So since I bought my car in May, I've known it has a small coolant leak. The car is a 2004 MCS, by the way, and now has 132,xxx miles (bought with 127,xxx). The first time I had to fill up after purchase was in July (at 130,xxx). The next time was about 3 weeks ago in the middle of October (132,xxx). I had to fill up again about 2 weeks after that at just over 133,000, and then a few days after that as well. It then started to overheat after every hour or so of driving. I then brought it into a shop to have it checked out and they educated me that I hadn't been filling the coolant properly. SO... they filled the tank all the way and turned the car on, all of the coolant got sucked into wherever it goes, then they filled the reservoir about 3/4 of the way to the top and I was on my way. That was on Thursday and I made an appointment to have the car be checked out on Monday. I drove the car about 140 miles between when I picked it up on Thursday afternoon and dropped it off Monday morning and it had no issues whatsoever (I'm guessing this was because the shop properly filled the coolant tank which I hadn't been doing). So I dropped it off Monday and got a call later that day saying that the "Radiator was shot" (the words they used) and it needed to be replaced. They also wanted to charge me nearly $700 to install it: $250 in parts, $400 in labor ($80/hr x 5 hours), which to me seemed ridiculous because to replace a radiator shouldn't even take more than an hour for somebody who know's what they're doing. They told me the car was "undrivable", which also seemed odd to me because I had been driving all weekend with no problems, and that they didn't have another opening to do the work for two weeks. So I came down today to look at the car and sure enough there was an enormous puddle of bright green coolant underneath the passenger side of the radiator. Now I had been noticing small stains on my driveway for the past several weeks, but they were not from underneath the radiator, but about a foot behind there in the area of the coolant reservoir and thermostat were located. The coolant was also pretty much drained as well, so I filled it up and turned the car on and immediately a steady dribbling of coolant started seeping from the passenger side of the radiator. What I saw was totally what the mechanic had told me over the phone, but what was in no way happening when I dropped the car off on Monday OR over the weekend OR since I owned the car.

So... basically I'm wondering if

a) The mechanic might have improperly reattached a hose that connects the coolant to the radiator/not have attached it at all.

or

b) When he found the problem he was unable to put it back together the way it was before.

and c) Is it probably just the thermostat or something much more common like that.

Because coolant certainly did not visibly, steadily dribble from the front of the radiator when I handed it off to them.

Also, I asked them if they had checked the thermostat/gasket/housing and they said they hadn't.

Hopefully somebody can give me a logical explanation of what's going on because now my car actually IS undrivable and it even overheated on the way home from the shop (4 mile drive) while the reservoir was still plenty filled with coolant and their was coolant still spewing from the radiator.

Thanks guys!

 

Sounds like they aren't a very good shop. 4 hours of labor and a 2 week wait to just put a radiator in is not good.

I think the only way to know if they did something to the radiator is to figure out where it's leaking from, and try to figure out why it's leaking. Could be something very simple like the hose was loose. If it's damaged in a spot that doesn't seem likely to be damaged it would seem to be on them.

It's also very possible your radiator just got worse when you dropped it off. Radiators do go bad and it sounds like you didn't really know where the leak was coming from. It could have been the radiator.

Do you think you could do the repair yourself? It's a pretty simple job and there are some very good videos on how to do it. It doesn't require any special tools, although you might need to get the torx wrench if you don't have one.

Definitely have a different shop do the work if you can't. I wouldn't recommend driving it anymore though. If you keep overheating it your problems will be much worse than just an antifreeze leak.

 

Chances are I'm going to tear down the front end a bit tomorrow and see where the leak is coming from on the radiator.

I've seen a few of the video's and threads and probably will end up just replacing the radiator myself as it seems to be pretty easy. I'll have a shop diagnose the problem for $40, but I'm not a fan of paying 1-2x as much as a part costs in labor. I'm hoping that it's just a lose hose of some sort that they neglected to reattach properly and I picked up a new thermostat online to replace too if it really was just the shop not putting stuff back together properly. Thanks for the help Shawn!! I'll get you an update as soon as I have one.

 

It's not a hard job at all. It took me about 3 hours having never replaced a radiator before. I think I could do it in 1-1.5 now. If your fan/low speed resistor hasn't been replaced, it might be a good time to go ahead and do that while you've got it apart. As well as the crank position sensor o-ring.

My radiator failed around 100,000 miles because one of the plastic tanks on the side cracked and started leaking, I'd bet your leak is coming from one of those too.

 

Yeah if it's the radiator it's pretty simple. The thermostat is kind of a pain in the *** but not too hard.

Good luck, just make sure you bleed it really good when you get back together

 

All sorts of things start leaking smurf juice on these things. Hoses, T-stat housings, expansion tanks and etc and a good reliable service shop is essential. Here's a list of indie shops in your area maybe a little more heads up than your current guy. Hope it helps. I ain't no mechanic so I can't advise there.

http://www.minirepairshops.com/searc...unk%2C%20Maine