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Radiator went BANG!!!

drifto

By drifto,
in General Maintenance

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drifto Collaborator

drifto

Posted
Posted

After a swift run thru the local "Nasho" i was towed out on the back of a truck.

With my brother driving i watched the temp gauge climb past the point of concern and into the worry area. As i suggested to back off a very loud BANG! interuppted me followed closely by lots of green fluid and steam from under the bonnet.

With the wounded skyline at rest and the bonnet up I noticed there was no top on the radiator anymore.

The results of the post mortum concluded that a sludged up 2nd hand engine had clogged up what was otherwise a clean but 15 year old plastic radiator. With its hire pressure Tomei radiator cap still firmly attached to the now seperated top tank it is certain that these caps hold more pressure than a skyline radiator is designed for.

The moral to the story is:

1. flush your cooling system thoroughly after installing a 2nd hand engine

2. pay more attention to your engine temp

3. only use high pressure rad caps on high press rads

Bye all. :kick:

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Duncan Grand Master

Duncan

Posted
Posted

I had a little pin hole leak in my rad but didn't notice it warming up until the ECU decided it was time to shut down :( engine was fine so thank god for that.

It did look like some alien had climbed under the bonnet tho, green goo everywhere!

I think point 3 is pretty important, in a lot of ways a high pressure cap shouldnt be required if the rest of the colling system is working ok :)

Beer Baron Grand Master

Beer Baron

Posted
Posted
I had a little pin hole leak in my rad but didn't notice it warming up until the ECU decided it was time to shut down :P engine was fine so thank god for that.

It did look like some alien had climbed under the bonnet tho, green goo everywhere!

I think point 3 is pretty important, in a lot of ways a high pressure cap shouldnt be required if the rest of the colling system is working ok ;)

I don't agree with that. Of course the cap will still be on the top of the tank. For it to come off, the metal of the cap would have to bend, or the plastic break, or the thing would somehow have to twist itself off. I'm sure when the tank blew your cap was in the 'open' position and was diverting coolant to your overflow tank as rapidly as the tiny overflow tube would allow it to (unless it was broken and stuck shut, but in my experience when broken the just leak, or open at lower pressure, from a worn spring). What happend was the pressure in the radiator was too great to be vented through the small overflow nozzle/tube, hence the top tank speperated from the rad. I honestly don't think that a stock rad cap would have made one iota of difference.

Bummer about being strandard though. Also, when the tank blew off did it just break a few of the little tabs on the core and then free itslef from the rest, or did heaps of them break off (or none)?

Richard

drifto Collaborator

drifto

Posted
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Posted

mmmmgtir, it severed thru the plastic tank itself not detached at the join. It may be possible that the cap had opened and simply couldn't release the pressure quick enough. Any way, now i have a beautiful 3 core copper radiator out of a racing GTR for $500. I think my overheating problems have been solved.

GTR032 Experienced

GTR032

Posted
Posted

About 30mins of driving after putting on my 'High pressure' Nismo radiator cap I blew the top piece of the radiator apart. 2 days later it blew a coolant hose at the back of the engine. All fine now..but was a little paranoid about putting the nismo one back on :P

Beer Baron Grand Master

Beer Baron

Posted
Posted
mmmmgtir, it severed thru the plastic tank itself not detached at the join. It may be possible that the cap had opened and simply couldn't release the pressure quick enough. Any way, now i have a beautiful 3 core copper radiator out of a racing GTR for $500. I think my overheating problems have been solved.

ahhh, yeah I've had a top tank start to crack and leak at that point too (with a stock cap installed). Just above where it has the lugs to sit on the core. They get hot and crack over time. After reading gtr032s post i'm now wondering again about the whole cap thing. I have a cusco .9bar cap on my gti-r and when it get's hot enough I've seen it open and bleed of pressure to the overflow tank. I know of dozens of people using various brand .9bar caps on otherwise stock systems. Was your cap rated to hold a higher pressure than that? Eitherway, sounds like your problems are solved now. :D

Richard

Cubes Grand Master

Cubes

Posted
Posted

I think it had more to do with the age of the plastic on the top tank.

I had my top tank literally become brittle and crushed with the slightest overtighten of a hose clamp.

Old plastic goes brittle. Especially with the type of heat the top tank see's.

I would say it was leaking fluid, temp got high pressure builds more then the brittle top tank simply let go.

I replaced mine including labour and a coolant fill for $90 from Natrad.

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