That radiator hose neck has undergone at least one attempted repair, and I can also see that the tank is quite deteriorated from normal wear and tear.
No resonable shop would accept responsibility for that breakage. On the other hand there’s no way that truck should have had a t-belt service and not had what appears to be an original radiator hose replaced.
Either the shop dropped the ball by not seeing that the radiator and hoses needed replacing, or the customer dropped the ball by not approving the work.
27 year old radiator? That’s longer than I’d expect a modern aluminum/plastic radiator to last. It was time to be replaced in any event. Shop did error imo by not thoroughly testing for coolant leaks afterward, but their main error was not recommending to the customer that the radiator and hose(s) should also be replaced as part of the timing belt/water pump job.
I agree, that’s clearly a radiator way past it’s prime that appears to have been a sloppy “hack job repair” with epoxy. While I’m a huge fan of JB Weld for temporary repairs, it’s no substitute for a proper weld or replacement so I find the assumption that the problem was the result of “a pretty good whack” doubtful.
Much more likely, especially on an almost 30 year old vehicle, is that your cooling system radiator, hoses, coolant pump) is simply worn out and overdue for replacement.
Yeah after seeing the pictures, that was required basically to remove the upper rad hose for access to the front of the engine for the timing belt replacement… That does not look like a wack/hard hit, it does look like someone working the hose off an already damaged and non proper repair…
That OLD hose still has the marks from the OEM wire clamp, but you can clearly see a much newer worm clamp on it now…
Good news is a rad repair shop should be able to solder the pipe back to the rad properly, or someone that know how to braze can solder that also…
Even if they did respond to your BBB complaint, it is extremely unlikely that you would have gotten what you wanted. Under the BBB’s extremely strict (ha!) guidelines, if a business responds to your complaint, the BBB counts it as “resolved”, even if the business tells you to pound salt. That’s the type of organization that the BBB is–sad to say.
As stated earlier, filing a BBB complaint is a complete waste of time.
The picture in reply #18 in the very top right side of the corner clearly shows a metal strap (for the side mounting brackets to the core support) spot welded or soldered to the tank, and that looks like a metal tank not plastic… Same way my old hot rod rad has the side mounting plate soldered/welded to the top of the rad…
And people like you are why no one wants to work on older vehicles anymore–too much risk of BS customer complaints and unrealistic expectations of free repairs when parts which are aged past their intended life expectancy fail simply from being touched. Pay for a new radiator and hoses, and move on with your life.
If your sense of ethics really tells you that that is the right thing to do, good luck to you. All I can say is hopefully justice will prevail. Take that to mean what you will.
I was once on the opposite side of this as a business owner. A customer had brought in an aging car for a coolant flush. Customer then left on a cross-country trip and had a heater core failure which led to a blown head gasket. Customer took me to small claims court. The judge examined all the evidence and stated that anyone driving a 22 year old car assumes responsibility for anything and everything that befalls them. Case dismissed.
Let me ask this…if I’m at your house and in the course of flushing the toilet the handle breaks off in my hand, are you going to sue me for the damage?
Have you been servicing the vehicle yourself? If yes, pull the radiator take it to a radiator shop, see if it can be repaired along with flow tested, if not just install a new radiator, along with hoses and thermostat.
Who the hell do you think is going to respond to a BBB complaint? At best a BBB complaint will just go on file and warn any customers who inquire about that business will be warned. Good Luck
It does, but perhaps not in the way you had expected. If the shop owner has similar pictures, you have zero chance of winning any judgement against them and you’re losing the court of public opinion on it as well. You need to accept responsibility for that hack job, fix it yourself and stop trying to blame someone else for that disaster…
Are you kidding me? If that happens, you can expect to be sued for a full remodeling of that bathroom. After all, that toilet will never be the same, even if you buy a new handle and rebuild kit.
Of course the judge made the right decision denying this customer a judgment, however the reasoning really misses the point. No one is going to touch or inspect a heater core (or thermostat, or water pump, etc) during a coolant flush and refill. It is just not an expected part of the service. A visual inspection may be made of accessible components (hoses, radiator, etc) and a visual check for external leaks. If any parts should later fail due to age and normal wear-and-tear, that is not negligence which the shop would be responsible for.
Now if a customer had the A/C evaporator core replaced, and then immediately afterward, the heater core sprung a leak, maybe it could be established that stressing the heater core in the course of replacing the evaporator caused the leak (which is why both are often replaced together since labor is the big cost anyways). Regardless, the driver has a responsibility to pay attention to their gauges and stop the engine if it begins to overheat, not to keep driving until it won’t run anymore.
guidelines, if a business responds to your complaint, the BBB counts it as “resolved”, even if the business tells you to pound salt. That’s the type of organization that the BBB is–sad to say.