Radiator split

[MacWomble]

My beloved 2.1 12 Valve suffered a catastrophic radiator failure Wed evening. On the M5 just before the roadworks between 11A and 12 - not the best place really.
Anyway the car spluttered a bit (red ignition/stop light came on), it stalled in the stationary traffic, I got it restarted and the temp went from 70 to 90 followed by steam at the front.
Pulled into hard shoulder and got the bonnet up and sure enough hot water on my feet and the head smoking with old oil.
The AA dragged me home and it did restart and run fine to drive up my driveway.
I'm not sure if I've knackered the head/gasket.
Any thoughts on if it's possible to test the head before replacing the radiator?
Plus point, it did start and drive onto my driveway.
Minus point, head was so hot it partly melted the end of one of the spil off pipes.......

Thanks

MacWomble.

[dirtydirtydiesel]

Sorry to hear that dude, but to be honist due to the age of the car & the millage covered + how hot you say it has got it's not looking good for the head gasket .
If you love the car that much isn't it worth doing the head gasket anyway & then fit a new rad (use a quality item).
Best of luck bud which ever you do.

[azazel]

Was it the bottom hose? I found this rusts and expands which splits the plastic radiator open. Its worth replacing this as the part only costs £20ish and prevents radiator replacement or head gasket problems.

[MacWomble]

Azazel, It was actually the radiator corroded through, I reckon it's been losing water for a few days and I just never noticed it , Doh!

DDD, I've decided to put it into my local garage for them to test the head gasket first and see if it's gone. If so I'll advertise the old bus for spares/repair.
I'm totally gutted. That car has been the best I've ever owned.

I bought it from a Polish lad in Swindon for £1100 quid and I've done about 160,000 miles in her, now showing just short of 308,000 and she's been everything from repmobile, through to mobile skip! Never changed the clutch and only let me down once before this, when I broke a front spring.

Gutted.

[midsmike]

Thats good to hear my 2.1 has only done 120k so shes got lots to go yet the 2.1s are strong engines I would put a new rad on and just see how she goes

[azazel]

I will be sad when my old car finally dies. Its done 185,000 so has some life left if yours is anything to go by! Watchout for that bottom hose though as it does rust and split the radiator coupling causing loss of coolant which can warp the head leading to gasket failure. Two of my 406s had the same problem.

[MacWomble]

Well I realise it's a bit late now, but watch those rads, any sign of corrosion and swop them out.

Meanwhile the 406 is on the for sale board and on ebay.

Still gutted by the way.

[PeterN]

I would suspect that the head gasket failed first and the cooling system pressure burst the radiator. As previously mentioned the 2.1 XUD is a brilliant engine, probably the best IDI engine made, I have run them in XMs for over 15 years, their only vice seems to be head gasket failure, this generally occurs at around 150k but its well worth doing the job if you can do it yourself as these engines go on forever, I have had two at around 300k. These engines are smoother than the Hdi at low revs and almost as economical.

Peter