Sometimes car repairs beat you down

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So my Buick was leaking a bit of coolant at the radiator when the metal and plastic meet. No big deal. I'll order up a new radiator. Debated a bit about aftermarket and OEM and decided to save the $100 based on reviews. Well the job sucked pretty bad. Did it over the weekend. Got it all back together and filled it up with new coolant. Bled the system and let the car cool down so I could go check the level in the radiator before I call the repair good after a few hours of cooling I went to remove the radiator cap and it broke. The cap is a screw down and the part that screws down came off but the cap internals stayed stuck in the fill spout of the radiator. Not good. I tried and tried to get it out and when I finally did I must have damaged the radiator enough because it won't seal with a new cap. It leaks. That's a real bummer. I know I could do the job again in a lot less time but I really don't want to. I'm sure this all happened because the aftermarket radiator spout is just a hair smaller on the inside than the OE and my OE cap got stuck. I tried to save $100 and now I'm screwed and have to buy another radiator.
 
Early in my career, I tried to do the "buy a solid car and keep it" thing. I bought a 2002 Infiniti G20. It actually suited its purpose quite well at the time, but due to sheer age and some flawed design features, it would have been cheaper for me to buy a new model and make the payments than to keep it on t he road, and I sold it about a year and a half later.
 
girlfriends oil burning 2.5L malibu took a radiator as well + a water pump, traded the GM junk with just over 60 thou!! vehicles today are a crap shoot for sure + simpler is better IMO!
 
If you do your own wrenching its just a matter of time. I hate it when I am doing a voluntary repair that really isnt necessary and end up damaging an expensive part or breaking a bolt head off. A $10 1 hour repair turns into a $100 all day, break your knuckles swear fest.
 
Originally Posted by samven
A $10 1 hour repair turns into a $100 all day, break your knuckles swear fest.

lol.gif

Amen to that!
 
I had the fun once of putting in a used transmission from a salvage yard in which the salvage yard unit was also shot. So I had to do it twice.
 
I had to do the Ford 4.6 intake manifold job 4x on my Crown Vic, which is regarded as not fun.

First R&R intake for new Ford Performance unit. Leaked at the rear.

R&R again, follow torque procedure ultra closely after double checking everything else. Leaks.

Remove new manifold again, check mating surfaces, the manifold mating surface is out of spec, Ford wanted it shipped back to them to test and decide on if they will replace it. (This takes weeks) My car needs to move, I JB weld the old manifold and install it, drive the car somewhere it can sit for a while.

Manifold comes back, Ford Racing says it was fine, use Motorcraft gaskets not FelPro(I bought the most expensive FP gaskets that everyone on the forum says to use), I notice that the gasket surface looks slightly resurfaced now... (thanks Ford)

R&R 4th time now.

Finally, no more leaks.
 
I would try to seal the cap on permanently with a glue or sealant that is good for 250 F. Worth a try before getting another new radiator. . Ed
 
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In years past, I used aftermarket parts religiously. Believing that many of them were better than OEM, parts such as Moog ball joints and so on. It was not difficult to find the quality stuff and weed out the junk.

However, there is no question that the quality aftermarket parts industry has been overtaken by imported low quality copies.

I've learned to simply purchase OEM parts from an online retailer, often a Ford, Mazda or Honda dealership, that offers a discount.

Interestingly, I've had OEM replacement parts far outlast the original installation, as some OEM parts are improved to solve problems.
 
Originally Posted by skyactiv
I had the fun once of putting in a used transmission from a salvage yard in which the salvage yard unit was also shot. So I had to do it twice.

Very first wrenching job I did was this on my B4k. Took my even less experienced friend and I 2 months to fully complete. Next thing I did was thermostat and guess what. Stripped the aluminum, now the thermostat is held in with self drilling roofing screws but have had no problems in the two years. Had to initially redo the job 4x due to string of bad thermostats. What made it especially bad was the fan clutch refused to come off and I had to angle a u joint in there. I'd replace the transmission again before I went about it that way for a 5th time.
 
On today's cars. Not much can go wrong other than:

Fuel pump fail
Water pump leak/locked-locked up
Alternator/Regulator fail
transmission fail/slip

I've never had a engine fail before the above list. and it's probably the fuel pump that will leave you stranded, all the others have "warning signs" so just set aside $4,000 for the largest expense(transmission replace w/ new unit)

About the only time I've seen a radiator start leaking, is after some collision impact.
 
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Originally Posted by Vern_in_IL
On today's cars. Not much can go wrong other than:

Fuel pump fail
Water pump leak/locked-locked up
Alternator/Regulator fail
transmission fail/slip

I've never had a engine fail before the above list. and it's probably the fuel pump that will leave you stranded, all the others have "warning signs" so just set aside $4,000 for the largest expense(transmission replace w/ new unit)

About the only time I've seen a radiator start leaking, is after some collision impact.


How about electrical problems, key fobs, expensive radios that the car requires to run, power window motors, starters (some inside the intake manifold like my girlfriend's Hyundai), alternator, thermostat, head gaskets, air conditioning, electric power steering (that has sent a few late model cars to the junkyard), I could keep coming up with more if I think about it.
 
Originally Posted by Cujet
In years past, I used aftermarket parts religiously. Believing that many of them were better than OEM, parts such as Moog ball joints and so on. It was not difficult to find the quality stuff and weed out the junk.

However, there is no question that the quality aftermarket parts industry has been overtaken by imported low quality copies.

I've learned to simply purchase OEM parts from an online retailer, often a Ford, Mazda or Honda dealership, that offers a discount.

Interestingly, I've had OEM replacement parts far outlast the original installation, as some OEM parts are improved to solve problems.


Definitely the quality of everything has taken a cr@p. I am about to replace the starter drive in the third lifetime warranty ac Delco starter. I already replaced the solenoid. I gave up on the lifetime warranty and starter replacing the parts with stuff from the local rebuilder as they fail. Eventually it will stop failing. I had them rebuild my 1980s original Oldsmobile starter in the Cutlass a few years back and it's been flawless.

Also I replaced one upper ball joint (the original) in my 83 Caprice about 5 years ago. The other original upper wore out last year finally and the replacement Moog problem solver also has play again. The lowers are still original. I'll leave them until they actually wear out. Still good at 240k miles. The Cutlass has original lowers at around 220k.
 
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Originally Posted by E150GT
So my Buick was leaking a bit of coolant at the radiator when the metal and plastic meet. No big deal. I'll order up a new radiator. Debated a bit about aftermarket and OEM and decided to save the $100 based on reviews. Well the job sucked pretty bad. Did it over the weekend. Got it all back together and filled it up with new coolant. Bled the system and let the car cool down so I could go check the level in the radiator before I call the repair good after a few hours of cooling I went to remove the radiator cap and it broke. The cap is a screw down and the part that screws down came off but the cap internals stayed stuck in the fill spout of the radiator. Not good. I tried and tried to get it out and when I finally did I must have damaged the radiator enough because it won't seal with a new cap. It leaks. That's a real bummer. I know I could do the job again in a lot less time but I really don't want to. I'm sure this all happened because the aftermarket radiator spout is just a hair smaller on the inside than the OE and my OE cap got stuck. I tried to save $100 and now I'm screwed and have to buy another radiator.

Please tell us the brand of radiator you bought.
 
Originally Posted by Vern_in_IL
On today's cars. Not much can go wrong other than:

Fuel pump fail
Water pump leak/locked-locked up
Alternator/Regulator fail
transmission fail/slip

I've never had a engine fail before the above list. and it's probably the fuel pump that will leave you stranded, all the others have "warning signs" so just set aside $4,000 for the largest expense(transmission replace w/ new unit)

About the only time I've seen a radiator start leaking, is after some collision impact.



On today's cars. A simple coolant temp sensor goes bad and puts the whole car into limp mode. You are stuck driving 30mph on the highway type of stuff.


I've seen more minor sensors fail that give you trouble, Nissans with the cam/crank sensors. Everyone seems to make a horrible timing chain tensioner these days (VW/Audi). All the cars i've own needed a radiator around 115-130k. No impact or anything. OEM part with enough head cycles the plastic starts to leak.

Some cars can easily make it 200k and some barely 75k.



To the OP, i've done exactly that on a radiator. Its just a matter of time til you something silly gets you.
 
I did a radiator replacement with a good (Denso) aftermarket radiator, only to realize that the mounting posts weren't in the right spot compared to the OE ones, and the core was thicker. initially, I thought the thicker core could only be a plus. As I was putting it together, I could see things that didn't touch the front of the old radiator were pressing into the fins. The radiator mounting points on the aftermarket radiator were about .250" rearward from where they were supposed to be, in addition to the thicker core. And this was a PM job, everything was fine before I started aside from the OE radiator having 180K miles and 14 years of age. I ended up moving the mount points on the car about .5" back and epoxying the old mount holes. But, what should have been a 1 hour job turned into a good part of the day.

I have many other similar stories, but this one was recent and could have been totally avoided if I bought the OEM part for not much more money.

I don't like doing jobs twice unless there are many years between them.
 
Originally Posted by CBR.worm
I did a radiator replacement with a good (Denso) aftermarket radiator, only to realize that the mounting posts weren't in the right spot compared to the OE ones, and the core was thicker. initially, I thought the thicker core could only be a plus. As I was putting it together, I could see things that didn't touch the front of the old radiator were pressing into the fins. The radiator mounting points on the aftermarket radiator were about .250" rearward from where they were supposed to be, in addition to the thicker core. And this was a PM job, everything was fine before I started aside from the OE radiator having 180K miles and 14 years of age. I ended up moving the mount points on the car about .5" back and epoxying the old mount holes. But, what should have been a 1 hour job turned into a good part of the day.

I have many other similar stories, but this one was recent and could have been totally avoided if I bought the OEM part for not much more money.

I don't like doing jobs twice unless there are many years between them.


Sounds like the way most repairs I do end up going.
 
Originally Posted by benjy
girlfriends oil burning 2.5L malibu took a radiator as well + a water pump, traded the GM junk with just over 60 thou!! vehicles today are a crap shoot for sure + simpler is better IMO!



You should of clean the intake and throttle body along with replacing the pcv valves that would of stop the oil burning . Mines burn no oil at all. I run the monitor down to 10% too. Could of saved yourself another car note
 
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