Saw some steam coming out of my bonnet recently (as some of the Hants mob who went to Longleat can testify ) which seemed to be coming from the top of the radiator. It stopped after a few miles and didn't do it again until I topped the coolant up a bit (hadn't lost much).
Did it again last night except it was REALLY bad this time - clouds of steam but still couldn't see any water coming out when I got home, although the front underside of the bonnet was wet.
Have accepted that my radiator is bust and I'm gonna bite the bullet and get it fixed. Can you get the core replaced? I did a search and some people have mentioned this in the past but the end tanks on my radiator look plastic i.e. brittle, so .

I got a price of £150+VAT from a local Motor factor for a new rad which I thought is quite reasonable, is it worth getting it fixed when I can get a new one for that price?

Car is a MY97, decat/induction/dawes

J

 

Well I took my own advice and have ordered a completely new radiator, as my current one finally let go big style today! I plan to fit this myself, has anyone esle done this and how tricky was it? Is it just a case of disconnecting the pipes and a couple of bolts then just lifting it out or is there more to it than that i.e. removing bumper etc.?

Cheers, Jamie

 

bttt

 

Come on guys, I pick it up in a couple of hours!

Surely someone who's fitted a FMIC must have removed the radiator?

Has anyone fitted a FMIC recently?

 

check the top pipe on the drivers side.

stand facing the car, very top pipe the small one, I bet the rubber hose is OK but the mettal bit it slide on to is cracked where it meets the rad.

Happened on mine, I used cold steel putty to fix it, I think someone lent on mine which cracked it.

 

Hey thanks for the response! But the radiator definitely has a crack in it - it's on one of the sections of core which run horizontally across (the very top one actually). I caught it in the act last night, about 4 seperate jets of water/anti-freeze - I think a stone has done some terminal damage

Got the new one today and it looks ok except for two extra pipes coming out of the n/s end of the radiator. I took it back to the shop and they said that apparently this bit is for cars with an auto transmission, but it can still be fitted as it is - the supplier only do this type and it caters for manual and automatic cars. Sounds a but odd but there you go - I'll find out if they're right on Saturday when I fit it....

 

Cant the split be welded or soldered?. I thought the split was in the plastic side tank, where the top hose goes in. My old MY94WRX split here, eventually after repairng/failing again it was replaced.

 

This happened to my radiator last year. I tried double bubble and that held for 2 days. End result was a new radiator. Its a doddle to fit, shouldnt take that long. Good Luck

 

To remove - Disconnect both inlet & outlet hoses along with the little expansion tank one's. Unplug the fan cable. Remove the 2 bolts & brackets on the top cross beam then lift radiator straight out. You'll need the 2 rubbers from the bottom cross member to fit to the new radiator. Un bolt the fan and refit to new. Then reverse these instructions.

Told you, a doddle !!!

 

Cool, sounds easy peasy. I'm not going to bother getting it repaired as I've been down that route before with previous cars only for them to go again a few days later. Think I'll try it after work tonight as it shouldn't take too long. Hec, I might even take some pictures and detail the job in here for future reference! Then again

J

 

Well how did you get on ?

 

I walked it - an easy job . The only thin to watch out for is the bolts which hold the fan on to the radiator can go a bit rusty so you need to be careful when you take them off.

I had a sump guard on under the car and needed to take this off to drain the radiator - someone mentioned to me a while back that it's best to leave this off as it helps keep under-bonnet temperatures down. Is that true and is it wise, what with all this wet weather?

At least my car soesn't look like a steam train anymore now!
Cheers for the help....

Jamie

 

I was going to take some photo's but the battery only lasted for 3 pics! But here they are anyway as they show where the leak was...

Radiator:



The actual leak (if you look closely you can see a jet of water ):



I took the grill off to make things easier:



.....then the camera died

But there's actually not much to it from this point - you just drain the fluid using the plug at the bottom of the rad, unclip all the hoses, remove those two brackets which retain the radiator, remove the rigid PAS pipes, unclip the fan, and the radiator should then just lift out. Refitting is the reverse procedure - as mentioned above....

J

 

Well done - but a word of caution before you go blasting off into the sunset. Was the problem simply a holed or leaky radiator? Go easy for a good few miles and watch that temperature gauge like a hawk .... just in case the rad was a symptom, not the cause ....

 

UPDATE:
I took your advice mate and kept a close eye on everything, all was looking ok so I have started to push it a bit harder. But last night I blew a hole through the top hose on the radiator resulting in a huge cloud of steam , though the car was on fire for a second!

Could there be an underlying problem or could the hoses just be getting old? I've already had the pipe to the turbo burst so this is the second one to go. Can you get good upgrade kits (Samco etc.), would this be worthwhile?

The radiator seems fine.

Beggining to wish I'd left it standard now!

J

 

£19.70 from dealer.

Harder to fit than the fookin radiator [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

On there now though.

J (What's next? )