Howdy:
I have an auto repair question for y'all.
Vehicle1997
Nissan
Ext Cab Pickup
2WD
2.4L I-4 KA24E engine
5sp manual
Power steering
152K miles
BackgroundA heater/coolant hose busted away from home. I patched it and limped to mechanic, who replaced hose & re-filled coolant system, among other things. That was a couple days ago.
Current StateToday, I was driving and smelled ethylene glycol. I stopped and saw the upper radiator hose was leaking where it joined the radiator/upper tank. I tried tightening it and realized that the stubby pipe off the top of the radiator had been crushed by the hose clamp. The upper tank is made from some sort of plastic, I suspect so as to prevent thermal expansion cracking.
Well, I clean out the crushed mess and move the hose clamp toward the end of the hose and tighten it down on the remaining 1/2" of stubby plastic pipe. I top off the coolant system and driver it home, with an eye on the temp gauge. I make it home, no problem.
How It Got That WayMy first reaction upon seeing the crushed bits, was to think, "&*%%@^^^ sledgehammer mechanics!" On reflection, I can see that plastic part getting brittle with time and Mr. "We charge $88/hour labor" tightening it down & crunching it inadvertently.
Part Costs, RadiatorGenuine Nissan from Nissan dealer: $524.33
Genuine Nissan from online retailer: $406+shipping
Aftermarket replacement from
http://www.carpartswholesale.com/: $104+shipping
http://cpwstore.carpartswholesale.com/catalog/index.php?N=9235+11921&Nr=OR(AND(make:Nissan,model:Pickup,year:1997),AND(universal:1))
My Skill LevelI am not a trained mechanic. To give you an idea of what I am capable of, I have done the following
successfully on different vehicles:
- Replace front disk brake pads & repack wheel bearings
- Replace shocks
- Simple body repair
- Change coolant/heater hoses
- Electrical doo-dads (Audi 4000S)
- Change oil & grease fittings
- Various other little things
Here is what I was
not successful at:
- Replacing water pump on chevy small block in pickup (fiasco)
- Rear drum brakes (discretion was the better part of valor)
I do own an electronic, indifferently-produced .pdf version of the Nissan shop manual for my pickup.
Options1. Get it to a mechanic & let them fix it. (Highest cost)
2. Replace radiator myself. (Second highest cost)
3. Find a bit of pipe that fits outside or inside diameter of stubby upper tank pipe and liberally JB Weld it into place and hose clamp the upper radiator hose to that. (Cheapest solution)
Considering I expect to keep the pickup another 2 years, tops, I am inclined to just fix the upper tank stubby pipe in place. My wife is in nursing school and I spend most of my time away from work watching & caring for the kids (2 & 3 YO). This option minimizes cost and time.
If I were to go this route, what material would y'all recommend? I am leery of metal because of thermal expansion and reactions with metals already in radiator. PVC can not handle this kind of heat, I think. There must be some plastic/ploymer pipe that can withstand engine heat & coolants.
I think I will
not take it to a mechanic, as we have two other autos (1995 Nissan Altima & 2004 Honda Element) to keep us mobile. I highly doubt I will spring for genuine Nissan parts for this fix. I would expect $500 minimum for labor to fix this. Another $100 to dump the coolant in an environmentally happy manner.
Part of radiator that is ate up is the upper-right stubby pipe on top of radiator on to which affixes the upper radiator hose.