Radiator Kaboom

[MY90SC]

I thinkI blew my rad up:(

just about to work and I am practicing my spirited driving techniques:D All of a sudden as I shift into 3rd I feel the car lose a bit of power I look at the gauges running just a little warm about R I look in my rearview Holy ~~~~e Steam everywhere. I pull it out of gear turn it off and coast to the side of the road. Right away I'm thinking I just blew HG. Open the hood and coolant everywhere checked all hoses everything is still connected overflow bottle is half way between full hot and full cold. So I let it cool down pull the 2 top bolts off of the fan shroud to Av a look can't see anything major the rad is in bad shape I should have replaced it already and I will be kicking my own arse over it.

No Check Engine lights BTW and after about 3 minutes not running I started it again ran fine temp was back to below N I shut it off again for about 15-20 minutes then started it drove it really really slow the rest of the way to work(3 Km's all hwy) not going over 1500 RPM

I will be pulling the fan shroud off completeley later to find out where it blew and will keep you posted.


anybody think my HG's blew ??? I don't considering that when I started it after cooling down I looked under the hood while it was running and could see steam coming from the rad on the engine side. The steam I saw when I first looked into the rearview mirror was not coming from the tailpipes it was a large plume suggesting that my exhaust manifolds just got bathed in coolant coming from somewhere in the rad oh please let it be just the rad.

[SeanMatteson]

Ron,

I don't want to scare you, but I've heard of many cases where people have blown a seam in the rad as the result of blowing their HG's. If you lose integrity of the HG between the combustion chamber and a coolant jacket, you're introducing combustion heat and pressure into the cooling system. If the rad already had a weak spot, this may be enough to cause a complete failure at the leak.

I would take a really close look at the oil to make sure you don't have contamination with coolant. The part that gives me cause for concern is when you stated:

"All of a sudden as I shift into 3rd I feel the car lose a bit of power..."

If you find even the slightest bit of milkiness, DO NOT RUN THE ENGINE. You can save the bottom end so long as you don't leave that glycol in contact with the bearings for long.

I can't reason out in my mind why a sudden failure in the rad would cause you to feel some loss of power immediately. If the plugs weren't such a PITA to get at, I'd suggest you start pulling plugs to see if you find one or two that look much cleaner than the rest. Steam-cleaning an engine from the inside out does a wonderful job of making the combustion chamber look like new again!!! ...Another added benefit of H20 Injection.

Keep us posted! ...If in fact you lost the HG's, you know you've got lots of friends who can help.

Best regards,

Sean

[92strokedbird]

Keep us posted Ron,and we will see you on Sunday at Greg's.Have you ever changed your water pump,there is a drain hole out the bottom of the water pump.When my water pump went it felt like something gave way and if the pump went you will see fluid come out of the bottom of that hole under the pump.Keep us posted!

[MercsSC]

Thought I was problem man ...the hole in the water pump is called a weep hole ..bearing and or seal go.. it slips the coolant out the hole.. and all you can do is weep about it....Ron a sudden loss of coolant will srcew up the ecm ...by the lack of a temp sensor since the coolant is gone from around it ....thinks that's what happened to you ....and hope it's not hg's....coolant everywhere does sound like a external leak ...if your overflow bottle is where you say it is ....

[MY90SC]

thanks for the help and support guys.
I have been poking arround I think the bottom of the rad separated from the tank:D the rad has very little fluid in it and the overflow bottle still reads full I will pull the rad out tonight and have a look

if the HG's blew should the car not run really bad???? I have loooked at the dipstick 12 times and it is not milky......

it starts and runs perfect

[SeanMatteson]

Ron,

Dave is right, and if the oil looks good and the car runs fine, you're probably OK.

Cheers,

Sean

[axlr8r]

Hey Ron, sorry to hear about your luck. It's always a sickening feeling to see the steam coming out from under the hood.
Mine did the same thing, just as I was coming off the highway. Lot's of steam, no power. Turns out the "weep seal" let go and sprayed coolant all over the belts, which in turn caused them to slip (no SC power) That may be the reason why you had loss of power.
Good Luck, let me know if you need any help

[MY90SC]

Well I will be taking this kerplooee rad out and putting in the old brass tanked rad from my old 90 parts car. (not recored yet) I will fill it up and see how it runs. The rad was fine in the other car. If anybody is up for a drive and would like to help feel free to call me on my cell # I would appreciate it just for advice and support. I have never done this but with everything I've learned in the past 8 monthes from you fine people I am confident enough to give it a try. I will keep you posted on what I find out.

[BlueThunder90]

Well, I hate to scare you but it does sound like your blew your HG's. I had almost the exact same situation happen to me the other day, jumped on the gas and bam, a sudden loss of power and white smoke out the tails. I blew mine @ 140km/h, so it was very noticable.

I too had coolant all over my rad and the hoses below due to air lock in the engine and the coolant was coming back out the rad and squirting out.

As a quick test, open your rad cap on a cold engine and turn the car on. If your rad starts to spout like a hose in a few seconds, time to get them HG's done.

There was some reason why burning coolant was coming out your exhaust....as most of us know, that's mainly due to HG failure and not just a simple rad or pump leak.:o

Here's a shot of my progress:
http://members.rogers.com/ws6/engine061503-1.jpg

[MY90SC]

no milky oil
no coolant came out of the rad cap.
no coolant came out of the overflow bottle. it didn't even bubble
no steam out of tailpipes it was a huge plume suggesting that it was hot steam coming from the rad and hot coolant spewing out all over a hot engine.

I am staying hopefull here guys I did start it about 20 minutes after this happened and it purred like a kitten with no smoke out tailpipes.
will know more in a while when I get the rad off and have a closer look

[BlueThunder90]

I assume that when you said " look in my rearview Holy ~~~~e Steam everywhere. " was that the steam came out of your tail pipes, not off your motor.

Good luck with whatever problem it may be....these things are fun to work on :D

[the SPIN Doctor]

Steve,

It looks like you are coming along with your project.

Any more details to share? cough*MODS*cough??? ;)

[MY90SC]

Well I swapped in the older style rad filled it up and she runs fine a few airbubbles in the overflow but I had that when I did the rad hoses and t-stat a few monthes ago after filling up the system. I took it for a short drive it runs just like it did before maybe a little cooler on the gauge I can't tell until I get any airpockets worked out of the system. And it is cooler tonight than recently.

Thanks for the help gentleman I think I averted the headgasket monster this time:cool:

now I need a good rad to use while mine goes out to be recored to a triple core. which is next week I hope I am working on a very good deal on this job so if you are planning on doing this in the next week hold off until I get a price from my supplier here in KW I think we will all be very pleased.

[BlueThunder90]

Originally posted by the SPIN Doctor
Steve,

It looks like you are coming along with your project.

Any more details to share? cough*MODS*cough??? ;)

I'm thirsty, anyone want some "juice"? :D

[sabbySC]

You're gonna break the balancer so save some money up for a new one. The bottom end will take it though.

Oh yeah and yes, when you spray for the first time you'lll think to yourself "why didn't I try this sooner".