Mishimoto Radiators - STAY AWAY

[Wh33lhop]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=213035

I wound up getting a stock z3m rad.

[atldohc]

I've also had problems with the mishermaid. The first was that the fan switch hole was clearly drilled and tapped crooked so the switch didn't go in straight. I solved that with plenty of rtv that I applied and let dry for a while before refilling and bleeding. Later I had a pinhole on the seam of the driver side end tank. I welded that up and it was fine. Then maybe 6 months later there was pinhole leaks on the pass side where the tubes go into the end tank. In short I should've just kept using the 23 yr old oem rad that still worked fine.

[nando]

Is mishimoto rad chinese made? If so, thats leak occured from inconsistent wall thickness of flat pipe line...


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Is the pope Catholic?

[efficient]

Damn and I wanted a mishi rad.

[ngampleh]

Is mishimoto rad chinese made? If so, thats leak occured from inconsistent wall thickness of flat pipe line...


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[diegom6]

Oops my bad...got distracted while replying through the phone.

Sorry R3V members for getting you all confused :p

[JGood]

Yes you are right that stuff is not healthy for the cooling system/engine however you seem to be stuck with no refund and you refuse to modify/weld the nipple as suggested, so you either wait until drop the perfect rad from the sky or just keep the rant about Mishimoto .

What ever you do, good luck!

First of all, you're getting people confused. I'm the one who started the thread, but you're responding to Luquidity's post about the stop leak. We are not the same person.

Second, this thread is not about me whining about not having a radiator solution. It's a vender feedback thread, where I'm sharing my experience with a vender, so others are aware of their business practices. I'll handle my own radiator solution, I never asked for help with that.

[Wanganstyle]

Exactly. My first one failed in 1 yr/10k miles. My 2nd one failed in 1 yr/10k miles.

Find me a Behr radiator that did that. Even Nissens is better then that. I don't care where you're driving, a stock rad will last longer then that.


And the stock s54 Z3M rad is thicker then the Mishimoto e36 rad. So it would actually be an upgrade in cooling abilities, not to mention build quality, fitment, and price.

I installed a new z3m s54 behr 5/14
9/14 Started Leaking at the driver side bottom end tank seam only when cooling down; it had seen about 4,000 miles and 60 minutes on track.

Replaced with another new z3m s54 behr and will see how long it lives.

My prior e36m behr lasted over 30k miles and 200 minutes on track and came out perfectly good for the z3m s54 one that leaked in 4 months runtime

Local mishimotos enjoy failing on track for both e36m and e46m.

Don't do it; at least the oem behr only leaked when cooling down

[nrubenstein]

Yes you are right that stuff is not healthy for the cooling system/engine however you seem to be stuck with no refund and you refuse to modify/weld the nipple as suggested, so you either wait until drop the perfect rad from the sky or just keep the rant about Mishimoto .

What ever you do, good luck!

The perfect radiator is an OEM MZ3. Problem solved.

[diegom6]

Yes you are right that stuff is not healthy for the cooling system/engine however you seem to be stuck with no refund and you refuse to modify/weld the nipple as suggested, so you either wait until drop the perfect rad from the sky or just keep the rant about Mishimoto .

What ever you do, good luck!

[Liquidity]

I would put the old leaky radiator and add the stop leak powder stuff and see what happens.

No. NO. Just no. Stop recommending stop leak. You think the only place it collects is where there are leaks? Do you think stop leak is self aware and sees that it's not a good idea to collect in a coolant galley? I'm guessing you've never seen the inside of an engine that has run stop leak additives. Even if it doesn't completely clog a passage, it coats every surface it touches which drastically reduces the amount of heat that can be transferred from the engine to the coolant. Stop recommending it. Stop leak was invented for shady car salesmen to sell lemons. It needs to be removed from shelves.

[ak-]

My eBay e36 rad had the same close proximity issue, but I made it work.
This is why I believe, and said so before, that Mishi rads are a waste of money. They all look the same - Mishi just spray paints their stencil on there.

[LoneWolf]

I bet if you modify it to fit they won't honor your lifetime warranty.

Dicks

[JGood]

3) The Mishimoto radiators are definitely not proven to be *more* reliable than stock, either. There are enough known failures that I certainly wouldn't pay extra for one.

Exactly. My first one failed in 1 yr/10k miles. My 2nd one failed in 1 yr/10k miles.

Find me a Behr radiator that did that. Even Nissens is better then that. I don't care where you're driving, a stock rad will last longer then that.


And the stock s54 Z3M rad is thicker then the Mishimoto e36 rad. So it would actually be an upgrade in cooling abilities, not to mention build quality, fitment, and price.

[JGood]

Will they reimburse you for the repair to the old one (if you still have it ) & honor the warranty still.

I have repaired and modified ALOT of aftermarket aluminium radiators to fit into different applications. I know that is not the idea situation, but just a thought. All you need to do is flush and clean it with ZEPALUM before you start welding it and it should be good to go.

I wish you were local, I would just have you bring it over.

Yeah, I could easily weld up the hole and put a new nipple on it somewhere else.

The problem lies with when the core leaks in a year, like my last two radiators, and I have to get a replacement, and do the same thing again. Time/money I have to spend, and additional downtime for the car. And then again the next year. And the next. That's not what I signed up for. And I have no idea if they'd honor the warranty in that situation. I asked, and got no response.

A Behr Z3M rad is $160. That my easiest, cheapest, best quality solution to this problem. I just think it's a shame Mishimoto won't let me send their defective product back for a refund.