I found out this morning I have a cracked radiator

First instinct was to rant about how awful Fiat are and question what the **** they're making their parts out of if a radiator can crack after less than 3 years but whilst driving into work I had that growing realisation of dread that it might be my fault.

Back in April I bumped the front of the car over a nasty curb at persley whilst backing out - in my defence it was a horrible tight maneuver which I'm sure Martyn will confirm. Had a quick word with Ransoman about it at the time and he didn't think I'd have done anything serious as there's apparently not much there to damage but I'm now wondering if I somehow cracked the radiator then.

Timing wise it would fit in as I first noticed low anti-freeze just before Hopetoun in August which was ~ 4 months after the incident and it was low again last week again roughly 4 months after it was last topped up. So is this coincidence or am I likely to be the culprit of the knackered rad. I'd rather know before I try and make a claim with fiat so what do you experts think?

unfortunatly it might be you... my dads is nearly 7 years old now and is going fine without a leak..

and ive not herd anything of it commonly happening, they do also sit right to the bottom of the bumper iirc. have you checked your air con also as this runs there too and the pipes are even more brittle

Quick update. Garage phoned me with a price so I told them what I suspected. They've said it's nothing I've done at all and it's a leak at a seam on the plastic end of the mainframe of the radiator - disclaimer, couldn't quite hear properly as was on mobile so could be a seal.

Surprisingly I'm actually quite gutted as I'd always planned to keep the car for a long time but between this and broken springs I'm losing confidence in it. At least if it had been my fault I would have sucked it up and never taken it to Persley scrapyard again. Now I'm going to be waiting for the next thing to go wrong

Anyways, garage thinks I should approach fiat as it's only just out of warranty and radiators shouldn't start leaking under 3 years old. I wish I'd got it checked when I first noticed it in August but tbh, I thought it was a one off. I didn't though so let's just wait and see what Fiat says

could be a random incident but i wouldnt expect fiat to help.... all the love in the world for them but there customer service sucks. always has probably always will

A wee update plus question for the experts on this.

The car is booked to go into Arnold Clarks on Sunday/Monday for them to assess it however the lassie on the service desk has told me I need to pay for a diagnostic check which is nearly £100. I'm assuming by this she means that they hook the car up to a computer and it checks for faults but I don't understand why they need to do this when all they're looking for is a leaking radiator. Surely all they have to do is get it up on ramps and examine the sodding thing for leaks. Am I being overly simplistic or are they trying to make me pay for something I don't need?

Help please (again)

The sceptic in me says they're coming the ****.

If the radiator is definately leaking then I can't see why a diag would tell them anything different?

you dont need computer to tell if car leaking but if car has any active codes relating to low water levels or anything to do with cooling sensors or sensors in fuel system they will have to be cleared but only if you have engine lights on tell them to fit radiator and poke the rest if you dont have warnings

They are pulling a fast one. They don't need the computer near it for that.

Dont take it to arnald clark. You are wasting your money getting them to check it. All you need to do is fill the radiator up. Leave over night and in the morning see where the leak is coming from. Are all the hoses on correctly. Try squeezing the hoses see if any water runs out. my mk2 had a worn waterpump pipe. Causing only a leak when diving the car. Idle never leaked. Always worth checking yourself to save some money. Remember to fill with 50/50 water /antfreeze otherwise the block will crack with this weather we are having at the moment. A radiator gets check for leaks before it leaves the factory. Even none oem radiators.

I bet they wouldn't even put it on the diagnosis system, heard alot about AC and ain't been good things.

Thanks all, you've confirmed what I thought. I'll be insisting that they don't do a diagnostic check and simply look at the radiator to see the leak for themselves.

@Brad, if you read post #3 you'll see my usual garage have already found the leak.

The age of the car and the location of the leak suggest to me the radiator is not fit for purpose and therefore I'm asking AC (note not fiat as that is not who my contract is with) to replace it free of charge

Wish me luck as I suspect I'm going to have a battle on my hands

Like others I don't see why AC feel the need to run a Diag, apart from the fact that they want to charge you for doing very little.

Hope all went well for you Katie.