Exploding radiator

Have had a run of problems, started with a fan belt giving out, had that replaced (and no the engine didn't boil), air suspension pipe being melted by cracked exhaust over rear axle then a crack across top of radiator.

New radiator fitted, ran well for 2 weeks, all hoses behaving well no bulging, only concern was when I was sitting at a toll booth on motorway in 35 degrees of heat with aircon on full blast temp guage moved slightly up from usual position in centre of gauge.

Then two weeks after new radiator, drove 10 kms to local town, did some shopping drove back, temp gauge normal, stopped car unloaded on lot of shopping, came back for second load to hear radiator leaking, opened bonnet to find radiator cracked again across top, and water pressure and heat sufficient to have pierced sound proofing on underside of bonnet.

Have 1999 DSE P38 with auto gear box and viscous coupling fan.

awaiting new radiator, and will ensure that pressure valve in expansion tank is renewed, any ideas as to why or was it just a duff new radiator?

Was the rad properly bled when it was last replaced??

Hate to say it but I know when I had this happen to me it was the beginning of all my head problems

The temp gauge moving slightly up is what mine would do, basically my rad went bang like yours, replaced it and thought all was fine. After that I noticed when sitting in a McDonalds drive-thru (no comments please ) the temp gauge creeping up. Did this on and off for a while, never got into the red. Around 3 weeks after the rad was replaced I was coming back from Oxford and had just got off the M40 and my temp gauge decided to jump from centre to the red and I overheated. Recovered back to specialists, eventual diagnosis was a cracked head, the crack would only open up at a certain temperature though which is what made it difficult to spot. When I came back from Oxford along the M40 I was going up the part that is a long incline, this opened the crack in the head and as soon as I got off the motorway allowed the engine to overheat.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news and I hope that you dont have the same problem I did.

One other thing that popped into mind while I was typing the above was, you had a broken fanbelt, is your water pump ok, when was that last renewed??

-Wills

Fan belt failure was 10 weeks before radiator problems, and water pump seems to be working OK as have had heater running at full blast and having been running in summer temperatures in Italy ( 39 degrees in shade) and have done long runs on motorway with no problem, with aircon at lowest temps.

Also replacement radiator gave out after I had switched engine off, and as I said no signs of bulging of radiator hoses.

The fact that the radiator cracked in identical place on original and replacement ( across ridge in plastic header part of main radiator makes me wonder if this is a weak spot in these radiators). Would have thought that even if pressure valve on expansion tank faulty a pipe would have burst/ blown off before radiator cracked.

i have a 2000 p38 with a kenlow fan, the fan failed while i was loading a trailer with the engine running, temp went up next thing bang, and yes rad split in the same way, i can not understand why, surely if the pressure got to high it should blow from expantion bottle, any idears?

Check that the viscous fan is working correctly, that is a common cause of an overheat.

Mine did the same and like you I replaced it and it went again on full investigation had a slipping liner hope this is not the case for you - did I read someone was in a Macdonalds drive through i must have been mistaken

sandyt said:

Mine did the same and like you I replaced it and it went again on full investigation had a slipping liner hope this is not the case for you - did I read someone was in a Macdonalds drive through i must have been mistaken

Click to expand...

Diesels don't suffer from slipped liners

Datatek said:

Diesels don't suffer from slipped liners

Click to expand...

Even if they did you wouldnt be able to see them from the smoke but now I realise the Macdonalds i suppose it was to get the chip fat