98 dse radiator split!

lent my dse to a friend while i had his disco for some work when he called to say it was leaking coolant didnt get it hot went just over halfway when he parked it up at work and switched it off.
when i got to it the radiator has split on the top in the middle on what i can assume looks like a bleed pipe linking between the top hoses.
mine never overheats even when towing normally sits just under halfway.
managed to get it home by using arraldite over the crack then plastic over the top and arraldite over that left it overnight and drove it home with the expansion cap loose to avoid any pressure on the split.
made it home didnt leak boil over temp sitting where it allways does didnt pump water out the expansion bottle.
in the service history there is an invoice from island 4x4 in 2008 for a rad which i assume is a britpart job.
so my question is as many seem to have suffered split rad how many of you have had it lead to further issues such as head cracked or head gasket and how many have got away with just a rad!?

If it didn't overheat, why would you suspect HGF or a cracked head?

A stone smashed the rad on my old Honda CRX, as an emergency repair I crimped the pipe and araldited the area and then forgot about it (too busy whizzing round the country) - three years and 60K miles later when I sold it, the bodge was still going strong - didn't leak a drop.

purely as there is so many threads about split rads leading to cracked heads, seems strange that it just split for no reason made me wonder if the cooling system has excess pressure. could be a manufacturing defect as the plastic on the top does seem rather thin where it split but as it was having an easy time pootling around and not towing anything for a change would have thought it would have failed whilst towing.
cant say untill i fit the new rad i guess but was just curious!

i had an old crx years ago i paid £50 for as an mot fail had nearly 200,000miles on it got it through the mot and had much fun in it till it died doing an indicated 140mph on the speedo may have been a bit optimistic but i do remember it went like stink!
nearly as much as it stank inside due to the leaky sunroof!!!!!!

6704nathan said:

purely as there is so many threads about split rads leading to cracked heads, seems strange that it just split for no reason made me wonder if the cooling system has excess pressure. could be a manufacturing defect as the plastic on the top does seem rather thin where it split but as it was having an easy time pootling around and not towing anything for a change would have thought it would have failed whilst towing.
cant say untill i fit the new rad i guess but was just curious!

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Make sure you get the correct RAD, a lot are being sold as suitable for the diesel even though they have an oil cooler in the bottom. IMO they are not suitable.

Mine did exactly the same on the plastic 'lid' of the rad. Original LR part to. Where the ridges are it cracks in the corners.

Like you ordered from island 4x4 and the cheapest non LR they did was some Danish company specialising in aftermarket rads. The plastic on top of this looks a little thinner and weaker and I thought I'd have to replace in 12 months. However still going well...touching wood....3 years on. Not britpart but a good quality part. Manual to so has the oil cooler in the bottom.

I've read its not uncommon for the plastic to perish and split with the constant variants in heat and cold and frost. Ali sport do an all Aluminum rad with metal 'lid' to counter this problem...but IMO you can't really justify the price.

and...ran the vehicle for three months with the split with various bodges and it finally gave up after a 350 mile round trip to Manchester. Was a hot day to. Bit the bullet and replaced after it shot straight into the red and, i think, went into some sort of safe mode, as It wouldn't rev above 1000rpm and I just about got it to the side of the road avoiding unnecessary frustration of drivers behind. The crack had meant all the coolant i put in before i left for manch had slowly fizzed out and leaked. I went to Tesco and brought 5x5l bottles of water topped it up and nursed it home - which strangely the temp gauge never went above halfway even through the dales. Seems I was lucky and got away with any head probs. Coolant loss is next to zero and likewise with oil.

Did the Stat and pump while the fan was out the way and flushed it through.

When mine went I replaced the rad, water pump, belt and tensioner, also the stat. Buying an aftermarket stat was a mistake and soon changed it for a genuine one. When it continued to overheat I fitted a Kenlowe fan, still overheated! Later replaced that with a new viscous fan and had no more trouble ever since, including towing out 22ft caravan. I now suspect the problem was caused by a failure of the original viscous fan.

Datatek said:

Make sure you get the correct RAD, a lot are being sold as suitable for the diesel even though they have an oil cooler in the bottom. IMO they are not suitable.

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my old dse had a manual rad in an auto with no probs and when that went i replaced it with the same and never had a problem?
my current dse has a manual rad in an auto and i didnt buy it the previous owner did.
will be replacing it with the same as i won a new allmakes rad for £90 delivered so will be again a manual rad going in an auto!
i hope it was purely a case of going brittle with age as i said it doesnt overheat even towing my 25ft caravan up some very steep long drags in devon but at 4 years old wouldnt expect it but as i said it seems very thin plastic as when i rubbed it down with a bit of 80 grit emery to provide a key i was shocked how thin it was reckon i could have sanded through it!