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Bertoknee
Date Registered: 09-2018
Location: Philippines
TOTAL POSTS: 86
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Re:
..well .. its several hours later..the coolant has cooled enough..and I had the time...so..I figured I would get to it and give it a go today...
..first thing ..drain the fluid ... dead easy .. a vertical philips head plastic bolt type thing, with an O ring on it on underside of rad.... unscrew it completely and coolant drains vertically down the way without too much meandering over the crossmember.... good design. I dont have the undertray fitted presently..so perhaps that would need to be removed first...
while its draining .. remove the usual intake trunking..and snip all the cable ties that hold the harness to the fan frame. The cable ties are integral with their mounts, but after snipping they can be tidied up and reused for normal zip ties so thats cool. Unplug the 2 fans. The harness goes right across from right to left and is fixed both sides.. ..so all you can do is reposition it lower down .. . so its out the way of the fan assy..
..its pretty tight to get the fan assy out of there ..but do-able with a good jiggle. It just sits in 2 slots at the bottom with a couple of self tappers holding it to the rad at the top...
...the area of leak can be clearly seen on the rad now...
..remove the top & bottom hoses, they had nice lockable spring clamps on mine... and the overflow pipe... then undo and remove a couple of 10mm hex head bolts..1 on left, 1 on right ...and rad is ready to lift out. It sits in a pair of rubber mounts on the bottom like most rads these days. Just tilt the top towards the engine .. and lift out. The L shaped brackets that hold the top will come out with it.. to get to this stage with the rad out of the car takes 30mins max... I like that.
..so then I started crimping with my plumbers pliers ...tbh, its difficult to get much movement on the crimps themselves ..even with a white knuckle grip! ..but I maybe managed to crimp them down a little bit. I started around the area of the leak ...
..and thats when I saw the real reason for the leak... a 10" crack on the plastic tank ..just above the inside corner on the front face so impossible to see when rad fitted .. its just about visible in these pics .... gutted!!
so ..what do I do?! I may be going away in a few days and the missus will want the car. So ..i dried off the crack as best I could..degreased it and used a hot air gun to dry it again. I had no choice this evening but to try and effect a temporary repair until I figure out a proper fix or buy a US$350 rad! .. honestly its bordering on criminal that they can charge that price for this. Anyway, all I had to hand was superglue or 2 part epoxy. I went with the superglue to start with .. & try to bond the 2 sides of the crack. ..pic shows a bead of superglue along the crack..worked in with a needle... :/
I may run a bead of epoxy over the top to provide some support. Or I may try to find something more suitable .. a high temp. plastic epoxy perhaps ..if I can find something locally. Im 99% certain the superglue wont seal it .. but it might just stem the flow enough for the car to he used gently while Im away. I dont know how common this tank cracking issue is ..not looked yet ... perhaps successive heat cycles weakened it. I suppose I should be grateful it happened while I am still home... and not in the middle of nowhere with the missus driving..
Right now I'm glad we still have our old Gen1 Rav ....its bulletproof. Me & the X-Trail arent the best of mates right now...
edit: 3 hrs later and I just found this stuff that I can hold of quite easily .. Scotch-Weld 1099 ... gotta be worth a go .. US$15 a tube ... specs say good up to 110°C ... hope so...gonna order a tube.
further edit: and just to add another possibilty ... the plastic tank top is available seperately .. Amayama have it listed at a reasonable US$38 ... so add a new large sealing ring and for just over 50 bucks US ..it is POSSIBLE i could fix it with new parts. That would all depend on how well I can uncrimp & then recrimp ... at home, using screwdrivers & pliers! The uncrimping in particular looks like it will be a swine .... what a pain..
Last edited by Bertoknee, 27/Jan/2019, 6:24 am
--- Graeme, Cagayan Valley, PH
T31 Series 2 2011 2.5 CVT 4WD
X-5534
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26/Jan/2019, 10:26 pm
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Bertoknee
Date Registered: 09-2018
Location: Philippines
TOTAL POSTS: 86
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Re:
.. so .. just back from the tiny Nissan dealers here .. pretty helpful guys and a good link to the Nissan parts catalogue and ordering process. However, the plastic upper tank is simply 'not available' in PH...but weirdly the rectangular seal is. A full rad is available, but with a US$530 price ..and a 2 week delivery time ..from just south of Manila!? .. seriously, you could walk it here in 2 weeks..heck.
All that means I've had to rethink my plans a little. So, I've just ordered an upper tank and seal from Amayama. Even that is not as straightforward as normal .. as those parts need 'approval' before I can order proper & pay .
so Im waiting for that. IF the order is approved .. that will be $68 US.
Additionally..I'm contemplating ordering a full complete rad from the UAE branch of Amayama at $350 .. crazily, its twice the price..like $700, direct from Japan! To complicate matters further, there are customs implications for goods over about US$200 .. like, a more intense screening process with import taxes & other 'surcharges'.
what a pain this has become ...
Last edited by Bertoknee, 28/Jan/2019, 1:45 pm
--- Graeme, Cagayan Valley, PH
T31 Series 2 2011 2.5 CVT 4WD
X-5534
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28/Jan/2019, 1:03 pm
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