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Bang!!!

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bugimike

bugimike

Yoda
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So yesterday, I was cruising south on I95, about 45 minutes into an hour+/- to Ft Lauderdale when BANG and spray all over the windshield of my E-150 Conversion van. 4 way flashers on, I ease to the shoulder, pop the hood and find this! Has anyone seen a radiator let go like this?? One would think a 16psi cap would pop before this happened!!! The radiator guy said that most likely it was a thermostat failure!
 

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I'm goin' with th' boiler explosion theory as well.
 
Here's what it looked like after I pulled it! :shocked: Going to need a new fan clutch, thermostat and air-box (wrecking yard item)! You should see the A/C condenser, not ruptured, but has a nice new curvature to it! The really odd part was that until it blew, the temp. guage never indicated any overheating! :crazyeyes:

Nial,that pic. describes exactly how it felt sitting by the edge of the highway! :laugh:
 

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coldplugs said:
The hose connections must have been ~really good~.
Click to expand...
Not only the hose connections, but the hoses themselves!! They must have looked like balloons just before it blew! :eeek:
 
I'm with Nial and the Doc. only steam would expand fast enough to cause that! WOW! I've never seen one pop like that before.The only other option would be a blown head gasket leaking large amounts of compression gasses into the cooling system. Check your water pump too! maybe the impeller isen't spinning with the pulley anymore.
Looks like that rad was near the end of it's life anyway. not many fins left in there. and from the residue I see in the pic, that coolant was durn near mud. Not uncommon. Do a really good flush
 
Mike, are you sure it didn't see a cute little Mustang conv, and just got hot and bothered?

I worked on Freightliners early in my career and saw a few of those.
Just proved to be low on fluid and high speed, (oops, I mean aliens)

At least you're stimulating the economy!

Dave :savewave:
 
I think your mechanic is named Marvin.....that MUST have been an earth shattering KA-BOOM!!!
 
When th' temp sensor has AIR instead of fluid to read, it don't read nuttin. There's a leak someplace else too, or you'd have seen an elevated temp.

...'course the temp sensor is a 'lectronic one... highly suspect.
 
Doc., I had checked the rad. level before I left the house that morning and all was well, if it lost fluid it had to be pretty fast! :rolleyes:

Well, three days later, and $400+ dollars poorer, I have all the replacement parts including a new Rad., fan clutch [which the rad. specialist I consulted said was the most likely culprit...he's seen a few like that caused by a bad clutch fan!], a new thermostat, rad. cap and JB Weld to repair the busted air-box, I have most of it back together but am being held up by pesky rainy/tornadic weather to complete it and take a test drive. I hate working on vans :madder: ...tighter spaces than an LBC!! I wish it were the bugeye I was putting all this time and money into!! :cryin:

I hate to think what this would cost someone who doesn't work on their own vehicles and just takes it in to some shop to have done!!!
 
I've seen overheat condition due to fan clutch failure but never saw anything that severe without SOME kinda warning. Replaced MANY fan clutches, can't recall anything like that rad.

Like John said: Musta been some ~really good~ hoses/connections, too. woof.

Mike said:
I hate to think what this would cost someone who doesn't work on their own vehicles and just takes it in to some shop to have done!!!
Click to expand...

Double the parts cost, add the same in labor.

...now turn your head and cough... :devilgrin:
 
Hehe! yeah, and keep coughing :smirk: !! Well, got it done tonight and took a test drive...all went well
grin.gif
...temp gauge reads a bit higher than before the big bang but the new thermostat probably is a different temp rating than the POS I took out. Kicking myself for not putting in a new H2O pump while I had it apart though (additional expense was a factor!).
 
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