be weak, I know from experience. Changing a/c condensor and the bolt was a little rusty and snapped off plastic, had to replace that also. It was very brittle. Good news is I know where you can get one for $100 if you need a new radiator. If the bottle exploded, good news is it needed to be replaced as the sensor is faulty in the old design, i know this from experience also. My whole cooling system is new, hoses, pump, radiator, reservoir.

 

Yes it was the actual radiator that exploded and not the plastic reserve. My auto repair shop looked at it today and thats what he told me. Its gonna cost $560 installed for a new one. Do you mind telling me where you can get one for $100?

 

If you don't get hooked up with that radiator, here are a couple of part-out threads that have one.
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-parts-s...-seats-233333/
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-parts-s...rt-out-219722/

 

Thank you!!!! For the info, its extremely appreciated!!!

Im just so pissed about all this cause from the look of the car and the year/mileage it was a great buy. Im absolutely in love with it and having this happen 4 days after buying it is killing me. I just hope that after the radiator is fixed and thenrepair shop can then check the motor for any damage that they wont find anything wrong but with my luck who knows.
Do you know what could have went wrong with the motor with all the coolant comimg out and then having the car drive for another couple miles and then just die in the middle of the road.

 

The first part out, I know the guy (Adam) personally. He can be trusted.
Then there's also Mazmart. The part-out wrecked Mazda's. They are a site vendor.

 

CSF 3121 Radiator | Auto Parts Warehouse

I have used this one for my manual transmission for almost 2 years now with no problems. You can unscrew the connections for the auto tranny and not use them. Make sure you unscrew the pipe not the fitting on the radiator. It took about 3 hours to install. Make sure to use wd-40 on the bolts holding the underpinning to the frame of the car.

 

FYI I wouldn't use a used radiator as the plactic gets brittle.