upper radiator neck blew up

[je328is]

so I'm cruising along the highway coming home from work, and all of a sudden there's serious smoke coming out of my engine compartment. I immediately turn off the engine and drift to the shoulder. The upper radiator neck was almost totally gone, coolant was everywhere. Luckily I was able to get the hose on there and limp the car home, thanks to my dad who meet me on the side of the road with 2 gallons of coolant. The engine temp really only went up for like 20 seconds, it never got in the red, but came close. I hope I didn't do any damage. The car seemed to drive normally the rest of the way home which was only like 5 miles. Looks like I'll be ordering a new rad, hoses, and t-stat tomorrow. Good thing I sell parts for a living.

Jim at Maximillian

[jht3]

yes, the neck's are plastic and DO break. as you found out, the radiator is a wearable item. be careful when tightening down the hose clamps as you don't want to fatigue it any more than you have to

[dhabes]

Yea, mine broke the day after I finally got my car back together after a clutch change, RMS change, and new oil pan gaskets. Sucked big time. Glad no damage was done.

[project86]

Happen to me like 2 weeks ago. I was going to work from my dads shop where I had put on 2 new emblems. As I was leaving my dad put his hand on the coolant resrovoir cap and I didn't see him move his hand, so I let it go. As I am driving along I look in my rear view mirror and see some gold Mercedes bearing down on my ass for no reason, the freeway is wde open at this time about 4pm on a Saturday. As I turn back around I see something that looks like a radiator cap go flying across my windshield and then over my head. I quickly look in the rear viw mirror and see this thing nail this tail gating Mercedes right in the windshield and it scares the [email protected] out of the driver. As I am laughing at my angry car I see smoke start pouring out of the front of the car and I instantly think, how the hell did my radiator cap get out of my hood and onto that Mercedes. The guy behind in the Mercedes is totally freaked, first something gets thrown at him and now the car in front of him looks like its on fire. Smoke is pouring everywhere and the vents are open so some is getting into the cabin. I call up my dad and ask him if he loosened the radiator cap and he says no, he didn't think so, and I said well I'm going to need a more definitive answer than that. As I look down at the temperature it suddenly pins its needle to the right and I immediately shut the car off and pull over. As I open the hood to inspect the damage I get hit with a ton of smoke and it literally takes 5 minutes for the stuff to clear. It must have looked funny to anyone passing by because most of them probably thought it was an engine fire and there I am standing there watching my engine. When the smoke clears I realize that the neck on my radiator has broke off, and coolant is now everywhere. Luckily I didn't do any damage as I caught it early. I guess my car got so mad at the tail gating mercedes that it just blew its top, or its upper radiator hose. Next time my car is in a bad mood and a Mercedes is close by I am going to be ready for anything, my car is angry. Oh, and that car wasn't even a 190e 2.3 16v. Whats the car equivalent of [email protected] yourself? Maybe dropping a rod, spinning a bearing? Thats probably what will happen if my angry car feels a 190e 2.3 16v on its ass, so I better be ready for that. I'll probably just pull over and let the poor Mercedes have his moment because everyone knows they didn't have any on the track.:p

[JonahP]

Previous owner must have had the neck on the radiator break, but for some reason ( most likely to save a buck ), shoved the hose back onto what little bit of plastic was left in hopes it would stay. About two weeks into owning the car, i'm pulling into my driveway when BAM! off comes the hose sending up the cloud of coolant. New radiator time.

On the bright side, it happened in the driveway, shut the car off before the temperature even began to rise, and it was the only 'secret' the previous owner had... So for a year of ownership, routine maintenance and a radiator ain't too bad.