Friday, Jan 19, 2007 at 13:36
Overheated badly a week prior to xmas, no radiator water. I posted some stuff on this then, cause when Toyota "fixed" it a day later, they said the cause was electrolosys in the radiator causing the hole.
Over xmas in the
Otways, I was keeping an eye on the newby radiator, and the fluid in the reserve kept dropping away, and I could see dribbles occasionally underneath.
Back to Toyota yesterday when we got back from hols and got them to
check the new install and fix the leak whatever it was. Which they did for free - replaced the three clamps, 2 top and 1 bottom, and full flush of the fluid again.
However, back to the old radiator that got replaced, it was only 22mths old and had sprung a leak - few leaks actually. My understanding is that the radiator can die from external abuse/rust, internal wrong fluid, or stray current.
Toyota after some serious "discussion" with them tell me it was external abuse from mud, and that is what their radiator specialists had said. I separately took the old radiator to Toyotas own specialist and asked them to pressure
test and comment. They said it is very likely an incorrect fluid or stray current issue due to where the leaks were appearing - so different story to what Toyota are saying.
Now, I got a statement from their radiator specialist saying it is unlikely mud. So I need to get stray current and earthing
check to rule out that problem (last I looked there was 200mV potential b/w the radiator fluid and the battery terminal, so it is possible). If it checks out ok, that leaves a fluid issue so I can go Toyota for the cost (the aim of the game here, its near $800) since they are the ones who fully maintained the vehicle for the last 2.5 yrs.
Bottom line also, if I got an elect prob, the new radiator apparently will suffer the same fate just as quick anyway.
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