Hello all.
I’m after a bit of advice.
Yesterday I was out in my Westfield 2.0 black top Zetec and had a catastrophic failure of the radiator.
The car is run on a regular basis and I had been on an 80mile round trip on Saturday without any problem.
Yesterday I had been on a 30 mile run and arrived at a show were we sat in traffic queue for a short period of time. (I’ve sat in a queue several times before without any problems)
Anyway when I was nearly in position the car started to release steam from the engine bay followed by an explosion.
On inspection I found that the radiator had split down one side.
The car is four years old built with all new parts from Westfield.
Ok my plan is to replace the radiator £85 + Vat from Westfield (could I get one made cheaper by a local Radiator manufacturer?)
I plan to check the Radiator fan, fan switch and thermostat and replace the expansion tank cap.
I’ve been advised to remove a bung on one side of the Thermostat housing and plumb it into the system as well.
The AA petrol member advised me to get a pressure check done on the system, how is this done?
The car has only just done over 5000 mile from new.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

So the temp was reading normal?

Could just be unlucky and have had a dodgy rad,when you get the rad off check for corrosion etc where it's blown apart.

Worth checking what pressure your rad cap is too,as ideally that should of released the excess pressure out of the system before it blew the rad apart.

I would say it was probably the cap not releasing as already said.

I have just fitted a new 3 row aluminium rad (52mm core) to my locost. It is a Honda Civic rad, it fits in quite niceley. It has 4 x 6mm threaded mounting points and 3 rubber mounting pegs all welded on, so you choose how to mount it. A plastic wingnut type drain bung on the bottom( remember them?) and a pressure cap on top. Cost £56 delivered in 3 days. I mounted the fan on the engine side to suck air through the core and it all works very well. Went out on a hot day and gave it 'some beans' and it stayed between 85 - 90 no problem. I do have another pressure cap on the header tank, just in case.

By far the most likely cause is the radiator pressure cap sticking.

I would try and stick with a radiator as close to the original design as if you change the rad you may have to make other changes to the layout of the system and may find minor bugs to shake out the system.
If you post a picture of the rad somebody will recognise it.

A system pressure test is just that the system is filled with coolant and is pressurised (always when cold) to about 1.5 bar or just below the pressure cap rated pressure. A visual check for leaks then take the pressure up to the pressure cap blow off pressure to check it is lift and resealing afterwards.
Even the cheapest ebay Chinese made cooling system pressure test tools are for some reason more expensive than you would expect so it is really a case of McGuyvering a tester by Teeing into a vent hose.

This what I use ------------


Rad/Cylinder leakdown tester.

[Edited on 1/8/16 by britishtrident]

Hi Piddy,

Just a thought but how is the rad mounted?

Rads need to be on soft rubber bobbins otherwise vibration, or even minuscule chassis flex could lead to fatigue failure,
be it made from ally or plastic.


To be honest if it was down to pressure I would expect a hose to blow before a rad did.


Cheers,
Paul G

Hi no I didn't notice the temp before it went.
I found that the rad temp switch is faulty just need to find the correct replacement 22 X1.5 86/76c.
yes the rad was mounted solid, I've ordered some anti vibration mounts for the new rad.