Further to my earlier thread on coolant loss,i have found the leak to be coming from the end cap on the drivers side of the radiator. It hardly leaks when at idle. But when you rev it spurts out like a lawn sprinkler. I have also noticed that with the rad cap removed the return pipe from the rad is constantly feeding water back in to the expansion tank. But none is coming out of the over flow. Is this normal????.

Ive read some of the storys on head gasket failure which has scared me a little. Checked the dipstick. Oil is as fresh as the day it was put in. And no white smoke from the muffler. Temp gauge remains just below the half. And never moves from this spot.

If a head gasket was to go. Then surely the weakest point would either be in to the oil or out the muffler rather than through the rad???

Any help most appreciated.

Regards Mark

 

Radiator failures are not uncommon, replace it with a good all-aluminum model. A common cause is a T-stat failure, where is fails to open and heat and pressure build in the system and cause a leak at the weakest point, which is usually the plastic side of the radiator. A good radiator and a fail-open T-stat like a Jet brand one will probably cure your problem. If it's leaking as bad as you say that it's only a matter of time before the radiator completely fails and overheats the engine.

 

Ha, ha, ha... Was watchin' this thread waitin' for you to respond. Still remember the day you called and said your water broke!!!


Get you a Flex-A-Lite radiator, most impressive SOB I've ever seen. Not the cheapest out there though.

Most even come with a Flex-A-Lite e-fan attached to 'em. Two birds, as it were...

 

my "water just broke" yesterday!

 

Thanks for the advice given.

 

If you change it yourself, You really should, it's so easy, be sure to make sure all the air is out of the system. I tried my best but I took it around the block and there was a airpocket in the coolant system which made the engine over heat, but no big deal. Just start the engine and open the filler cap on the coolant tank.

 

Wow, I signed on to search for radiator problems. Mine is also leaking from the driverside end tank. I thought about getting the replacement from LMC. Anyone else got a recomendation? How much is the Flex going for?

 

X3 on the leak on the drivers side bottom end cap. These rads really are junk. I have even read about people having to replace the new one multiple times.

 

That may be due to the thermostat.

 

when my radiator took a crap on my i told my dad. well he decided to buy one and so did i so i have an extra radiator taking up room in my garage i have a '03 4.7l if it fits and you want it pm me