It's not the hoses...

[collwen]

I think it's the radiator itself.

I went over with Tersha to check it out, and tracing the hose that looked like the radiator hose and it isn't.

We then ran over to get some coolant (because the reservoir was empty) and started filling it in. After putting in just over 1 gallon, coolant started leaking again. The leak seems to be coming out of one end of the radiator where (it looks like there's a plastic cap on each end on of the radiator, and the leak is coming from between the metal and plastic.

Added: We were able to (with a lot of water and stops) get the car over to Jon & Tersha's house without hurting the engine and to where it won't be towed immediately.

Comments

[zrealm.livejournal.com]

Did you manage to get it moved (I don't think I saw it thelast time I passed by where it was).?

[collwen.livejournal.com]

Oh, that paragraph got lost- will edit post to include it, but yes, we got it moved.

[tomatoe333.livejournal.com]

Ooof. That happened to both of my old Volvos. :-(

The plastic gets brittle when it gets older and cracks. It'll be more expensive to fix, but it's easily doable by a shadetree mechanic with common hand tools. I think a radiator was ~$250 when I had to change mine the last time. :-/

[collwen.livejournal.com]

There's no way to just replace the plastic?

[tomatoe333.livejournal.com]

Nope, I think they ultrasonically weld it together at the factory when they make the radiator. :-/

[rtreesbane.livejournal.com]

Those radiators break constantly. I replaced TWO of them in the Ford Taurus I used to drive. Both times the radiator leaked where the plastic and metal connected. There's no way to fix it. You have to replace it. Hence the reason they make the radiators that way.