Getting That Toyota Radiator Fixed
Posted: Friday, August 26, 2005
by Terry Brown
Inner Auto Parts
Toyota is one of today's top quality car manufacturers in the world. What first started out as a spin-off of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of weaving machinery in the 1930s, Toyota Motor Corporation Ltd. now produces more than 5.5 million vehicles per year or the equivalent of one vehicle to every six seconds - making it Japan’s largest car builder and the world's third largest manufacturer of automobiles in unit sales and in net sales.
The car radiator is a technology that has been around almost since automobiles were first invented. Its primary purpose is heat dissipation - to keep our vehicles running smoothly by maintaining the engine's ideal temperature thus, preventing overheating.
Like any other car radiator, the Toyota Radiator works as a heat exchanger used to cool an engine once it reaches operating temperatures. It does this through convection, a process through which heat is transferred during the automatic circulation of fluid. Without an efficient cooling system, your Toyota car is bound to overheat and to perform poorly. The engine should be kept in tip-top shape and the car running smoothly by always properly checking and maintaining your Toyota radiator.
While originally radiators were made of round copper or brass tubes that were significantly heavy yet were corrosion and heat-resistant, today's car radiators are lighter and aluminum-made. This often makes radiators prone to leaks, especially when not properly taken cared of. Damage to the cooling core of the car radiator, split or broken radiator hose, cracked or broken radiator housing, and/or a small leak running your car’s radiator dry are the most common causes for radiator failure.
Usually, your Toyota Radiator problem can be easily solved with just a phone call, a click of the mouse, or a short walk or run to the nearby repair shop. But what do you do when get caught in the middle of nowhere with steam billowing from the open hood of your car and no help in sight?
Here are some simple survival tips: 1. If it’s a damaged core, improvise repair by removing the radiator first, and then by finding the broken section. A pair of pliers will come in handy to crimp or fold the sections of the core surrounding the damage. If you have quick-set epoxy or muffler cement, patch the leaks after allowing the damaged section to dry thoroughly. If you stem the leak enough without disabling your Toyota radiator, you can get yourself to a service station.
2. If a coolant hose is simply split, repair it with whatever heat resistant, waterproof material you have in your car. Duct tape will work if wrapped tight enough (electrical tape will not work). No duct tape? Resourceful drivers have used a glue stick, a potato chip bag, even a necktie, to patch things up.
A broken hose will cost you more trouble though. You will have to find something that can bridge the break and that fits snugly inside the hose. A film can is usually just about the right size, and if you’re lucky to have one stashed in your bag or in your glove compartment, you can insert the improvised tube, push the hose back together, fasten it together as firmly as you can and head to the nearest service shop you can find.
3. One radiator problem you might not want to experience is a crack or break in the car radiator’s housing. This is a major problem and often there is no way to repair it. The emergency fix is pretty much the same as for a split hose: try to wrap anything waterproof around it that can withstand some pressure. You may find yourself bending or displacing some cores, but that’s okay as long as they do not split.
4. An empty tank is one of the easiest radiator problems to fix. A slow leak means that you just have to keep topping up the fluid level until you can get the car radiator repaired. Water will do the trick if you don’t have any coolant.
However, as often as it’s been said, prevention is still better than cure. To reduce your chances of getting radiator problems, proper maintenance and care of your Toyota radiator is a must. Regularly clean and clear the blockages to make sure that your Toyota radiator is free from leaks. This is the most efficient way for your Toyota radiator to last you a longer period of time, and to save you the trouble of spending your hard-earned money in what could have been unnecessary repairs and replacements.
Toyota Radiators are readily available in reliable and trusted auto parts stores such as Auto Parts Inner . Shopping for Toyota auto parts just got easier and faster with Auto Parts Inner.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Concise, clear and useful. Thank you. D O'S.
The article was fine. The plug for Inner Auto Parts sucks because they suck. I ordered a BMW part on Nov 27 and paid for 2 day shipping. They messed up the address and ended up sending the part to their Carson, CA warehouse. I contacted them to get it sent up to Oregon and they said it would be coming asap. It's still not here and the customer rep I just talked to said it was really out of stock. They will supposedly refund my $$ in a few days. I should have ordered the part locally.
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