[SNAKE HYDES]

I loaned my car to my mother for the day to take my little sister through a parade and when she pulled back into my office parking lot my car smelled like anti-freeze coolant. I popped the hood to find a very small stream of coolant spraying out of the back side of the radiator. The coolant was not even hot or boiling as if the car was overheating and the temp gauge read normal. I pulled the car into one of the shop bays for further inspection, when I shut my car off I heard the fan making a loud noise as if it were hitting something. There are two metal bands, straps of some sort that had pulled loose from the radiator and was hitting the fan and this is what put the hole in the radiator. My question is what caused this and will Dodge pay for the towing from my dealership to the nearest Viper Tech which is about 60 miles away?
My car is an 01 and has only 8k on it so it is still covered under the 3year 36k factory warranty. Any advise would be great.
Chad

 

[Smokin]

Dodge should cover this under warranty. It sounds like you had a defective radiator. The stock radiators have plastic end tanks that can come apart from the copper core if the unit is defective. You MAY want to consider upgrading the unit to an all-aluminum aftermarket radiator. If there are plans for forced induction in the future, you probably want to consider one that does not proturde too far out. Ron Davis makes a good radiator (the Fluidyne protrudes an inch or so past the stock location and will require modifcation of the stock airbox and may get in the way of a Supercharger system in the future). It will cost you about $800 for the new radiator, but it will help cool the car, moreover it will help stop corrosion inside the cooling system since you now have all aluminum compoenents versus aluminum and copper with the stock one.

 

[SNAKE HYDES]

Thanks Smokin, do you think that I could pay the differnece for the upgrade and dodge would still do the work under warranty?

 

[Smokin]

If you know your vipertech, Im guessing that the vipertech would have no problem just putting in an alternate radiator. In the past my vipertech had no problem changing a flywheel, or doing a clutch when the rear main seal was leaking. They also were able to change my thermostat to a different unit when we suspected the stock thermostat had problems. If your in good with your tech, you should be fine. If not, tip the guy!

 

[SNAKE HYDES]

Thanks Smokin
C

 

[FAST?]

nothing like a good viper tech.