andykidman

Picked up my MY95 WRX Wagon on Friday, found it had a coolant leak, traced it today and found that the front radiator (air con?) is leaking about half way down.
Question is, is this a sealed unit, or does it use coolant from the main engine system? How much is it going to cost to fix? and if it is sealed, could i just leave it and not use the air con?

Advice really neede soon before the car disappears in a green coolant puddle!

zhastaph

Your air con rad (condensor) would contain gas not fluid.

Green coolant almost certainly would be coming from the radiator itself not the AC condensor. You may find that it is actually spraying on the condensor someplace.

andykidman

thats whats strange, i am right that the air con condensor is in front of the main radiator?

If you look at the front of the car on the drivers side of the condensor about half way down it is wet with coolant, yet the main radiator behind it is bone dry, the wet on the condensor stretches about 4 inches in from the edge. The coolant then runs down the edge of the condensor and drips onto the floor, yet i am getting no drips or anything off the main radiator

zhastaph

Yup, that's the AC condensor. It's full of compressed gas, any leak in it would like go "fzzd" and then that would be it.

It's still likey to have a very fine spray onto the condensor then running down it. Sometimes the spray can be so fine you can barely see it, looks very much like a bit of spiders web. Try putting something in between the 2 if you can.

andykidman

Cheers,
Found the problem, took headlamp out and shone a torch in, found the black plastic end cap of the radiator has 3 splits in it!!!!, with the engine hot, the top split was spraying a fine mist onto the air con condensor.

So new radiator it is then!