Okay my car was involved in an accident early June, I rode her home from the accident after everything was said and done and she was fine, didn't have any real problems at all. I dropped her off at the body shop the next day, picked her up Saturday. Noticed a strong gas smell the second time I started her, it faded quickly so I ignored it.

Today I started her up the smell was more of something burning, I attritbuted it having spilled washer fluid when filling up the washer fluid tank a few hours before. Get on the road, the fuel smell starts up again, its there, very strong, but I checked for a leak in the back didnt find one, checked for a leak where she was parked the night didnt find anything.

I had to get to work so I went, then came home when I turned off the car I noticed a odd whizzing sound originally I thought it was the fan staying on again, it did that once before when it needed a new switch, so muttering various curses I opened her up to find that the coolant was boiling over from the white plastic thing you put the coolant into. I using one of my insulated gloves to remove the plastic cap so I could avoid having it shot off and lost, and it boiled out and steamed for a good 30 minutes before stopping but all the coolant is in the plastic container, none is in the radiator...

Please don't tell me my radiator is dead? I JUST spend 2700 to get her repaired!

 

It may be a good idea to check your thermostat before you go changing a radiator.

 

Also check you radiator cap; and verify that the lower air dam is intact.

 

I decided to take her to the shop, turns out that the radiator is clogged from the half way point down, so its backing up into the overflow. They said it is so badly clogged that a flush won't work and I will have to just replace it. They said they can do it for around 350 with parts and labor.

Sound right to you guys?

 

sounds like the right thing to do. radiators are around 200 bux, plus the labor to install it, i'd say go for it.

 

Don't bother having it installed... you can do it yourself in about 1/2 an hour. I did it in 1/2 an hour in -25*C weather... so it CAN NOT be that hard to do in August, lol.

 

Assuming its $200 for the radiator and that leaves $150 for labor? What's that, like 3 hours they are billing you? WAY too much labor.

If you like the DIY approach, it's an easy swap. If not, try to haggle them down to $250 or so.

It is amazing to me what mechanics charge these days!

 

Remembering of course I have no tools and no knowledge of how to install...

 

I had a custom 3 core copper rad made for my car and it cost $300 CDN and to RE & RE including cleaning my tools etc. it was under an hour. $350USD is outrageous.