Radiator exploded during MOT!

matt_fsr

matt_fsr

matt_fsr

Soldato
Joined
20 Jul 2005
Posts
5,714
Location
Durham
Put the Merc in for its' MOT yesterday around 9:30, got a phone call at around 12ish to say that the radiator had exploded! :eek:

Went down to the garage and had a look, and yes, it looks like the top plastic section of the rad had catastrophically blown apart, water was everywhere, all over the engine bay area, wings, floor, even some spatter on the windscreen!

I'm just glad none of the water hit the lad who was doing the MOT - apparently it just went bang big style as he was lowering it down on the hydraulic lift, scared the life out of him!

Anyone else ever had anything similar? The guy's looking into what might have caused it now, hoping it wont cost too much to fix, but I'm just happy really that no-one got scalded when it blew.
 
My golf blew its rad on an A road @ 50.

I was wondering what the whistling noise was before hand :D

Cause = me not using coolant, only water.

Lesson learnt.
 
Had the radiator of my e36 325i give way on a twisty A road, had to await recovery.

Had the radiator of my Volvo 850 2.5 Estate give way on the A50 just outside Derby, again had to wait for the RAC who "fixed" it temporarily with radweld to help me finish my journey. Unbeknown to them, my "journey" was to end in the French Alps the next day :D It still made it though!
 
my volvo 440 dumped its coolant at the office one day. so i brimmed it, and ran for home.

15 miles later, i made it. Just.

i went to refill it the next morning to try again and it took 4 litres.... thank god it was middle of winter. JBWeld got me 2 more months out of that rad, then i scrapped the car.
 
Apparently it was passing everything so far, just had the brakes left to test :(

Brakes are fine, they stopped nearly 2 ton of Merc + 5 people in pretty sharpish not long ago, when the options were a hedge or tree!

It's a 1998 C-Class, should hopefully be cheapish to repair, either some new rad parts or 2nd hand whole ran chucked in should sort it. He's checking in case of blockages or anything today. Going to phone for an update shortly.
 
Took my old Nova Turbo for its MOT, tester thought there was some creep in the pedal so stood on it and the brake pipe (front flexi to caliper) blew, the pedal hit the floor and fluid everywhere!

I was quite pleased it hadnt happened while I was wanging along the road! So its now 5:30pm and I have to get the car 3 miles home, through town with no brakes. Phoned my dad, got him to bring some tiny mole grips over, managed to clamp the pipe before the split and cable tie mole grips out of the way. This gave me a pedal, incase I needed it. Then drove back behind my dad, hazards on at 20mph, did it all on the handbrake.

Before we set off my dad said "if your going to crash make sure you hit me" :D love my dad.
 
Building Candy said:
Took my old Nova Turbo for its MOT, tester thought there was some creep in the pedal so stood on it and the brake pipe (front flexi to caliper) blew, the pedal hit the floor and fluid everywhere!

I was quite pleased it hadnt happened while I was wanging along the road! So its now 5:30pm and I have to get the car 3 miles home, through town with no brakes. Phoned my dad, got him to bring some tiny mole grips over, managed to clamp the pipe before the split and cable tie mole grips out of the way. This gave me a pedal, incase I needed it. Then drove back behind my dad, hazards on at 20mph, did it all on the handbrake.

Before we set off my dad said "if your going to crash make sure you hit me" :D love my dad.
Click to expand...

Really? I thought a garage had some kind of obligation to not allow you to drive away in a dangerous car, I might have just made that up though. Either way, it's certainly illegal for you do drive it in that condition :/
 
didnt have a lot of choice, they were closing and wouldnt let me leave it on their grounds. Chap said I could leave it on the street outside if I wanted, cheers.

We considered towing it, but with little brakes this seemed the better option
 
Firestar_3x said:
Just like a BMW E39 then ;)
Click to expand...

Ha ha, must admit of all the things to fail an MOT on, the last thing I was expecting was exploding radiators!

Ah well, bangernomics - He's getting a new rad for it for £100 + VAT so shouldnt cost too much to fit it, he's a nice cheap chap. :)

Just happy that the rad contents didnt end up all over the apprentice monkey really.
 
tezmo said:
You've got me worrying about the (occasional) whistle on mine now!
Click to expand...

It wasn't quiet, sounded like a kettle going off which is pretty much exactly what happened.

Radiator blew and huge blooms of steam billowed out of the coolant tank as it popped the lid, it blew because of corrosion blocking it up so the heat had nowhere to go and it found the 2 weakest points.
 
Clarkey said:
Really? I thought a garage had some kind of obligation to not allow you to drive away in a dangerous car, I might have just made that up though. Either way, it's certainly illegal for you do drive it in that condition :/
Click to expand...
They cannot hold your car to ransom.
 
Left idling until it boiled over I guess. Viscous fan either failed or cooling was underpar - would need a quick rev to cool it down...
 
BigglesPiP said:
It got hot an reached too high a pressure for the old rad to take.

I've only ever had a rad start to dribble.
Click to expand...

Would a car engine be expected to sit idling for ~40 mins or so during an MOT?

Ive never waited whilst one's been done so I'm not sure if thats something thats fairly typical, or whether its just laziness on the testers part on not turning off the engine when its unnecessary.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom