6G Celicas Forums

I agree.

To be safe I think I will order another one and put it in.

This morning I got around to adding the 2nd bumper duct so I can get air flow to bypass the radiator. The cooling is a lot better.


It was pain in the butt because I had to measure over and over again to ensure it lined up with the other duct before I started cutting. It came out good, phew!

Much better.

If it ever stops working as good all you need is some nasal spray.

Now that you say it, it does look like a big nose. I hope it doesn't need an inhaler.

If you want giant nostrils on a car look no further than the '98-02 WS6 Trans Ams and Formulas.

It has gotten a lot hotter here in southern New Mexico over the last few weeks and the AC, engine temp problem has come back. When I drive around town especially on the freeway with the AC on the water temps climb into the low 220s and would probably go higher if I did not turn off the AC before it got to that. As soon as I turn the AC off the water temps drop back into the low 200s within a few minutes. Also when the AC is on it blows cold but will get warm (not hot but definitely not as cold as it should be) for a few moments before getting cold again. This leads me to the following conclusions:

1. This problem occurred with the stock and 2-row radiators which leads me to believe the radiators are fine.
2. The car runs in the 180-205 range when the AC is off so it is not an air flow issue.
3. Since the problem goes away immediately when I turn off the AC, this leads me to think it is something with the AC condenser. Maybe it is clogged or malfunctioning.

To be safe I am going to replace the radiator with another brand new 2-row one, replace the AC condenser, and clean the intercooler. If this does not correct the problem I do not know what to do.

Sounds like the system pressure is going high due to lack of cooling, is it missing fins? My 7G Celica condenser was missing most if the fins in the lower 1/3 of it, replacing with a good new Denso unit restored my AC to blowing ICE cold at all times. An over charged AC system can cycle off due to high pressure as well, under charged will blow extra cold or not work, but at the expense of causing low lubrication to the compressor due to lack of oil flow in the system. Which leads to the least happy possibility, there's debris in the system causing high side pressure to go too high.

But AC is a heat pump. it pumps heat from the cabin to the outside. If the system isn't working correctly because of a charge level issue it won't be moving the heat. It sounds like the AC is working properly and overloading the cooling ability of the radiator OR the FMIC is introducing too much heat into the condenser and radiator for them to all work properly. It's a shame you can't move the FMIC forward into the lower mouth and divert the air passing through it downward and out before it hits the radiator. That would still be blocking too much airflow. I think the GT4 bumper may be the only fix, that or figuring out some kind of dual SMIC setup like some VW's use.

I'd check the condenser and system pressure before I start replacing things. Another thing would be to make sure your radiator fans are kicking on when the A/C is turned on, I forget how exactly it works for the 6th gen but either one fan should turn on or both will come on as soon as the A/C is turned on. Not sure why that wasn't mentioned ages ago, but it's easy enough to double check.

My brother's Audi A4 has the dual side mount intercoolers, I thought it was kind of strange to do on an engine with a single throttle body but I guess it was done for space and cooling constraints. Shouldn't be too hard to replicate if you grabbed everything off a totaled VW/Audi. Could possibly mount them where the foglights are. I remember you saying you didn't want a GT-Four bumper so it might be the way to go.

This post has been edited by Box: Apr 11, 2017 - 3:25 PM

Everyone, thanks for all the info. Based on what everyone has said, I plan to do the following:

- Replace the condenser and get the system recharged to the proper pressure
- Replace the 2-row radiator and attach stock radiator fans to it (Does it matter if I go with a generic Ebay one or Mishimoto, they look the same?)
- Replace the ATA with a WTA intercooler. This will eliminate my intercooler piping and allow me to mount the stock radiator fans. Also heat exchangers do not restrict air as much as ATA intercooler.
- I have an exhaust leak on the manifold gasket so I will fix that since I will have access

I looked around for a GT4 bumper in case all of this does not work and have come up with nothing. I will be gathering the parts over the next 2 weeks to do this. Is there anything I missed? Oh yea, and my intercooler fans kick on fine when I turn the AC on.

This post has been edited by HardHead93: Apr 11, 2017 - 8:39 PM

I think dual SMIC is a better choice, if it's possible.

Why do I need dual side mounts? Wouldn't a single one be fine? I have only 1 intercooler pipe. I believe the dual side mount is for a V style motor with twin turbos. Plus MR2s run a single side mount on their 3sgte.

This post has been edited by HardHead93: Apr 11, 2017 - 9:04 PM

To equal the area of your single large FMIC I would think you would need dual side mount?

The A4 is an 2.0 I4 and has the dual side mounts, you run them in series. Here's a picture of one with the front end off so you can see them:

And you can put small puller fans on them to keep heat soak down at lower speeds between pulls or on the dyno.

I am still not convinced it is the intercooler causing the problem. There are plenty of people who have done 3sgte swaps with FMIC and have had no problems. Here are some photos of when Tweak'd used to do engine swaps and they were all FMIC (without GT4 bumpers).





Also, also there are 2 other people on this forum (DarkDeath and ILoveMySilly97) who just recently did 3sgte swaps with FMIC and I have not heard them having problems like this. I really think something else in my system, like the radiator or the condenser is causing the problem. I think before I start going down the route of swapping intercoolers, I am going to replace those 2 parts. Plus, the side mount thing will not work for the Celica on the passenger side unless I remove the windshield wiper fluid tank.

Paahhhh you don't need washer fluid. Well not there. You can put a generic tank anywhere.

Sounds reasonable. Maybe boil the thermostat to make sure it's fully opening.

I am about to order what I need. Does it matter if I get a Mishimoto 2-row radiator or a generic one? They both look the same. The thermostat is under warranty so I will just replace it. I am going to hold off on the intercooler for now.

A lot of people remove A/C as well, so they wouldn't have a problem in that regard. As far as the radiator goes after looking the generic eBay specials and the Mishimoto do look strikingly similar. Not saying it's the case but odds are they're both made by the same factory and the best ones get the Mishimoto branding while the others get sent to whatever seller on eBay or Amazon. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it does seem like the Mishimoto ones have cleaner welds. If it were me I'd look into the Koyo Racing radiator part# R1958.