Hello everyone, for the past week I’ve noticed a weird cat piss smell inside my 08 V6 tiburon. I finally popped the hood today searching for the smell and found some fluid splattered all over the engine bay. It looks like the radiator is the source. Would this somehow be what is causing the smell? I’m assuming I need to replace the radiator, my car has 120,000 miles. Is it normal for a radiator to suddenly crack? Here’s some pictures.
BigPete216
Hello everyone, for the past week I’ve noticed a weird cat piss smell inside my 08 V6 tiburon. I finally popped the hood today searching for the smell and found some fluid splattered all over the engine bay. It looks like the radiator is the source. Would this somehow be what is causing the smell? I’m assuming I need to replace the radiator, my car has 120,000 miles. Is it normal for a radiator to suddenly crack? Here’s some pictures.
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Composite radiators (plastic tanks, aluminum center fins) crack with age, it's normal. Is your coolant low, in the radiator and/or the overflow tank?
Normally coolant leaks have a sweet smell, not ammonia smell like cat piss.
Normally coolant leaks have a sweet smell, not ammonia smell like cat piss.
Hard to tell anything from those pics. Run the car up to operating temp and watch the radiator to see if you can see a leak anywhere. And yeah if it is leaking the fluid level will be low either in the overflow or the radiator itself, or both.
Yes, the plastic tank ends on radiators are known failures on every single car in production for the last 50 years. They get brittle from the heat, and eventually crack. You can solve that by purchasing a full aluminum radiator like from Mishimoto.com.
However, its hard to tell where the leak is with all that mess. You 100% have a coolant leak though and the source is very close to the upper radiator hose and radiator.
If it was me, Id change the radiator with a full aluminum model, change the hoses, and replace those retention clamps with worm clamps. Do NOT reuse the retention clamps.
However, its hard to tell where the leak is with all that mess. You 100% have a coolant leak though and the source is very close to the upper radiator hose and radiator.
If it was me, Id change the radiator with a full aluminum model, change the hoses, and replace those retention clamps with worm clamps. Do NOT reuse the retention clamps.
I recommend upgrading to an aluminum DNA motoring clone of the Mishimoto radiator. Functionally they are the same and it's a huge cooling upgrade. Keep the OEM fans with the shroud though! The Mishimoto fan upgrade is actually a downgrade because they only cover about 60% of the radiator without a shroud. The OEM fans with the built in shrouds will cover 100% of the radiator for way more efficient cooling in comparison.
I also agree, don't re-use the OEM hose clamps. Buy some quality stainless hose clamps for best results.
I also agree, don't re-use the OEM hose clamps. Buy some quality stainless hose clamps for best results.
Thanks for the reply’s, I’m currently in the middle of swapping the radiator, thermostat, and upper + lower hoses out. I just went with oem parts, figured since my car has so many miles a more expensive aluminum one isn’t worth it. Getting the transmission lines off at the bottom was a massive pain in the arse, lost a good bit of transmission fluid so I’ll have to top off. Hopefully I get it all back in tomorrow morning.
The $110 DNA motoring aluminum radiator is a bargain compared to a Hyundai OEM radiator. The aluminum radiator is speculated to last longer than the composite variants. This is why we recommend it over the OEM so often.
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