Dogzyboy

Hi folks.

Was having a 'bit of fun' following my mate in his 200sx last night and upon pulling up at home I got a bit of steam? coming out of the bonnet. Popped the bonnet & there appeared to be a wee bit of coolant kicking about at the front left hand side of the engine bay. More than likely the coolant was just evaporating which was causing the steam, but why was it there?

Have got a knackered radiator, header tank, or hose or sommat??

Any help appreciated as I know nowt about cars!!

Cheers,

Dogzyboy........

JohnCL

Try looking around the plastic tanks on the side of the radiator core. They tend to crack and leak. Only fix as far as I know is a replacement rad at around £130. Mine just went.
Good luck
John

Dogzyboy

Been reading up on everything I can find on here & am still none the wiser as to what is going on. Lots of possibles but nobody seems to have written what the solution has been on their cars!

So far according to SN it could be: An Airlock, Split top hose, Split bottom hose, dodgy header cap, split radiator, Thermostat and last but not least the biggy - Header Gasket.

Only symptons seem to be a slight leak on the left of the engine bay, could this be a split hose or radiator?? Temp gauge does not move above half way at all & there does not appear to be coolant coming out of either the header tank or the overflow tank. No loss in performance whatsoever, though the leaking does only happen after a hard(ish) ride.

Please can someone help me if you have had the same problems, what did you do to cure it??

Cheers,

Doug

JohnCL

Symptoms seems to be much the same I had. Only finally found the crack after one hillclimb run. It may have been getting worse for some while, over a year, and needed high pressure to actually leak much and make some steam. It was very hard to spot as only a short hairline crack, but it did eventually leak onto the ground.
Does the level in the overfow reduce, mine did eventually but not much. It didn't leak during ordinary road use until the last moments.
Cheers,
John

Dogzyboy

Hi, thanks for replying. The level in the overflow seems to have reduced yeah. As i only noticed the problem on monday after a hard ride I'm not sure how long it's been going on, but I have noticed signs of leakage a couple of times this week, though admitedly only a small amount. I'm hoping it is just leak/crack/air blockage as the other options will run in to £££.

Any ideas??

Cheers,

Doug

sampit

sounds like possibly the plastic tank on the radiator has cracked seams to be a common problem on classics, the water leaks from the a small hair line crack top left hand side of the rad just bellow the top hose hard to spot but if you remove the grill you should spot easily runs down and blow on to the headers hence the steam smells at bit like an indian restaurant.
i got the same problem have spoken to a few rad companies found one that say they can replace the plastic tank for £40.00 i carry a 5L can of antifreeze mix and top up when its cold only loses about two pints in a week iv put up with it for the two months
but to risky it coming out tomorrow cost to much in coolant

911

Doug, you have PM!
911

Dogzyboy

Thanks for all the replies folks, they have been very useful.

Looks like I'm gonna have to take the car out for a blast at the weekend & see exactly what is happening. In summary I'm guessing that if I have big bubbles coming out of the expansion tank then I'm probably looking at a head gasket problem, though if it is just a leak down the left handside like I suspect it is going to be a split hose or crack in the plastic bit of the rad.

I'll keep the board updated with my findings!

Thanks again,

Doug

Dogzyboy

It turns out that I do infact have a cracked radiator on the plastic part of it, thanks Sampit for the advice there.

Car is going on Wednesday to get a new radiator providing the warranty covers it? Fortunately this has all come to light before the end of my warranty which actually runs out on Saturday, hopefully there are no underlying problems that caused it to split in the first place?

Thanks for the help folks.

Cheers,

Doug

Dave.K

Would you believe have just found the same problem with mine, same place as well.

Have you resolved this for £40 as you said?

As my core is fine its just the plastic end tank, dont fancy paying £100 extra for replacement rad.

GravelCrew

i had my radiator replaced. it was a faulty design and cracked where the plastic met the aluminum. this was only after 6000 miles on the car.

the dealership replaced it under warranty with a newer design from a 2004 model. No problems since.

Dogzyboy

Been on holiday without the car for a couple of weeks just after it got fixed so I'm not 100% sure but the problem seems to be sorted now yeah! Will give it a blast at the weekend & check for any further leaks though.

Managed to get a whole new radiator as my car was under warranty (just) as I bought it used through the Subaru Approved scheme. Seems a stupid design to me but they were surprised that it had split, Subaru denying a know problem by the sounds of things from this forum.