Radiator leak

[my2cta]

Just went out for a drive in my daughter's NA to see what may be making a new
noise she had noticed. Think the noise could be a pinhole leak somewhere
around the exhaust manifold, but when we got back a lot of steam rose from the
front of the bonnet and it looks as though there may also be a small water
leak near the top of the radiator. I have some questions that I hope someone
can help with.

1. Can the radiator be repaired or will she need to buy a new one?
2. How much is it likely to cost?

While we were running the engine at idle the fans weren't running. I told her
to put the aircon on and then both fans worked. Is this normal behaviour? Do
the fans ever work independently of each other?

Tim Dutton
MY2CTA

[poison]

Hi Tim

Both fans are independently controlled. The A/C one will run only with the
A/C, this is the one on the drivers side. And the one on the passenger side is
the Normal fan which is thermostatically controlled. Mind you it may also be
wired to come on with the A/C I have not tried that, or it could be with the
A/C on the engine got hotter.

Radiators can be re-cored. this is where they pop off the top and bottom and
put in a new middle section. No idea how much, probably in the region of
$200.00 but better than buying a s/h one as you may end up with more issues
later.

Gazza
"PO1SON"

[Grant]

About 2 years ago my 1992 split the top tank on the radiator. Cost me
$250.00 all up to replace the tank, de-gunge and check the core, replace all
front belts while easy to get at with the radiator out. I found the
temperature was very stable after the repair so suspect the core was rather
clogged up before as well. According to the radiator repair man import
radiators are normally rather clogged up due to pollution and lack of
maintenance in Japan. This was done in Nelson and included a callout to the
repairer on a holiday (Anzac Day) to see if he could get us going
temporarily. He couldn't so had to leave the car there and pick it up three
days later. I thought the $250.00 was very reasonable for all the work done.
Had to happen 130km from home of course!
Grant in Blenheim.

[DBM58]

Hello Tim


I recently had a water leak somewhere under the bonnet that appeared close to
the radiator. I eventaully found it by going for a drive, far enough for the
engine to warm up, then operating the throttle from under the bonnet (leaning
over the driver's side wheel guard). Water was plainly visible spurting from
the hose under the throttle cable - I will send you a couple of photographs.

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The actual hole was in the most inaccesible place, close to the body of the
engine - someone with more knowledge may be able to supply the correct name
here, as well as describe what the purpose of this pipe is. Using a pair of
extra long nosed pliers from the Repco sales bin (already in my toolbox) I was
able to remove the devil's own design hose clamps and trim the end off the
hose before refitting it. I have since found exactly the correct hose in a
Super Cheap Autos hose box for when the it needs replacing, cost around $20.
For the re-fit, I used good old-fashioned jubilee-style hose clamps that can
be tightened using a flat blade screw driver. Also a good time to replace the
coolant before topping up with water since I had probably lost most of it.


Of course, if the cause of your water loss is somewhere else, then this is no
help at all, a bit like the gherkin in a McDonald's burger.

Thank you for your help

Best regards

David Moughtin

[my2cta]

Follow-up on this, turned out the top tank had a small split in it, so
Michelle took it to the friendly local garage to get it repaired. While they
were doing this they discovered that the thermostat switch that drives the
main fan wasn't working, so that fan only ever came on when the aircon was
running (along with the aircon fan at the same time). Perhaps the
non-funtioning fan caused the radiator to get a bit hot some time and hence
the top tank split? Michelle hasn't had the car long and hasn't done any long
enough trips to get the engine very hot, so my guess is it happened before she
bought it. Lucky she found out now, she's off from Upper Hutt to Tirau
tomorrow.

Anyone else had that switch fail and did it cause problems as a result?

TIm
MY2CTA