As summer is here (41 degrees celcius today), I've been thinking about doing a few things to keep my car from overheating as I've seen a few older cars/commodores on the side of the road with steam coming out over the past few weeks. :shock:

So my question is - what are the contents of everyone's radiators? Does coolant mixture work well, worth it? Ideas? What has everyone else done?

I have a 1st gen and was going to post it in the 1st gen forum, but then thought it's a general thing, even though the later cars aren't affected as much. lol

I’ve done a search on the forums for this subject but cant find anything. :confused:

I would do an overall cooling system overhaul sorta thing, Do you know when the hoses were last replaced?
If not, Replace top and bottom Radiator hoses (And Clamps!) and replace heater hoses.
Take your thermostat out and back flush the cooling system (shove hose in top of engine)
Once all the crap is out put the pre-determinded amount of coolant in there and then just top up with demineralised water.

Use anywhere from a 33% misture to a 50% mixture, But no more or no less. Mitsu's recommend a 33% Mixture.
And for goodness sake dont cheap out on coolant, you get what you pay for.

I use the Nulon concentrate stuff, 33% coolant to water and works a treat.

Get a mechanic or try yourself to get hoses/thermostat/water pump etc etc checked out just to be on the safe side.

If you're still not sure, try to take it down to a radiator shop... Those guys know their stuff about how to keep things cool :)

In terms of upgrading: In extremely high temps, might even be worth investing in a thicker radiator or a better flowing clutch fan or even some thermo fans... Run it by the radiator blokes first ;)

On my old TN it ran with 3 fans:-

1, stock EFI fan behind the radiator
2, retrofitted carby model fan next to that (just clears the O2 sensor!)
3, aircon fan in front of condensor minus the speed controller resistor/s

No probs on overheating even with aircon running full blast,
but the total current draw was so high the alternator wasn't keeing up. :badgrin:

I always get my car serviced (and flushed) just as summer comes along so that my coolant levels are as good as they can be. And now that there is a new water pump going in tomorow I guess it will be even better.

supercheap have nulon radiator flush. throw it in ur radiator and let the car run for 20 minutes and it breaks done all the buildup and crap in the system. then simply flush it outand refill. good stuff

On my old TN it ran with 3 fans:-

1, stock EFI fan behind the radiator
2, retrofitted carby model fan next to that (just clears the O2 sensor!)
3, aircon fan in front of condensor minus the speed controller resistor/s

No probs on overheating even with aircon running full blast,
but the total current draw was so high the alternator wasn't keeing up. :badgrin:


..not to mention it probably would have sounded like a jumbo jet... or worse yet.. a falcon.