Adding auxiliary radiator

[AceHammer]

Has anyone done this before? From what I've seen high heat is what hurts these motors especially with the weaker gti/a3 piston rings. I was looking to add in the passenger side radiator as the parts are priced reasonably. (Should be around 350-400 with all oem parts).

Found a photo of the coolant diagram, does this cover everything?

 

[JerseyDrew77]

Haven't heard of this being an issue for our platform. I know people that are tracking their cars complained about high oil temps but that is resolved with an aftermarket oil cooler.

 

[AceHammer]

Since going to a hybrid is38, on a hot day I've been able to push coolant temps high. I think having an upgraded intercooler and ac in front of the stock radiator doesn't help much either. IMO cooler coolant especially when the dsg and engine oil are water cooled never hurts.

 

[JerseyDrew77]

Since going to a hybrid is38, on a hot day I've been able to push coolant temps high. I think having an upgraded intercooler and ac in front of the stock radiator doesn't help much either. IMO cooler coolant especially when the dsg and engine oil are water cooled never hurts.

How high are your coolant temps? I have a hybrid turbo with an upgraded IC in the stock location and a stock radiator and during the summer time it never gets high and I'm further south from you.

 

[AceHammer]

I've seen up to 245 while ripping it around, I do believe a good amount of that heat is coming off the dsg.

I was reading Hoon's build thread and saw how his failure was caused by rings losing tension most likely due to heat. For 400 bucks plus what looks a like a few hours of work I'd like to try anything that can keep cylinder temps down.

 

[JerseyDrew77]

I've seen up to 245 while ripping it around, I do believe a good amount of that heat is coming off the dsg.

I was reading Hoon's build thread and saw how his failure was caused by rings losing tension most likely due to heat. For 400 bucks plus what looks a like a few hours of work I'd like to try anything that can keep cylinder temps down.

That's from the high horsepower. His engine temps were normal.

 

[Reggie Enchilada]

I see two potential issues with this. The first is the location. It sits behind where the fog lights are on a GTI. Since the R doesn't have fogs, it can sit there without issue. For your A3, you may run into the same issue. The remedy would be to get an R, R-Line, or S3 bumper depending on the car. The second issue is where to connect the coolant hoses. Hopefully it's as simple as replacing a stock hose with one from the diagram, allowing you to tap into the existing coolant flow. That's probably the case, but it's hard to say without having a close look at the parts. I believe a few people have done this addition, but there aren't any write-ups that I'm aware of.

 

[Chogokin]

What happens when winter comes around? Can the coolant not get hot enough? Same with oil coolers. When it's extremely cold out...can the oil temps not get warm enough? I've read that people would block the aux oil cooler fins in the winter.

 

[JerseyDrew77]

Before trying all of that, OP should check his water pump and thermostat to make sure they are working properly.

 

[jimlloyd40]

What happens when winter comes around? Can the coolant not get hot enough? Same with oil coolers. When it's extremely cold out...can the oil temps not get warm enough? I've read that people would block the aux oil cooler fins in the winter.

Both are thermostatically controlled so the coolant and oil will get up to temperature.

 

[El_bigote_AJ]

Both are thermostatically controlled so the coolant and oil will get up to temperature.

Correct for coolant.

Not for oil though, that why people will add Tstats when doing an aftermarket oil cooler on cold climates.

 

[Square1]

Do a front mount ............. and post pics.

 

[Keehs360]

Seems involving to swap that considering a larger radiator would be the easier and better way to go

edit spelling

 

[AceHammer]

The main reason I'm looking into this is that I doubt a larger radiator will fit with my intercooler. As of now, there's barely any clearance with the radiator sandwich and the throttle body. I don't have fogs so was planning on dremeling out the lower A3 plastic grills. At least from my Acura days, cooler coolant helps keep cylinder head temps down, which is always better. Also having an extra radiator off to the side means it doesn't affect the IC at all.

At the end of the day, I've wasted money on far stupider mods and I also believe that if the VW engineers put in two extra rads on the s3/golf R making 300hp, they did it for a reason.

Also on the ea888 oil temps and trans fluid temps are controlled via a coolant and a pretty advanced thermostat system
https://www.carworklog.com/stuff/SS... engines of series EA888 (3rd generation).pdf
Has some great info on how it works, adding in extra radiators should have 0 effects on warming up oil/trans fluid

Tldr - I'm gonna give this a shot and will post a write up on install and if it makes any difference

 

[Keehs360]

The main reason I'm looking into this is that I doubt a larger radiator will fit with my intercooler. As of now, there's barely any clearance with the radiator sandwich and the throttle body. I don't have fogs so was planning on dremeling out the lower A3 plastic grills. At least from my Acura days, cooler coolant helps keep cylinder head temps down, which is always better. Also having an extra radiator off to the side means it doesn't affect the IC at all.

At the end of the day, I've wasted money on far stupider mods and I also believe that if the VW engineers put in two extra rads on the s3/golf R making 300hp, they did it for a reason.

Also on the ea888 oil temps and trans fluid temps are controlled via a coolant and a pretty advanced thermostat system
https://www.carworklog.com/stuff/SSP/SSP 606 - Audi 1,8l- and 2.0l TFSI engines of series EA888 (3rd generation).pdf
Has some great info on how it works, adding in extra radiators should have 0 effects on warming up oil/trans fluid

Tldr - I'm gonna give this a shot and will post a write up on install and if it makes any difference

Get a fmic then? Even swapping to a fmic + bigger radiator is less of a headache than what you’re wanting to do with an aux radiator.

aux radiators are a huge point of failure that you’ll introduce dude. Besides, the shittiest fmic will outperform the best stock location intercooler. That shopdap video really has the gti community sipping some weird koolaid dude

I’m not saying stock location intercoolers are bad. I’m just saying, I saw the logs for an is38 on the ecs front mount. And I seen a fuck ton of logs for is38’s with IE, apr, mishi etc stock location intercoolers. And I saw a is38 log on @GTI Jake ’s intercooler. And front mount by far is superior as hell by very large margins. Especially jake’s, only saw a single log but as soon as dude let off the gas the temps were ambient again in less than 2-3 seconds!

it’s cynical to think an aux radiator is the way. Respectfully speaking, if you’re gonna do it. Consider more research and do things right. Especially if you’re gonna track any



Edit. Grammar and spelling.