URGENT! (possibly) RADIATOR HELP!

[lemonyfresh]

It was all going so well, just had my wheels balanced, driving nice and wobble free BUT THEN i park up and notice a chunk of my radiator is missing and what looks and smells like radiator water/fluid is dripping out. Bad times

Anyway - i was wondering if anyone knows if i can repair this or is it just better/safer to get a new rad? (if so how much and where?) ARGH!
Once again cheers for any help on this guys

[bl4stin]

just get a new 1 it will be better all round. go on google and type in carben fibre creations and go on his website and i think hes sellin them. dont know how much

[toxo]

Phone round the specialists / affiliates and see what you can get, Ben's are an upgrade and therefore expensive. If you've got a 'chunk' missing then it won't be repairable. Not the end of the world though

[Slarty]

Not being funny, but are you certain it's the coolant radiator? Only if there was a "chunk" missing from it, it would have dumped the coolant in a matter of seconds and you'd have over heated.

It isn't the air-con radiator instead?

[lemonyfresh]

i dont have aircon so no its...... like a sqare piece of the element has been knocked out, and the bit above it has fanned out slightly

its more of a steady drip, i stuck a container under it last night to see exactly how much i was losing (ill stick some photos of it up soon)

[lemonyfresh]

ok, here we go....



this is at the bottom of the rad



and this is the colour of the stuff coming out!!! this was the ammount overnight.

trouble is i dont know if it may be coolant? i cant see the level in the tank as its in a pretty awkward place in the engine bay

[Rowland]

You need a new radiator.





http://www.roguemotorsport.com/forms/Pr ... spx?ID=320

http://www.fensport.co.uk/partsfiles/sw20service.htm

[lemonyfresh]

yeah, i guessed after it leaked another crap load of red goo on the tarmac today after the pics

[Awilkinson75]

defo the radiator leaking, that red goo is the rad fluid called 'for life' also as well as a new rad you gunna need the coolant. As far as I know you can only buy it from Toyota, not too expensive as not really wanted by many, only made for MR2's. Cost me about £25 for 12 litres, takes about 7-8 litres to fill system. Take car for a spin then top up as required. You will need to bleed system to get air out.

[lemonyfresh]

cool beans - cheers for the help peoples
Ill get this ordered from rogue methinks as they seem to be the best price.
(not the cheapest, but have a good name on here so that defo makes up for it)
you reckon i can get the coolant from toyota then, thats handy as theres a garage just round the corner from me

[Awilkinson75]

yeah defo, like I say there the only place you can get it from, there is a red and a green version, make sure yah get the red version, any questions let me know

[lemonyfresh]

oh..... and on a completely random note, i need a new sump pan and one of these..........



(the rusty bit) whatever they are called? Looks like some kind of stiffening rod/bar/do-hickey

[Awilkinson75]

same here, the ones on my car are rusted as well, hopefully getting the lads at work to knock a pair up for me to rplace them, yah might want to try at your local scrapyards and see if they have a scrapped MR2 to take them off

[bluefrog]

I have similar rad problem. I jacked up the front of my car yesterday (to sort out a wheel bearing) and had a shock when I looked underneath. Seems like almost half of the blocks / fins have been knocked out of the rad by stones ets and were either twisted up in the fan or just hanging down I guess this means the fan hasn't been working for a long time either. The car is running absolutely fine tho, no leaks & temp needle never moves, but I guess it would be stupid to just leave it the way it is. Come summer it wil prob start overheating like a mother...

I guess replacing rad is a big messy job?

[lemonyfresh]

i heard that its not too bad, it comes out from underneath if i remember rightly? i guess there will be a bucket or other similar containing device needed for the lifeblood (well, it is red) that will leak everywhere :S

[Awilkinson75]

have a full walkthrough of replacing radiator and bleeding the coolant if yah wanting it, send me yah email address and will forward it to you

[toxo]

defo the radiator leaking, that red goo is the rad fluid called 'for life' also as well as a new rad you gunna need the coolant. As far as I know you can only buy it from Toyota, not too expensive as not really wanted by many, only made for MR2's.

Yes the car uses Toyota Forlife (or 'Long Life' now) coolant. No, it's not only made for MR2s. No, you can't only get it from Toyota - even the Toyota repair manual says that any ethylene glycol based coolant can be used. It's quite safe to use the equivalent from Halfords, but to be honest once you've bought deionised water to mix with it it's more or less the same price as the Toyota stuff.

Toyota garages are keen to shift the stuff, especially premixed, as newer Toyotas use a different formula coolant which is meant to last 100,000 miles. The prices do vary quite a lot though.

oh..... and on a completely random note, i need a new sump pan and one of these..........

(the rusty bit) whatever they are called? Looks like some kind of stiffening rod/bar/do-hickey

Toyota refer to them as BRACE, REAR SUSPENSION

LOWER RH 53653-17020
LOWER LH 53654-17010

[lemonyfresh]

yay! someone who knows! -moderate worshipping-

[Awilkinson75]

as I stated only Toyota supply Forlife, any other version isnt Forlife

[Awilkinson75]

have sent the walkthrough to you both