What Would Cause The Radiator To Completely Dry Out?
I’m renting a car, a 1986 Suzuki Samurai to two colleagues. They have been driving it daily in very hot weather (35C/95F at midday) up a mountain pass.
Yesterday, they returned telling me the car broke down. They described hearing a ticking noise which would get louder with gas application, followed by a “pop”, followed by the engine completely dying. When I showed up with my mechanic, we found the radiator completely dry and the head gasket blown (when he put water in the radiator and started the car up, the water came spurting out like a fountain). Later, he also found that the water pump was bad.
My question is, what is the likely order of all this happening? The drivers admitted they hadn’t checked the water levels in >2 weeks, despite the hot weather and mountain driving, and despite the odd ticking noise. But the water levels had been reportedly high when they did check them. There was no previous sign of a leak (I’d driven over a higher mountain pass several times without appreciable changes to water levels).
Basically, I need to know who’s responsible for covering the repairs. If the water pump busted first and caused this problem, I’m responsible. But if their negligence in not checking the water levels caused the radiator to dry out, which in turn killed the water pump (and the head gasket) they’re responsible.
Thanks!
Tagged with: Cause • Completely • Radiator • What • Would
Filed under: Water Fountain Pumps
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the water pump probably went bad first causing the Suzuki Samurai to overheat making the head gasket blow.then all the water from the radiator leaked out the head.
Don’t know what channel Tino’s on but, A blown head gasket won’t make your water pump go bad. Low coolant will. When they heard the ticking they should have checked for the cause. It’s imposible at this point to tell what happened first. Sorry.
no freeon(however you spell it) put half water half freeon
replace water pump. dont just add water u need to add radiation fluid as well.
When water pumps start to go out they have a hole in them so they spit the water out. That way you know when its going. When they start too leak it doesn’t take too long for it to leak out all of the water. When the motor doesn’t have any water it can blow the head gasket within a couple of minutes. I think that the water would be just fine for a couple weeks unless it was leaking. From what you are saying its sounds like the water pump went before everything else did. That’s a bad deal it happened to me with an old blazer i had and was a costly repair.