Radiator

How you know it is this

• Coolant on the ground at the front of the car
• Temperature climbing in traffic and settling again on the move
• A wet, crusty stain on the plastic end tank or along the seam
• Fins clogged with sand, dust and insects

Worth knowing before you buy

• Most radiators here fail at the seam between the aluminium core and the plastic end tank. That joint is a crimp with a gasket, and heat cycling eventually beats it.
• Sand and dust block the fins from the outside, which is a cleaning job rather than a replacement. Look through the core before condemning it.
• A radiator is often changed with the thermostat and the cap, because all three are cheap next to the labour of draining and refilling.
• An automatic car frequently has the gearbox oil cooler inside the radiator end tank. If that fails internally, coolant and gearbox oil mix — and that is a gearbox, not a radiator.

Rest of the radiator and circuit

• Radiator cap and expansion tank
• Expansion tank cap and level sensor
• Coolant hoses — upper and lower
• Heater matrix hoses
• Hose clamps and quick connectors
• Coolant pipes and flanges
• Coolant temperature sensor
• Radiator mounts and shroud