Mechanics help required please.

Thanks Ozzie for the information and I will do exactly as you have recommended starting tomorrow morning. Cheers Mackka.

Mackka said:

Well the saga continues but not for much longer hopefully. Got it towed to the shop and they said the radiator needs replacing. They don’t weld or solder stuff anymore and it would be ten days to get one from Melbourne. Genuine part and fitting $1,200 . Spoke to my wife, the clever one in the household, she contacted Repco and we can pick it up today for $250 which includes a discount and another discount for racq membership. Fitting will be $400 so now the total is $650 not $1,200 and happy with that.

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Just curious how it costs $400 to change over the radiator. No way i would pay that. They can get fiddly to pull everything out to get to it , but it is not that time consuming to warrant that amount of labour cost is it ? I hope that is the problem fixed. I had over heating problems and losing a lot of water in my V8 WH not long ago and it turns out the radiator cap was faulty. It was not sealing the pressure. Sometimes the fluid would just disappear and other times it blew out of the overflow pipe. It was sporadic. $20 for a new cap and no more problems. NatRad only charged about $50 to diagnose it plus the price of the cap. I sure hope your vehicle will be fixed. Good luck mate.

OzzieAu said:

I’m just curious Mackka as to how they diagnosed your radiator as leaking / needing replacement. They would have had to add coolant / water and probably start the engine to determine where it was leaking from..... upper or lower tank or core. Unless they saw an obvious crack in the plastic tank/s . If the engine was started and ran ok with no misfiring or rough idle, they may have assumed that the head gasket/s weren’t compromised.
Quite often after a serious overheating event, the leak that caused it is rectified and all seems well for awhile, then down the track you can have symptoms of head gasket failure, like rough running on cold starts, steam coming out the exhaust even after the engine has warmed to operating temperature, which will drop the coolant level in your radiator. (Similar to a kettle boiling away on the stove will end up dry).
So if everything seems hunky dory after the radiator is replaced, I suggest you monitor for these signs regularly after you return to using the car. Especially check the coolant level often.
I hope this scenario never occurs in your situation, but as a ex road service patrol of 35 years I came across this exact issue many times.
All the best mate...

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Same as looking for a leak in a tyre. Pull it out & drop it in a tank a water. At least that’s how it used to be done. Just have to be careful you don’t give it too much air pressure.

Most radiators are alloy these days which are unrepairable. If you haven’t seen any colour on your driveway( indicator) the ask them about the leak because you need to know why it failed ( could be pressurising from a head gasket)

Update- Got the car back yesterday and the receptionist told me that they used their own coolant (which I expected them to as I didn't supply any) and this morning I went and checked for any leakage, nil, however, I did note that the bonnet strut had no pressure in it to keep the bonnet up and nearly hit me on the head. I checked the reservoir for coolant and noted that a wet line came up to full on the gauge but I also noted that the liquid was Clear and had no smell to it. I am no mechanic but from memory coolant should have a colour or am I chasing shadows? Last question promise. cheers Mackka
P.S. It ended up costing a bit over $500 for labor and coolant.

Mackka said:

Update- Got the car back yesterday and the receptionist told me that they used their own coolant (which I expected them to as I didn't supply any) and this morning I went and checked for any leakage, nil, however, I did note that the bonnet strut had no pressure in it to keep the bonnet up and nearly hit me on the head. I checked the reservoir for coolant and noted that a wet line came up to full on the gauge but I also noted that the liquid was Clear and had no smell to it. I am no mechanic but from memory coolant should have a colour or am I chasing shadows? Last question promise. cheers Mackka
P.S. It ended up costing a bit over $500 for labor and coolant.

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If they didn't refill your resevoir with their coolant it may take time for coolant to expand from your radiator. No reason for concern.

Thanks NJ, that makes sense. I know it takes 11 litres of coolant so they would mix the 5 litre coolant with water. I was just expecting some colour in the reservoir. Thanks again

They'd most likely start the diagnosis with a pressure test. It's done with a small pump and pressure gauge that fits the radiator cap hole and you pump to a pressure usually a little above the radiator cap pressure setting.

Plastic radiator tanks have a limited life. The plastic colour usually leaches out looking faded and white before it finally cracks under pressure expelling the water very quickly. Most radiator repairers can fit a new tank although complete aftermarket radiators can be very cheap.

Unfortunately engine designers are often not too smart or intentionally plan for engine demise with overheating. If you take a look at the average vehicle you'll find the engine temperature sensor in the water gallery of the intake manifold. This is fine while you have water flow through the manifold but a disaster imminent if your radiator has been purged of coolant. Fresh air flow through the intake manifold makes it the coolest part of the engine, more so on carburettor engines as the fuel evaporation can reach freezing temperatures hence the water circulation through the manifold. An engine with the coolant sensor in the intake manifold will actually record a lower temperature once the water has gone.

A coolant level sensor is a much more reliable indicator of a leak. They consist of a couple of electrodes inserted into the coolant, often in the header tank, that monitor a small electrical current connected by the coolant between the electrodes. If the coolant level drops the circuit is broken and the alarm or light is triggered long before the engine temperature rises above a safe level. Every vehicle should have one from new but they can also be easily fitted aftermarket.

Harbourmaster said:

Same as looking for a leak in a tyre. Pull it out & drop it in a tank a water. At least that’s how it used to be done. Just have to be careful you don’t give it too much air pressure.

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My mechanic many years ago had a hand operated pump and a range of custom made radiator caps. He could pump up the pressure then watch the guage to see if it stayed constant or went down.. The milky oil is a good indication of blown head gasket or cracked head as mentioned by another contributor. I went to look at a used Range Rover being sold privately some years back. Lifted the oil filler cap and it obviously had water in the oil. I had a very lucky escape there. I will be very interested to see if the problem has been solved. Hope so. Good on saving a few doillarswith the Repco radiator.

Mackka, there's a very good chance that you're vehicle has been fitted with a water level sensor in which case the engine might not have actually overheated at all and therefore no damage done. Sandra's Mercedes Vito will tell you if the coolant level is low, the brake fluid is low, the oil level is too high or low and all before any damage can be done. I picked up an Isuzu NPS300 from the Brisbane auction and while whipping around those hairpin corners on the New England highway I had an awful screaming noise coming from the dash. It took me ages to find the wires from the alarm went to the top tank of the radiator. The sensor is mounted right in the middle and the low level water rushing from side to side exposed it to the air setting of the alarm . Once I knew what it was I just drove a little more sedately as I only had about 4000km to go and there was obviously enough water to keep it cool .