Blown radiator

[Damon]

Hi guys,
trucking down the M3 at the weekend I was suddenly engulfed in my own personal tsunami, the rad had blown. Pulled over to the hard shoulder and the temp guage was in the red, I didn't see if it was there before the pop.

Had a good look tonight and the radiator cap is siezed up so wount have released pressure. the fault in the rad is clearly visible in the pic below.

My question is, Is this a symptom of a fault ( cracked head? waterpump failure?) or the rad cap? the car was going great prior to ####ing its pants, and I was just thinking how reliable it had been over the last couple of years (of course)

[davemaxx]

i'd say it was the rad cap because it works like a pressure relief valve, if it don't work somethings gona blow.......

[coolsv650]

Your only choice is to replace the rad & cap (do the thermostat whilst the system is in bits) then get the system sniffer tested for combustion gasses.

Oh and if the system had toyota red coolant make sure you flush it properly before putting in standard antifreeze.

If the cap head siezed the pressure will have built up in the system, what happens is as the engine get hot the watrer expands and goes into the expansion bottle, if the cap did not allow the water to pass it would need to get out somewhere. It might be worth checking that all the rubber hoses are ok as well