Broken Radiator Pipe

**K.I.L.L.** · August 5th, 2013 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by advan

Naubos buong araw ko kakabasa ng threads to research, from replacement brands to coolants! Who knew coolants are a completely separate dilemma...

Will go for Evercool na lang, ang mahal sobra ng OEM kasi. Evercool seems to be the brand most of the posters here have bought, so I guess it's pretty decent.

Next question, I don't know how to decide on it. Dati kasi tap water lang nilalagay namin sa old radiator without a problem. Since we'll be putting in a new one, clean slate, we'll use coolant mix na ulit, to keep its performance at optimum-- I've read in threads na dapat yung Toyota coolant kasi it's made for Toyota cars specifically, like my Corolla. Then I've read in other threads dapat yung coolant hiyang sa material of radiator, which in this case is all copper, which I gather the Toyota coolant isn't made for? Help. Thanks.

Don't use tap water as it contains trace elements of minerals which can build up in your cooling system and accelerate corrosion. Always use distilled water. Do an annual drain of your coolant too. I do this every December for all of our vehicles. The garage that does it for me then mixes some concentrated coolant and distilled water. I check my reservoir every week and if the coolant level has gone down, I top it up with distilled water.

Good luck!

**advan** · August 6th, 2013 10:51 AM

Thanks, KILL. I can't even recall when we started this practice. Although to be fair, this car has only overheated twice in more than 10years and that was because a fan that broke down and the corroded pipe that broke off now. Not bad. It's old, but I love it's dependability.

I've a question about the coolant, once the radiator is installed, is this the correct procedure:
top off the radiator with the coolant mix, don't cap yet,
top off the reservoir with the coolant mix,
start the car, top off radiator and reservoir again to brim
then cover both.

correct?

**advan** · August 6th, 2013 10:58 AM

or is this a better procedure? (from a different thread)

"usually i recommend putting coolant in the reservior ... not in the radiator ... because usually coolant make your radiator rust ... so i think it is ideal to put it in the resevior not in the tank itself

hope this helps ... based on my experience

BANAWE AUTO SUPPLY
7120115
regy"

**advan** · August 7th, 2013 05:15 PM

The new radiator has been installed and all is well now. Weird enough there we couldn't find any pre-mixed coolant along the stretch of Banawe we were at, so we ended up doing the Absolute + Prestone concentrate mix. Cross fingers it'll be another 10 years before I ask about it again

Just wanted to conclude this thread by saying sincere thanks to everyone's advice. It really helped orient me on how to tackle the problem.

**dr. d** · August 7th, 2013 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by advan

or is this a better procedure? (from a different thread)

"usually i recommend putting coolant in the reservior ... not in the radiator ... because usually coolant make your radiator rust ... so i think it is ideal to put it in the resevior not in the tank itself

hope this helps ... based on my experience

BANAWE AUTO SUPPLY
7120115
regy"

in my opinion, coolant in the reservoir does not do anything, except color the reservoir liquid.
heh heh.

**EVO-V** · August 15th, 2013 09:49 PM

Originally Posted by advan

Hello! Thank you so much for the quick replies. Kanina pa ako research ng research on how I should go about it because I don't really know much about cars.

Archie, as a side note, Toyota just explained to me na it's not"welding" daw, dapat "hinang" lang. I told them isn't that the same thing? Magkaiba daw kasi hindi daw pwede welding. Well, anyway, I didn't pursue it anymore kasi accdg to him, hindi daw ganun ka safe kasi baka bumigay in less than a year due to internal pressure?

1D4LV and KILL, it looks like we will have to replace it. I asked Toyota how much it would cost: 25K for a Corolla Lovelife OEM! YIKES. Sayang lang pala pagpa-overhaul last December.

My next questions:

1.are there any replacement brands that would be recommendable instead of OEM? or dapat OEM talaga pag radiator?
2. i was thinking of calling other shops for OEM prices to canvass better prices, but I don't know how to spot a fake vs orig.. may mga fake ba na OEM radiator?

Thanks again!

If it is a copper brass pipe, you do not "weld" or "solder it" -you braze it. The material is too thin that welding it would burn a hole right through. Solder is not a good material for something that bears a "vibrating" load such as a radiator hose.

If it is corroded, you first determine why it corroded. It takes a lot to actively corrode brass in a loop like that. You must at least have stainless steel somewhere there and a huge amount of stray currents.

I would surmise that pipe broke off because either your radiator was not properly installed, or that it was a bad replacement that was off tolerance from design. Your hose must have been pulling at the pipe and shaking it off.

Vibration testing is critical for new radiator designs coming out into production. If the hoses and the mountpoints break off, they need to re-designed.

There should be replacement aluminum radiators there if you're on a budget. The ones from Thailand and Taiwan are pretty decent.

Go with copper-brass if you plan to keep that car forever.

Coolant wise, long life coolants, in a 30-50% Coolant-Water ratio will do you well. The CASA coolants are some of the more sensible ones, but specify their long life coolants. Most aftermarket coolants tend to be geared for relatively frequent replacement.

**EVO-V** · August 15th, 2013 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by dr. d

in my opinion, coolant in the reservoir does not do anything, except color the reservoir liquid.
heh heh.

Try running anodic simulations and you'd realize the value of a properly inhibited coolant solution.

**EVO-V** · August 15th, 2013 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by advan

or is this a better procedure? (from a different thread)

"usually i recommend putting coolant in the reservior ... not in the radiator ... because usually coolant make your radiator rust ... so i think it is ideal to put it in the resevior not in the tank itself

Whatever goes into the reservoir goes into the whole loop. Assuming that the overflow system is properly sealed and that pressures are equalized accordingly, coolant that flows through the pipe. You're just wasting your coolant by making it sit in a place where it doesn't do anything.

If your loop has rust, it simply means that its corrosion inhibitors have expired.

That rust actually comes from the engine, mostly comes from your cylinder lining. It is accelerated by water.

Cavitation is not a pleasant thing.

**advan** · August 19th, 2013 11:19 AM

Thanks for the added input, guys. Evo-V, the pipe broke because apparently the entire radiator was held together by rust! ok, I exaggerate, but when they drained the radiator and the reservoir, unbelievable amount of rust (and clumps of rust) came out, so I guess the radiator was really degraded, but it served me well. It does annoy me that the mechanic didn't see this problem when the radiator was overhauled early this year.

Last question! I can't seem to find an answer via google. With the installation of the new radiator, is it normal to smell burnt paint/plastic even after more than a week of light use? I assume it was normal to smell burnt something since it's new, but I'm assuming that should be gone after 1-2 sessions of use... is it normal to take this long? I'm just paranoid it might be burning something else... smell is most apparent after parking, but malamang the burnt smell's there all throughout use.

Thanks!