Welp, Radiator leaking on a road trip

Some of you may remember I was so worried about my spare tire before a road trip. Instead, the radiator blew up. Four miles outside Bridgeport, tiny town near Yosemite.

there’s no mechanic in town but a Good Samaritan helped me figure out the source of the leak and water just gushed out of the radiator itself. I was able to order a new radiator and cap and it seems easy enough to fix. Is it going to be safe to get back on the road once I have a new one or is there other things that might have gotten messed up when the coolant explosion happened? The old radiator definitely looks pretty gunked up and rusted so probably been working on a leak for awhile now.

of course, I’m at least 8 hours from home and stranded in a tiny little town. At least it’s scenic.

 

I'm not a mechanic......how long did you continue to run the engine after losing the radiator?

 

Turned off immediately. Realized what happened. Let cool down. Poured all my camping water in. Limped 4 miles into town thinking there would be a mechanic shop. I was on a dirt road.

Allstate wanted to tow me to a mechanic 90 miles away but they can’t even look at it until next wed. Carson city is next biggest town, also a good 90 miles away.

 

Check your transmission fluid just to make sure the intercooler didn't also fail.

Dried out coolant can make your belts slip. Spray them off or replace, or let it work off if they got coated.


As long as you did not severely overheat, you are fine. Even some overheating will be okay as long as you didn't redline and then some.

 

I'll bet even money there is a member on this forum that's close enough to get to you.

Any takers?

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I suspect the engine's head gasket is fine, given what you've done. Temperate gauge ever get to the red line?

Was your "camping water" distilled water?

 

Make sure you get all the air out the system after you replace it. Took me less than an hour to replace it. Multiple heat cycles to get the air out.

The reason my radiator blew up was because of a bad thermostat. I didn’t replace it while I was working on everything. Had to go back and replace it a day later. Once replaced no more issues

my buddy has over heated many times the 4.7 is a best. You should be ok

 

hmm....I had a new (Denso) radiator put in at the stealership last April. Should I get a new thermostat as well?

 

I don’t think I severely overheated unless it did when it first happened. I was cruising up a dirt hill, the check oil light popped on and I thought oh that’s weird and stopped. Looked up to see what I thought was smoke from the hood, immediately killed engine. Sat and panicked for a bit until I thought it would be cool. Popped hood and it was just steam, nothing burning. Phoned a friend who talked me through coasting it down the hill in neutral as far as I could. Kept a close eye on the temp gauge and had to stop twice as it got close to red. But it didn’t actually get to red. I did turn it back on just to turn it on and park it under a shade tree at the good Samaritan’s house so he could help me take off the skid plate and see it better. It’s def the radiator itself leaking, not any hoses. The check engine light wasn’t on anymore and the engine temp was normal at that point.

good tip on the transmission fluid. I’ll check that in the morning.

 

Not distilled but it was gallons of bottled drinking water

 

If I were in your shoes I would run some water through the system and flush it a couple times after you install the radiator to get rid of any crap left in the system

Distilled water if you can get your hands on some

 

Crack in the plastic tanks? Or between the tanks and fins?

 

That water is going to have some degree of dissolved minerals in it.

 

Ok cool, thank you. The guy on the phone at o Riley’s said it should be easy and my new friend seemed confident too. But then I was reading that it may have happened bc of a faulty thermostat. It’s not too late if I need to order a thermostat too as long as o rellies has one. It’s over an hour away in Nevada but this guy said he was going there tomorrow to pick up some stuff for his wife’s car anyways so I ordered online and put his name in the pickup box. Leap of faith maybe but towing to Carson city and dealing with a mechanic there sounds like a nightmare. Plus I have my dog with me and idk how I’d get her there unless tow driver lets her ride but she’s a 120 lb cane corso who doesn’t really like men.

 

Short term it really doesn't matter what water you used, and you will no doubt be replacing all the coolant when you change the radiator anyway. You should replace the thermostat at the same time just because it's a lot easier that way.

I assume you mean check engine like in your post, not check oil light.

I blew my radiator too on my truck, plowing snow in my driveway five years ago. It happens. Plastic at 180º for 25 years gets cracks. It is an easy job to replace.

Don't panic if you refill it, and it immediately slightly overheats. Getting the air out can be a pain. Just shut it off, let it cool all the way down, making sure the reservoir never goes dry as it cools. You might have to repeat this cycle a few times. Keep the heater all the way on high while doing it. It helps if you can park the truck on a slope nose up.

 

The plastic tank is fine, it exploded all out the front grill and pouring out the actual radiator

 

i meant the top & bottom radiator tanks. And is the plastic on your radiator kinda a brown color or still grey/black?

 

Yes I also ordered a few gallons of coolant too lol. Probably too much but I wasn’t sure how much I needed or if I’d have to flush it. I don’t think the water was in it long enough to do any mineral damage or anything.
And yes, check engine light, duh. I just got an oil leak fixed not too long ago. I did check the oil as well and that is all good. Freshly changed, still clean, normal level.

 

Ohhh yes leaking from there! Umm I can’t remember if it’s brown or black but it’s super cruddy and corroded looking in that area. I’ll check tomorrow. I want to say it’s black but I could be mis remembering that.

 

You will want to have a quart of ATF on hand too, you will lose some replacing the radiator and will probably want to replace it. Shouldn't lose more than half a quart, but just have some to top if off if you can.

Watch out of cracked hoses. Sometimes a hose is borderline, until you have to take it off, and then it cracks on you right there while you get it off.

 

It should take about 4 gallons. Watch a couple of YouTube videos. Hardest part is getting the fan shroud off (not hard at all) The rest is a bunch of hoses and 10mm. It happens to the best of us.

I know you’re getting O’Reilly parts, but you might wanna order some denso parts when you get back home

 

Good idea. There’s a couple gas stations in town and a hardware store. Maybe someone has distilled water haha. Def not ideal for a breakdown but I’m just glad it didn’t happen in middle of literal nowhere Nevada.

 

Kudos to the Good Samaritan taking you to their house. Even I can do a lot more at my house than I can on the side of the road. Courage on your part for going.

 

lol yes it looks exactly like this! Ugh shoot should I try and order some hoses now just in case?
Also
I guess I need one more gallon of coolant too.

 

Weirdest story ever but I was trying to get to a Napa auto store that was on Google maps. I get there and it’s a literal field and some houses. So I get out and wandering around like wtf I don’t see a big blue building anywhere and this guy walks out of his house followed by like 14 chihuahuas and asks if I’m lost. I say my truck just broke down and I was looking for a Napa store. He laughs and says it burned to the ground 2 years ago and how has Google not updated that. He said he’s no mechanic but knows a little and could he take a look with me. So really all I did was pull around closer to his house under a nice tree. He gave me a beer and we started taking a look. Said he wished his daughter would pay more attention to her car.

 

If you can Order an upper and a lower do it. Have them and not need them. You should be alright tho. Even if you end up with a small leak you can always just add more water or coolant. This might require some additional attention once you get back home

I didnt replace mine because I couldn’t get them to fit over the fitting so I left the old ones on. I carry a oem set in my truck when I go camping tho

 

That would be more weird for me as I refuse to own a smartphone, Garmin, etc.

Flip phone, maps, road signs, and asking directions FOR THE WIN!

Last July 4 I pulled over for a young mother, small child and infant(!) in the backseat. She complained of her "wheels acting funny" which upon inspection I discovered both rear tires were flat!

I plugged rear passenger tire and put the spare onto her driver's side. Nail in the one and (mild shock) #10 deck screw dead center and 90 degrees perpendicular to the sidewall on the other. No way that was an accident.

I was nearly done when her husband caught up. He let me continue including pumping up both tires and putting those on. I recommended they delay their return trip until they can get a new tire due to the damaged sidewall.

She was a very pretty young thing, so my suspicion is, since they were traveling a long way in two vehicles separated by nearly an hour....I think at least the screw was meant to get her on the side of the road.....alone.

Also his personality wasn't the greatest (bit rude to me and me there on my own time and dime) so he might have ticked off someone and they took some tire revenge......anyway.....

She had pulled off in a secluded spot and tall grass......I pulled to deer ticks off my body when I got home.

Husband did give me a new tire plug kit so there's that...and he thanked me.

She asked and I accepted (with his permission) a great big hug!

One week later I got a flat on my 2 axle trailer.....took two plugs to fix that!

 

Yea definitely thinking I might want someone to give her a look over when I get home. It also looks like there’s a shell with mechanic shop 14 miles down the road in Lee vining that might be able to look it over if I get it there. I had been planning to meet some friends in Yosemite but now I’m kinda nervous to drive over the pass.

what all do you keep in your camping kit?

 

have trust in the truck and your skills. Once you get it buttoned up she will be ok. May over heat but that’s just air.

I carry a upper and lower rad hose, cheap moog outer tie rods, quart of atf and engine oil, 1 gallon of coolant, can of brake cleaner, 4 spark plugs and 2 old denso coil packs, and my battery jump box. Basic tools to do everything.

 

My dad had a saying "carry the tools to take it off, cut it off, or beat it off."

 

Ah yea I guess it’s super dark brown. It’s leaking from this cruddy part.