The Saturn's Radiator "Exploded"

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
If you do find a Copper and brass radiator the price is very high($400+) and the Chinese girl that put it together needs more practice.


Not the CSF junk, they are about $180, but the Singaporean girl that put it together needs better QA.

 

[mechtech2]

Is there a head gasket leak that caused excessive coolant pressures?

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Japanese plastic radiators in my experience are horrible.

European plastic radiators are fine. I have originals on an 81, 83, 85, and 96 MB, all but one have over 200k miles on them, and on a 91 BMW, with 116k. All original.


I don't pretend to have as much data as you seem to but the plastic radiator in my 88 Toyota Tercel went through a front end collision where it sustained a bit of damage to the tank mounting but I was able to tweak it back and it lasted for a long time after that. On the other hand, the plastic side tank on our old 93 Volvo just blew up one day and spewed coolant all over the place.

Of course the Volvo has 100k more miles than the Tercel...

 

[Tosh]

Critic, you owe it to yourself (and us BITOGers) to reclaim the old radiator to confirm how it failed. I myself would sure like to know what happened for a mechanic (no matter how incompetent) to describe it as having 'exploded.'

PS. How did your dad get it to the mechanic without coolant?

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Tosh
Critic, you owe it to yourself (and us BITOGers) to reclaim the old radiator to confirm how it failed. I myself would sure like to know what happened for a mechanic (no matter how incompetent) to describe it as having 'exploded.'

PS. How did your dad get it to the mechanic without coolant?

That's what I don't know.

Last night, he said that the radiator had actually been leaking for a few days, maybe two. According to my dad, saying that the radiator exploded is a bit of an exaggeration by the mechanic, as it was simply a crack. But at the same time, it wasn't a small leak, either.

To answer your question: Before driving it over, he said the coolant reservoir looked like it was mostly full. However, from my experience, the pressurized surge tank always looks somewhat full even if the system is very low. For instance, when I was refilling the system after a coolant flush, I had only installed one gallon (system holds 1.75 gallons) and the pressurized surge tank already looked full.

 

[PandaBear]

Well, it is fixed now and if you are worried about overheat, rent a compression test tool from AutoZone and do a compression test yourself.

Monitor the coolant and see if there is a loss in the future, if it doesn't lose coolant, then all should be good.

 

[rationull]

The failure mode we saw on my GF's 93 Volvo could be characterized as "exploding" as radiators go. One day everything was OK (AFAIK) the next a bulging crack opened under pressure, the pressurized surge tank was drained and the coolant light came on. It forced out a good amount of coolant fairly quickly. We actually drove the car a few times after the thing failed and while I'm sure the cooling system pressure was low, it did not lose a significant amount of coolant quickly.

That's how I would interpret "exploded" in this case.

 

[JustinH]

Hit a rock while driving, that will make it drain pretty fast.

In my girlfriends neon, a stone hit the plastic end tank and cracked it right there.

We picked one up from napa for 100 bucks or whatever, and were back on the road in a few hours.

 

[rationull]

Hah, yeah that's true too. I don't think it was a rock in our case, as it would've had to get around the underbody splash shield and 2/3 of the way up the radiator.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

Originally Posted By: rationull


I don't pretend to have as much data as you seem to but the plastic radiator in my 88 Toyota Tercel went through a front end collision where it sustained a bit of damage to the tank mounting but I was able to tweak it back and it lasted for a long time after that. On the other hand, the plastic side tank on our old 93 Volvo just blew up one day and spewed coolant all over the place.

Of course the Volvo has 100k more miles than the Tercel...


Same experience here with a radiator from radiator.com. My wife hit a deer with our now extinct 93 Sable. The radiator was pushed back a few inches but it was hard to tell. Three years later the radiator eventually leaked on the side that got tweaked. When we went to replace it we realized just how far it got bent back. The new radiator would not bolt back into both sides (required a much longer screw and several washers.

 

[buster]

I've never had a problem with a radiator leaking. I would think that the plastic of a 13 year old radiator would eventually crack.

 

[oilboy123]

I maintained my cooling system in my Taurus very well. The radiator went out about 115 K. Leaking from the crimp seams.

I wanted to recycle the aluminum, so I took the plastic end tanks off. The radiator looked brand new internally. The rubber seal I believe is the weak point. At least on the OE Ford Taurus radiator.

 

[Aldaris]

What a piece of junk. One failure after another.