Need better engine cooling

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:09 am

Hey all. Not sure if this has been addressed before on this site or not - I don't remember it having been:

I've owned three tercels now (one 3 door hatch and 2 4wd wagons) and I've found with all of them that engine cooling becomes an issue when going up long steep mountain roads with a decent load (eg. four adults) at full throttle on a hot summer day.

I've always thought the radiator in the tercel was on the small side, and have thought about replacing it with another same height but longer Toyota radiator to provide better engine cooling.

Has anyone found an OEM toyota radiator (from another toyota vehicle) that can be fitted into the tercel with minimal modifications? I'd really like to upgrade so I don't have to worry about rising engine temperatures on hot days. It sucks to have to pull off the highway and let the engine idle with the electric fan on to cool it down before continuing up the hill.

Those of you who live in non-mountainous states/provinces probably don't experience this problem much I guess, but here in BC Canada it is a real problem.

Thanks,

Nick

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 5:06 pm

3ACPower knows about a double-thickness rad that will do that.

I've seen this problem on long desert grades...had to turn on the heater to avoid stopping....good for occasional use ONLY!

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 5:45 pm

I got a radiator recored with a core 3 times as thick as the original. This improves the flowrate and the surface area for cooling. I don't have cooling problems anymore. You need a radiator with metal tanks, not plastic, and a rad shop should be able to do it for about $200. It does take a little bit of customizing to make it fit, mostly moving the fan shroud back. You could go double thickness without any custom work required.

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:30 am

Thanks guys. Unfortunetly my car budget is very tight now and I won't be able to afford the re-coring option for a long while. I think I'll do some junk yard hunting to see if I can find a replacement rad from another vehicle.

Thanks.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 6:08 pm

The wider rad should work provided you don't have an a/c condenser in the way. Didn't your newer car have that?

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 6:23 pm

The guy bought an aftermarket AC install kit about 2 years before I bought the car. It looks OEM in the car, and connects into all the OEM harness connectors, but is different in other ways (eg. designed to run off R134a). The condenser is mounted in front of the front upper cross brace (forget the proper name for this thing). Thus I could mount the radiator behind the cross brace still with few modifications. Air would flow through the condenser, then through the radiator. It's sort of too bad that I'll no longer be using the new radiator that was put in the car before I bought it. Maybe I can convice the wreckers of a partial trade.

arbskynxnex · Post by **arbskynxnex** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:12 pm

Stupid question time here. How straight are the cooling fins on the radiator? I've drive similar terrain as you with my fat butt a weeks worth of camping stuff and a canoe in 100? temps and never had it overheat. Of course I've seen how Canadians drive so that could explain it too.

You may want to look at a corolla for a radiator and a/c condensor. Maybe check one with a 4a or 4a-lc in it. The radiator spans from headlight to headlight and the condensor mounts in front of it. (sorry no measurements) You would probably need some custom welding done for the refigerant lines to reach. I'm looking at doing this to mine, but I need to find a junkyard with a corolla in it first.

takza · Post by **takza** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 5:23 am

GTSSportCoupe wrote: Air would flow through the condenser, then through the radiator.

Does this setup have an extra fan for the condensor? Might just need an additional fan or a stronger one?

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 9:22 am

arbskynxnex:

The cooling fins are pretty straight actually. The car is just fine up and down small hills. It's more when I'm going over mountain passes where the throttle is mashed for 15-20min with the engine around 4k rpm on a 90+ F day. Thanks for your suggestions, thats what I was thinking too. I owned a corolla gts (4age) rwd which never had cooling problems. I'm considering trying a radiator out of one of these cars.

takza:

The A/C condensor does actually have it's own fan already, so this setup should work ok.

Thereminator · Post by **Thereminator** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:25 pm

All this talk about cooling reminded me that one of my donar~cars is an automatic with AC so that 10 amp fan is M-I-N-E!

Also,did'nt I here that there was a way to adjust the Thermostat? I would think that there would be a better ratiator off of another toyota model,good skill(and luck) with your search Nick,the info should help everyone.

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:59 pm

Thanks

20vtercel · Post by **20vtercel** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:01 pm

one from a dodge omni will work. slightly bigger and not much thicker, brass tanks.

this is what I used

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:11 pm

Thanks man! I bet I'll be able to find one cheap too.

takza · Post by **takza** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:04 am

GTSSportCoupe wrote: It's more when I'm going over mountain passes where the throttle is mashed for 15-20min with the engine around 4k rpm on a 90+ F day.

Do you have the HAC system on your car? This is supposed to advance the timing by 8 degrees or so when above 5000 feet.

Have heard that running timing too retarded can cause overheating.

Mine doesn't have it...so if I were to head for Denver and some time in the mountains I'd reset my timing.... I'm already running it at around 15 BTDC when below 1000 feet...I would still check to see if I could advance it more without getting too much pinging.

Thereminator · Post by **Thereminator** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 7:32 pm

20valve,did you have to modify that omni radiator and did you have air~cond? B)