Maybe a punctured radiator and cracked exhaust?

C

connzy

New Member
me and a mate had just finished cutting out my bumpers fog lights and teeth with a dremel when we noticed the antifreeze puddle underneath the car. theres a patch on the near the bottom fins on the radiator thats wet so im guessing its leaking from there not from a pipe/seal but could anyone tell me if there is a way to confirm this without taking it to a mechanic, i drove from my mates house home and the temperature gauge stayed around just under halfway was like a 20 minute drive.
when i got home and checked it was still leaking. got a few pictures.

p110311160901.jpg

p1103111609.jpg

ALSO while looking underneath my radiator there seems to be a pipe in between the flexi bit and the headers thats seems to have come apart just doesnt look right to me, ive noticed lately that my exhaust has started to sound "tiny/tinie" how ever its spelt got a pic of that aswell.

any opinions on what i should do?
p110311160902.jpg

phone pics sorry and sorry about the size aswell
 
Check the clamps on your radiator first... but doesnt look too good man.

And thats just heat shielding.. no performance effect at all with it on / off, looks fine from here
 
stock manifold, that si heat shield as royzie said, wont make a differance to sound but its best left on its there for a reason

looks like u have got a hole in ur rad
 
you answerd your own question," me and a mate had just finished cutting out my bumpers fog lights and teeth with a dremel when we noticed the antifreeze puddle underneath the car".
 
Drain your radiator, dry the leak and everything around it, jack your car up, then fill the radiator and wait for it to leak again and trace it back to the hole. Did you top up the coolant and spill some LOL?
 
when the car is hot carfully squeze the top rad pipe and watch the suspected areas for the leak
 
i was told by a mate who helped me patch it that it was to high to even have been close to the dremel, (also its the back radiator behind the aircon radiator i think it is so there is no way a dremel could even fit in to the back radiator and was told something has flicked up and hit it. we roughly cut the bumper out yesterday and have driven to and from school and a mates house and today we cut out the fog light holes which are not near the radiator, we than sanded back the middle bit and the fog light holes and done a quick paint until i get some more.

so im looking for a new radiator now should i just grab a stock one from the wreckers or buy a brand new one?
 
wreckers, altho most would be fked coz almost 99% of cars at wreckers are front on collisions
 
resuliac said:
wreckers, altho most would be fked coz almost 99% of cars at wreckers are front on collisions
Click to expand...

I hate this sooo much. With most of the stuff I want, the car that has it has a big crash where the part is.
 
it could be one of afew things, and it may not be triggered by your work on your bumper( this stuff has happened to my VU)

-4way heater tap on mine sprung a drip. one day it was dripping, next it was running coolant. had to get a new one and hoses.

-radiator has a small crack inside the meshed area that you cant get to

-coolant hoses (top and bottom) one might have a slight split in it. my top one hada drip for afew days, i didnt know till i opened my hood one day and there was sprayed coolant everywhere haha. it had been dripping onto the belt n spraying round.
also my bottom one wasnt on properly when i bought the car, n it was dripping aswell.

-this may also seem dumb, but have you checked to make sure the cap for the coolant is/was on? easy mistake to make.

ebay/repco/super cheap/ autobarn. these places will be "ok" for radiator prices. its good to know people who can help get you a discount.
when my radiator cracked, it was guna cost 350$ for it... i got my mechanic mate to buy it for me, cost me 280$ for the radiator, cap, coolant, thermistat and hoses :p
 
sorry to see you have more work coming your way... but if you do detect the issue, buy new..anything from the wrecker will be priced close to a rebuilt or new item from a specialist radiator manufacturing shop.
 
so a quick update for the people that think im dumb enough to cut the radiator with the dremel. sorry phone pics.
8wdpy1.jpg

as you can see in this picture the red circle is where the leak was coming from, it was spurting out. this is the rad behind the air con rad and we didnt take off the bumper, so there is no possible way the dremel could of even got that far in. also take note at all the rest of the damaged fins from rocks flying into them which is why i wanted to mesh in the first place, so the theory is that it was damaged but not leaking or i hadnt noticed a small leak, and then we have knocked it with the plastic cutouts or something which caused it to start spurting out.


2589lzo.jpg

on another note i have finished cutting my bumper out, couldnt be bothered to sand it back and i dont have the matching colour paint so just rubbed the top clear coat off and done a quick layer over the top to make it less noticeable until i can be bothered to sand down the inside and repaint.

it does look stupid but whats done is done now, i think it will look half decent when i sand and repaint the inside middle and mesh it. i hate how the middle bar in the middle gap wasnt solid and i didnt realise until after i cut the first side that it would leave a gap. but ill work out a way to fill it
 
if you are going to get a new radiator get a slightly better one than stock it will be worth it. may cost you $150 but it will be worth it.
had to do this to mine and it was a lot better.
 
Lachy said:
if you are going to get a new radiator get a slightly better one than stock it will be worth it. may cost you $150 but it will be worth it.
had to do this to mine and it was a lot better.
Click to expand...
yea thats what im planning on doing, can you give me a few tips like
how do you no if its better than the stock one?
recommendations of sites or some good radiators?
should i buy all new parts (hose's clamps etc) or just the back radiator and use my old stuff?

sorry, but i have no clue when it comes to radiators.
 
well my car had a front end accident, the radiator was leaking so i bought one from across the road where it was being repaired and was told they are good quality radiators, cant remember the brand, but it cost me $120. the clamps were replaced but hoses werent. honestly i couldnt tell what the benefits were but ive been told for radiators aftermarket are better than stock and its worthwhile
 
to be honest i have no idea about cars mechanically. all i was told that the one i got would be a lot better than stock, it cost me $120, the clamps were replaced but hoses werent. sorry i cant be of much help
 
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