Stock Radiator question

[peepsalot]

I have 3 motor mounts and my car shakes quite a bit at idle with the A/C on. I noticed there is a rattle coming from the passenger side of my radiator. I have removed the radiator before, and the fans also. I'm wondering if I forgot a screw or something that should be securing this in place. Right now there is the little bracket on top, with the plastic post resting in a rubber bushing, that is a little loose. The fan has two bolts on top I think, but the bottom just kinda rests in a little slot, with no other fasteners to hold it in place. I can't remember if there are screws on the bottom of the radiator.

Am I missing something that shold be holding this securely, or is there something I could easily add to make this more stable, it has a little bit of play that makes it rattle. I can move it by hand when the engine is off, and recreate the sound.

 

[low_psi]

it should be able to move, but the rattling is a result of the motor mounts. try running some foam inbetween the top endtank and the radiator support

 

[Dexter]

i used some washers and jammed them in the top brackets, stops movement (thumb)

 

[Brian MP5T]

Rubber Mount x 2 on bottom and rubber mount attached to metal bracket on top. The Bracket can be bent down a bit or you can add an O-Ring to the bottom to raise the rad a bit to snug it up.

 

[peepsalot]

it should be able to move, but the rattling is a result of the motor mounts. try running some foam inbetween the top endtank and the radiator support

Why should it be able to move? The radiator hoses can flex just fine.

I think I'll try some washers and see if that helps, since foam can wear out.

 

[Dexter]

yea peeps, i lied, my washer vibrated away.

 

[peepsalot]

(argh)
ok, foam it is then

 

[low_psi]

its just got play in it. don't ask me why mazda didn't use more solid mounts lol. both my msp and es radiators have moved around in the brackets. foam should do the trick.

 

[peepsalot]

I came up with a pretty sweet solution. Put a big vacuum cap on the plastic post. The bracket really doesn't wanna slide down on top of the cap, but that's alright, now it is snug as hell.

Now that that's quiet, I was able to find and fixed another rattle coming from a little screw that was hitting against the bottom of my FMIC. The screw fastens some kind of air diverter thing that came on the car stock.

And after I fixed that I found a third rattle that sounds like coming from my exhaust that I still have to check out. I'm thinking either heatshield or there is something in the pipe like a loose VICS screw or some s***. Wee!

 

[peepsalot]

OK resurrecting this old thread. Shortly after installing the cap, the piece of s*** stock bushing disintegrated. It was cut in two by the metal bracket surrounding it.

So I then had it set up for a while with the bushing gone, vacuum cap still there, and pulled snug to one side of the metal bracket via a very tight zip tie.

This worked ok for a while, but the vacuum cap slid off after a while.
Also, while running it like this, I think I discovered the reason for not having the radiator so solidly mounted: it causes the heatshield on the radiator fans to rattle under someconditions.

So now my radiator is loose again and moving all over inside that metal bracket. I would prefer not to go get another crappy factory bushing that has too much play in it. I was thinking something in polyurethane would be nice, but I wouldn't know where to get something that would fit or how to make it fit. I don't really have the tools to fab custom brackets or anything.

Ideas?