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Rad leak


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Well, just checking the 110 over as due to take it to Scotland for a fortnight this coming Wednesday and discover a tiny leak on the rad.

I bought this unit from M&D engineering in Jan 2013 as an 'uprated four core rad' (http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=80260&page=2). The leak is coming from a tiny pinprick hole in the solder where the tank on the passenger side is soldered to the frame of the core. I don't really want to risk taking it all that way like this (although it doesn't appear to currently lose much coolant). Given that I would quite like to take it on holiday in two days what would you do. No time to send back to M&D and get it back before Weds (thats assuming they would do anything after 2.5 years), I don't know of any local rad specialists (but I'm sure there are some), or could i clean it up and get the blow torch and solder out??

Other option is forget about it and take the disco, but kinda wanted to take the 110.

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I wouldn't risk it, things like this very rarely fix themselves but quite often make themselves worse..

I'd get onto M&D when you get back and see what they say.

Thanks David. My thoughts really too. I doubt M&D will want to know after 2.5 years, but its leaking at that seam and I would think that should rarely if ever be a failure point (at least, not before the core fins rot away!).

I'm going to give a rad place a ring in Hertford first thing in the morning though and see if they can do anything. Stupid really, i should just forget it, but i've spent ages sorting the 110 for this trip and I'm pretty disappointed that its looking like i cant take it. (I only went out to check the oil level in the swivels and as i sat in front of the car, thats what i was met with!)

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Thanks Les. I dont know why, but I am always uneasy with products like K Seal.

I rang a localish recore place this morning - I dropped a spare rad off there that needed a recore at 0900 and it was ready for me to collect by 1400 - just going to fit it now.

M&D said that their warranty only runs for 12 months from purchase. I kind of get that, but this failure is not because I ran into a tree or even that the fins have rotted with old age (the core is PERFECT) so i kind of felt some sort of goodwill gesture might be in order here. They did say that these types of cracks could occur due to insufficient isolation of the rad (i.e. failed rubber mounts), but they are all in good order on mine and i even have an old rubber bike inner tube that isolates the rad from the intercooler next to it!

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£175 Dave, so about as much as a new metal rad can be had for. Even if it's a bit more he turned it round so quickly it was worth it. The M&D one will be going to him for repair. I wasn't really impressed with their response.

All fitted now. Discovered I need a new fan belt now though!! Will it ever end!!

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It's hard to find metal rads now, so having two (once this one is repaired) seems a good move! He's done a nice job so if you can get yours done, that's a good way to go I suppose.

One thing I would say, at nearly £100 more, the m&d one wasn't worth it with a 2.5 year lifetime!

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's hard to find metal rads now, so having two (once this one is repaired) seems a good move! He's done a nice job so if you can get yours done, that's a good way to go I suppose.

One thing I would say, at nearly £100 more, the m&d one wasn't worth it with a 2.5 year lifetime!

Although the warranty is 1 year you may still have some power here because products are expected too have a reasonable lifespan. This can be up to 6 years for certain products, I don't know what it would be on car parts. I do believe that it is up to you to prove it's a manufacturing problem rather than abuse.

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Thanks Barry. If they were local I would have been round there with it. Trouble is they are over 100miles away and trying to have this argument from a distance will be a major pain! I only went this way because it seemed like a worthwhile upgrade, so I'm a bit gutted really. Hopefully the chap who recored my other rad as a result of this will be able to repair this one for not too much.

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