I've recently replaced the pajero's radiator at Silverton radiators as the car was losing a lot of water and they claimed that there was a small crack in the radiator reservoir. It was using less water afterwards, but still using. The cause was made very apparent last week when the water pipe that leads to the heater burst. We had a mechanic in Piketberg repair it, only to have it burst again later the same day. Same mechanic then had a look again and he reckons the exhaust is too close to the pipe and is melting it off. He then made a new metal bracket to move the pipe further away from the exhaust and we managed to reach Pta without a problem.
My question is: Is this normal. Surely the water pipes shouldn't be so close to the exhaust? Should there be some form of shielding between them?
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maybe it suffered the famous rattling heat shield problem and the guy that owned the car before you took them off.
On the other hand even manufacturers make mistakes. They can't test everything for accurate 200'000km+ lifespan's but if you look at all the components then they have a very high success rate anyway.
I have improved on many small designs that the manufacturers miss. Somethings are simple like a cable tie to stop a pipe or cable chaffing to an extra heatshield or missing strengthening bracket.
If you can try and bend a piece of 2mm steel and bolt it to a bracket or firewall etc. so it's between the pipe and exhaust. Last thing you want is a failed waterpipe in the bundus
On the other hand even manufacturers make mistakes. They can't test everything for accurate 200'000km+ lifespan's but if you look at all the components then they have a very high success rate anyway.
I have improved on many small designs that the manufacturers miss. Somethings are simple like a cable tie to stop a pipe or cable chaffing to an extra heatshield or missing strengthening bracket.
If you can try and bend a piece of 2mm steel and bolt it to a bracket or firewall etc. so it's between the pipe and exhaust. Last thing you want is a failed waterpipe in the bundus