Radiator leaks and Overheating

[ashley]

I own an 04 runner, 4.0 sr5. I have put 2 radiators in in the past week, both have failed at the same place. Driver's side bottom near the drain valve. First one was my bad, bought it from Amazon for cheap and made it maybe 20 miles before leaking and heating up but stopped truck before it reached the red and had it towed. Second was from Napa and made it a whole 200 miles before the dripping started. I am interested to know why this is an issue for me and if it's common.
Background: No it's not a gasket failure since I did 3 block checks a few weeks ago and they all passed. Thermostat works. Water pump works, water is circulating through the system and their aren't air bubbles. Not leaking coolant and not overheating either. Just very very VERY frustrated. Love my truck it's my baby but I'm hating it right now. Every week (LITERALLY) it's something new that goes wrong that I have to fix. I'm seriously considering selling it and buying something else. Very depressing

[Terry]

It is very odd to have 2 radiators fail in the same spot. My guess is that the one from Amazon and the one from Autozone were just from the same manufacturer and they just have a problem with that particular radiator. Just because they were purchased from different sources, does not mean they did not come from the same company.

That said, if the original radiator also failed in the same spot, you need to look closely at the mounting area in that spot. There may be something that is rubbing on that same part of the radiator.

[ashley]

Thanks for your reply, the original didn't fail the same way it was just old and needed to be replaced. Ended up going to a more reputable source on the island and so far so good. Actually took the truck back to the place I bought radiator and the tech guy looked at it and said that everything looks fine. I'm thinking positive; it looks like it's going to be fine!

[Terry]

Yes, i think you should be fine no that using a different brand radiator.

[karen]

We just bought our 18 year old daughter a 1996 pontiac Grand Prix 3.1L v6. It ran fine with no overheating problems at all. The check engine light came on and the reading was the thermostat. We changed the thermostat and the temperature valve, started it up and it started over heating. It would reach a temperature reading of 260 and neithe of the fans would run. We checked to see if the fans were good and they are. We put in a new water pump also. What could cause this problem to accure? We are stumped

[karlk]

Your car has two coolant temperature sensors. One is for the gauge, the other is for the computer to turn on the radiator fans. That one might be bad so the computer does turn on the fans.

Another possibility is a bad fan relay or even just a fuse. First check all the fuses. Next swap out the coolant fan relays with know good relays. There can 2 or even 3 that control the radiator fans in your Pontiac. They work together and one can cause the whole circuit to fail.

Also, you would need to test for power and ground for the fans to see if that is good. If not, then back to what i said about the relays. If there is power and ground, then the fan motor(s) is bad.

[Leonidas]

i was driving down the road and it just stoped running.... now im a pritty good mechanic and so i checked all the usual reasons for this to happen... so i am down to my last idea and started to remove everything so i could take off the timing cover and see what was going on there so i was in the middle of this and i decided to check the throttle body.... I open the throttle and look inside and there was a puddle of oil.. now i have been a Mechanic for a long time and i have never heard of this or seen this EVER!!!!! maybe i have been lucky but i have no idea what caused this or what to do about it except tear the whole motor apart... can someone help me and maybe save me alot of time and money????? what do i do?????

[karlk]

The oil in the intake is probably not the cause of the no start condition. You may have a faulty PCV system- which is not really a PCV valve, but just a port in the intake manifold.
I would continue with the diagnosis of the no start-
do you have spark
do you have fuel pressure
do you have fuel injector pulse
is the engine in time