Thread: Radiator damage identification.

Looks like water crossing damage.

Check the water pump too, if the fan is mounted to it. Could be a sign that the pump is on getting loose.

Nah mate. TD5 so the fan is mounted on a bearing on the motor, separate to the water pump.

The photo's don't show it well but the gouge is very deep between the channels. I don't see how the tip of the fan could curve that way. I'll see if I can take another photo.

And the lines don't follow a curve that would match the fan blade coming foreword.

I just don't know and I'm a bit worried that I'm going to put the new radiator in and it could happen again. Water crossings are just part in parcel with driving anywhere out of Darwin during the wet. I'm going to reassess the front splash guard at least.

Happy Days

I just read another post about a fan with a broken blade. I'd have thought something like that likely if it had come so far foreword that it hit the radiator but as you can see from the last photo, there is nothing but some tinny scratches which you expect from normal age.

Happy Days.

I thought that was the case with the pump, and I agree that the angle of the gouge throws a shadow over the water crossing. You won't necessarily see any fan damage though.

Somebody leave a spanner under the bonnet?

Not me at least. I still have all my tools. I'm thinking the damage was there prior my purchase.

Here's how deep the gouge is. The damage doesn't really look that new either. I would have expected it to be shinny where it was just ripped open with something but the fins are still dirty.

I'm also surprised by just how much other small damage there is on the back of the radiator.

IMHO it is the fan. One of the blades has caught in the core and done that.

Very similar to damage on my RRC radiator after an OTT creek, but one of my blades broke off but was held on by the fibreglass reinforcing . ( I had a 300TDI fan with fibreglass reinforcing, not the stock white nylon .)

Luckily with my brass rad , no leaks.

You will have to blind up .

The stock plastic shroud arrangement on a TD5 seems really good particularly the filler piece over the stab bar, and should stop a lot of water coming from underneath, as it is the water hitting the back of the fan that causes it to push forward, not the water coming through the rad IMHO.
Regards Philip A

I'd go with a piece of stick floating in the soup you drove through, floating just submerged it would have got a bit of a hurry on from the fan then subsequently dropped out again. The fan wouldn't have been damaged as it was likely almost free wheeling. And the stick wouldn't have made clean metal cuts either.

I think you've also had something jammed in there, that has fallen out. Thats what the path of damage looks like.

Here is a picture of my radiator when it was damaged by water flexing the fan blades.