radiator leak, could my mechanic have caused it?

15 years ago

I had my heater core flushed last week, a couple days later my windows were fogging up with the heat on and you could smell the coolant, I checked and it was low. I took it to him and he replaced the clamp on a hose that connected to the firewall, he said it was that leaking into the cab and i figured that would be it. Now this is an older truck, a 92 dakota. But even after that i've been checking and my coolant is level is still going down, the smell and fogging isn't as bad, but still there, but he said it would probably take awhile for all of it to evaporate. Now I'm wondering what to do because he said if the level keeps decreasing its probably the heater core. I understand stuff breaks but I didn't have a radiator problem till he flushed it. Any ideas?

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Comments (4)

johndeere
15 years ago
Why did you have the heater core flushed a few days before?If you meant coolant system flushed and you had it done because it was do for a flush.Just to keep up with its service schedule.I would say he might have something to do with it.However you say you had the heater core flushed?Why did you have this done?I suspect because of a problem with it.If so I dought he caused it.More then likley what ever reason you had it flushed is the real reason it went out.If you had it flushed because you thought it was clogged.More then likley it was pretty rotten coroded and would have went anyway.
john999
15 years ago
"I understand stuff breaks but I didn't have a radiator problem till he flushed it. Any ideas?"

But you did have a problem, the windscreen was fogging !

The heater is leaking. You either need to replace it or join together the hose going into the cab (and the heater) with the one going out of the cab (you won't have a functioning heater then).
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john_g
15 years ago
Hi John 999. You are correct, Glass did indeed have a heater problem most likely caused by corrosion inside the cooling system, as well as some amount of "stop leak" may have been added through the years. Its common to see heater cores get restricted in these cases and while back flushing the core often restores coolant flow and interior heat, it can also allow the already present heater core leaks (that are slowed significantly by the corrosion and stop leak) to become larger and now the core has to be replaced. The facts are, the core likely should have been replaced with the initial report of trouble, but the shop/tech is the bad guy if that repair is reccomended first the customer declines and then someone else manages to flush the core successfully.

Its really troubling how many times I have seen a customer blame a tech for a problem on the customers car, and hear try and accuse the shop/tech of breaking the car just to get more work. What has been worse is when the shop simply fixes the subsequent issue, "under warranty" when they actually know they were not at fault which really does two things. One it convinces the consumer that the shop was indeed at fault, and it rewards the consumer for NOT being objective and fair. Notice that I changed the word customer to consumer for that last sentence. Customers ensure that a business will survive to continue to serve them and everyone else. Consumers can eat the profits of a business and in the process of taking care of them the business can actually suffer losses that ultimately cause it to fail. Doing "free to me" work makes the consumer happy, and convinces them that was the right way to deal with the situation. Then one day the see "ol Joe" has gone out of business and they wonder why it happened because he was such a good guy.
bill_h
15 years ago
people like to blame the techs, i get it all the time, but being in the used car buis. i dont care, we give everyone the same guarantee, if it breaks in half, i guarantee you get both halves.

radiator leak, could my mechanic have caused it?

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johndeere

john999

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