Leaking Radiator

[zappaboy]

My series 1 wagon has been overheating and upon investigation by my mechanic have been advised that the radiator is leaking below where the bottom hose connects. He insists that it is not the pipe connection and the radiator needs replacing. I commented that the radiator should have lasted longer and the mechanic indicated that the radiator has plastic components top and bottom which many manufacturers have done for cost. The top of the radiator to me appears to be metal. The car has a build date of 7/13 and has done 208000kms. My questions are: 1. does the radiator have plastic components which could be causing the leak. 2. As my car has been attacked by Rats which ate through the water reservoir for the wipers and other components, they are attacking things for water and food, if the radiator has plastic components which would make it vulnerable to rat attack especially at the bottom near the under engine plastic tray. One of the joys of living in the country. Rat baits have been installed in the garage.

 

[VS 5.0]

I recently had to replace the radiator on my 9/12 build VE with 125k kms on the clock due to foobared plastic tank.

 

[zappaboy]

VS 5.0, so the VE and VF models have plastic components to their radiators. Note I am not talking about the overflow tank.

 

[dassaur]

VS 5.0, so the VE and VF models have plastic components to their radiators. Note I am not talking about the overflow tank.

Once the cooling fins/pipes finish at the bottom, the rest is made of plastic. The fitting to the lower coolant pipe is also plastic.

I suspect it may be your rats, as even plastic shouldnt wear that soon without an underlying cause.

 

[VS 5.0]

VS 5.0, so the VE and VF models have plastic components to their radiators. Note I am not talking about the overflow tank.

Yep.....unlike the good old brass and copper rad in my old VS.

 

[J_D 2.0]

I recently had to replace the radiator on my 9/12 build VE with 125k kms on the clock due to foobared plastic tank.

Plastic tank radiators are generally on borrowed time after 100,000kms. Especially if the car is used in the city in stop start traffic.

 

[Skylarking]

@zappyboy, get a copy of the vf workshop manual PDF and have a read (preferably on a pc with yne index showing in the left pane of the PDF viewer as it makes navigation easier). Get the PDF from the link in this post

If you do you’ll read the following:

Radiator​

The radiator is a heat exchanger. It consists of a core and two tanks. The aluminum core is a downflow tube and fin design. This is a brazed tube with convoluted louvered fin design. Separate tubes and fins are stacked together with a manifold (header) at top and bottom. The entire assembly is then brazed forming a homogeneous unified structure. The fins allow for efficient heat transfer from the coolant to the atmosphere. The inlet (top) and outlet (bottom) tanks are molded with a high temperature, glass reinforced nylon plastic. A high temperature rubber gasket seals the tank flange edge to the aluminum core. The tanks are clamped to the core with clinch tabs. The tabs are part of the aluminum header at each end of the core. The radiator also has a drain plug which is located in the bottom right of the lower tank.​

 

[zappaboy]

thanks everyone for your responces and comments. This is getting interesting. As the rats have eaten many of the piping and containers that held fluids in my car, the car has overheated on several occasions where twice it went to full hot and the dashboard indicated engine overheated, let engine idle or something similar. I thought I had cooked the engine as it happened so quickly as a I saw the temp gauge rise while I found somewhere to pull over. Also 90% of my driving over the last 5 years has been high speed country driving on B roads. Also I recently had the torque converter fail and it was leaking and now wonder if this overheating may have caused this issue also as my understanding the auto is cooled via the radiator.

 

[dassaur]

thanks everyone for your responces and comments. This is getting interesting. As the rats have eaten many of the piping and containers that held fluids in my car, the car has overheated on several occasions where twice it went to full hot and the dashboard indicated engine overheated, let engine idle or something similar. I thought I had cooked the engine as it happened so quickly as a I saw the temp gauge rise while I found somewhere to pull over. Also 90% of my driving over the last 5 years has been high speed country driving on B roads. Also I recently had the torque converter fail and it was leaking and now wonder if this overheating may have caused this issue also as my understanding the auto is cooled via the radiator.

Yes the transmission fluid does pass through a section of the radiator.

 

[Skylarking]

Mice and rats can chew more than just fluid filled bottles… Often they develop a taste for wiring and can cause a huge number of, if not hard faults, intermittant electrical faults that can drive you crazy, bankrupt or both