Is aftermarket Fan and Radiator worth it?
 

Hi guys,

I'm not too savvy with the technicals, so I'd love to hear your opinions about buying an aftermarket radiator and fans.

My practically new BRZ just had an overheating issue, so maybe I am just being paranoid - but I'd like to explore options for cooling my engine better.

How useful would an aftermarket radiator be?

I've head that an electric fan can be very helpful if replacing an engine driven fan. Is the stock fan engine driven?

Will installing either of these be an issue when the NE winter hits?

Thanks everybody for your suggestions!

Why did your BRZ overheat? What happened?

as shiumai said, getting to the bottom of why it overheated in the first place should be step one. Did your temp needle actually go all the way to the top or did you use something like torque to see the temp increase?

We'll help you work through this, but we're gonna need to know what you are doing to cause it to overheat so that we know what course of action to recommend.

Answers are in red

I have tracked my car all over the Southeast in blistering hot temps and never had an issue with the OEM Cooling system in the last year of use.

Something is wrong, and you should talk to the dealership. I've done 30 minute track sessions in 98* ambient with stock radiator and fans and never had an issue.

Thanks for all your replies. To clarify, the overheating was due to a head gasket leak which is being serviced at the moment.

I doubt that improving the stock cooling system will prevent this from happening again, but I am just traumatized from seeing my new cars temp gage rise haha.

I drive my car all over the place. Track, street, road trips over several time zones in short periods of time, desert, cold, whatever. Radiator is stock and fan is stock.

A head gasket failure has nothing to do with the cooling system unless you have a leak somewhere that contributed to overheating or warped cylinder heads.

Upgrading your cooling system bc of a head gasket leak solves nothing in the long run, and is like putting out a house fire by building another house on top of the existing fire.

Your best bet is to go with an OE-style oil cooler (Forester DIY or Cusco) and call it a day, if you wanted better cooling.

-alex

OEM is fine. Just service it as indicated in the service schedule. Your overheating issue was a manufacturing defect, and there was not really anything you could have done to prevent that. Aftermarket parts wouldn't have helped. The service techs will get you squared away.

I would still send off an oil sample a few thousand miles after they finish the work, just to be on the safe side. But I seriously doubt you have any reason to worry. If you do send off a sample, be sure to include an explanation of the work done for the oil analysis tech so they don't misinterpret the results.

^ basically what he said. In this day and age it's almost unheard of to get cooling issues with an OEM system. The only way it would be plausible would be either A. you drove the car insanely hard for an insanely long time or B. you went FI and didn't install an intercooler. Basically the point is to not judge the stock cooling system based off a defect. I'm not saying a new fan or radiator would be useless, because they would certainly help, but you might as well spend money on things that are more needing of change, like tires, exterior stuff, etc.

Hah you have not owned a modern BMW then lol

I had a 2013 328i before getting my BRZ and never had cooling issues.

Then again I never did drive it very hard...:bonk: