Topic: What did you do to your car today?

[ktm525]

Nah, no impact. Those plastic tanks, at least the GM ones crack like that  from age / heat cycles. My Sonoma, Trans Am and Camaro have all done the exact same thing. Surprised this one made it this far.

Yet they used the same design for 30 years. Are they still using it?

[Dante]

Nah, no impact. Those plastic tanks, at least the GM ones crack like that  from age / heat cycles. My Sonoma, Trans Am and Camaro have all done the exact same thing. Surprised this one made it this far.

Forgive my ignorance, but is this tank part of the radiator? Is it different than the coolant expansion tank? I see something that looks like a coolant expansion tank on the passenger side of the engine bay.

[Firm]

Tanks may not be the right term, it's basically the black plastic end caps on the rad...It would be the 'tank' in a car without a remove pressurized reservoir, but yeah, the Escalade does have a remote reservoir.

This image is missing the oil cooler hookups mine has, but you get the idea.


I think they're still using a very similar design, in fact, the radiator for the Escalade had fitments listed up to 2014, and I can't imagine they've changed it much since. That said, it's an 18 year old truck with 280K kms on it....The Sonoma one made it at least 200K, the Camaro was over 320K and 35 years when it went. The Trans Am was probably only around 135K at the time, but 35 years.....So while I've had it happen a lot, not totally unreasonable. Plastic is a stupid material choice though.

[Dante]

Ok. I get it now. Pretty standard setup I think. The sides are plastic on most cars, no? At least all my cars are like that.
The plastic will eventually give up with mileage and age. Fully expected IMO.

[bridgecity]

Oil change on the Tundra today, just a tick below 260k kms. I put 20k on it last year, far more than the MDX. Should hit 300k in two years on the truck. 

[Firm]

Ok. I get it now. Pretty standard setup I think. The sides are plastic on most cars, no? At least all my cars are like that.
The plastic will eventually give up with mileage and age. Fully expected IMO.

Yeah, pretty standard and most cars from the 80's onward seem to have the plastic ends. Before that you had some all aluminum and/or brass which is much more durable. Of all the MG's I've worked on, I've never seen a radiator cracked. 

[rrocket]

FFS...I hit a raccoon.

Bottom of lip broken.

[Seafoam]

^^^ Are you going to fix that or let it slide ? It sucks.

[rrocket]

^^^ Are you going to fix that or let it slide ? It sucks.

I'll probably let it slide.....

I'll use some glue and see if I can make it look better

[ktm525]

JB Weld!

[Bubba]

FFS...I hit a raccoon.

Bottom of lip broken.

Would anything happen to your insurance rate if you filed a claim?

[quadzilla]

FFS...I hit a raccoon.

Didn't the same thing happen to your LS? Think Rocky Raccoon and his friends hates your cars. 

[Firm]

Find some good body shop grade urethane epoxy, apply it neatly, Mcgiver a way to clamp it together overnight and it'll be nearly as good as new.

Can't remember if I posted here or not, but I took our a raccoon in the DTS about 6 weeks ago; dark rural road, came over a crest and dude just bolted out, any reaction would've just put me in the ditch, so just a little braking to soften the blow. Miraculously, no damage to the car at all. Must have been my lucky night.

[rrocket]

FFS...I hit a raccoon.

Didn't the same thing happen to your LS? Think Rocky Raccoon and his friends hates your cars. 

Apart from the LS raccoon incident, interactions with wildlife almost nonexistent.

But from day one with the Prime it's been a massacre. Rabbits, squirrels, birds, so many birds, and now raccoon. Close calls with deer, coyotes, foxes. Almost hit an owl once which was terrifying! 3 in the morning and all of the sudden the entire windshield covered by a wingspan just barely evading being hit.

It's like the critters are drawn to the Prime to suicide themselves.

[ktm525]

Find some good body shop grade urethane epoxy, apply it neatly, Mcgiver a way to clamp it together overnight and it'll be nearly as good as new.

Can't remember if I posted here or not, but I took our a raccoon in the DTS about 6 weeks ago; dark rural road, came over a crest and dude just bolted out, any reaction would've just put me in the ditch, so just a little braking to soften the blow. Miraculously, no damage to the car at all. Must have been my lucky night.

It's like coming across a log in the path on a dirtbike. Brake hard but at the last moment get off them and throttle to lift the front. Don't forget to lift the front and Rocky may go right underneath. 

[Gurgie]

Not my car, but juniors car broke down on Sunday at the ski hill. The serpentine belt went. I picked up a new one, grabbed some tools, and went up there to see if we could fix it. Ended up not bringing the right tools, needed a 15mm open-ended wrench to use on the tensioner to get the new belt on. Bella brought up more tools for us & we got the belt on. Oh & I should mention that the easiest way to get at the tensioner is to remove the passenger wheel & liner. Got it all back together & started it, belt started smoking instantly. The one idler pulley was shot, basically all the plastic was gone & it was down to the bearing. Hindsight I should have thought of that right away when he called to let me know the belt broke, AND he should have looked as well but didn't. So we left the car there & went back after he was finished school yesterday. Got to the car around  6:30pm so we're working in the dark & out in the cold. The idler pulley had a 10mm bolt & we couldn't get a socket on it because it was too close to the shock tower on the passenger side. And neither I nor him have any ratcheting wrenches, so literally enough room to make an eighth of a turn at a time with a small 10mm open ended wrench. Finally got it off & then had the pleasure of reinstalling the new one an eighth of a turn at a time. Total work took about an hour, but we got it buttoned up & working perfectly again. me what an ordeal though

Here's a picture of the belt & then then what's left of the idler pulley next to the new one.



Sent from my SM-S901W using Tapatalk

[bridgecity]

Great work on getting that done in not so ideal conditions Gurgie!  And that idler pulley, 

[tortoise]

Nice work avoiding a tow!  I now know who to call if I'm in a pinch.

At least it wasn't -20 out, one positive of this winter.

[Bubba]

Nice work avoiding a tow!  I now know who to call if I'm in a pinch.

Me too! 1-800-GURGIES 

[Firm]

Nice work! Stuff like that can be a real challenge in poor conditions, and/or without the right tools. Good on you for persevering.