Cooling system case study

We always try to check over the entire cooling system before doing any work. In this case, the plastic top radiator tank was split so badly that it is impossible to do an accurate pressure test of the cooling system.

We would like to advise a couple things.

1. Usually, when a plastic radiator tank fails like this one did, it is an indication that the antifreeze level became low (due to leaks somewhere) and steam formed in the cooling system. Steam eats away at plastic.
   
   
2. The antifreeze leaks could be from many places. The radiator, waterpump, heater core, hoses, headgasket inside the engine, can all leak and cause this problem.
   
   
3. Visually, we could not see any other leaks. We want to be careful on this. Why?
   1. Even though the radiator has a Lifetime warranty, if steam forms again because there is another problem somewhere else in the system, and steam ruins the plastic top tank on the new radiator, the radiator company will not honor the warranty. This is because the failure will not be the radiator's fault.
      
      
   2. If there is a problem somewhere else in the system, it can cause major engine damage.

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