Unlucky fluke?

My 15 TRD with 82K started to steam and drip coolant the other day. I could not tell exactly where the leak was located, but I knew it was somewhere in the radiator. I just swapped it with a Danso. Before I disconnected the big hoses, I topped the old one off to find the leak. I assumed the seal along the tank, but no. It is a small perforation in a tube with pressed in edges, so from a projectile, that did not even bend the fins next to it. Here is the odd part, the hole was on the engine side of the radiator. WTH? Could a sharp rock have gotten past the skid plate, hit the fan, and been launched into the tube, but not touch the fins? My only other theory involves an ex-girlfriend, armed with a sharp needle and a grudge. Any idea how this could have happened?

 

It's a weird universe, my man! Also, sometimes ex-gf's be CRAAAAZY!

 

Yeah, though in fairness, after some of my past behavior, a few of them might have a good cause.

 

I'm going with the girlfriend theory

 

Your original radiator failed?

or new one leaked 3 days after install?

I mean there’s holes for stuff to get into the front engine area. In theory if a Little Rock goes there it could get thrown by the drive belt system or fan. But I’ve never actually seen that happen.

with upgraded/more coverage fender liners (the ones that clip on by the exhaust manifolds) and skid plates there’s less room for things to get in.

unless it’s a fluke part
Only time I’ve seen this happen was on a low performance sedan with giant exposed cooler in the lower grill that hit a rock.

 

Yes, the original got the hole. I am just baffled as to how it could have happened. There was no work done under the hood for a couple of years, so an errant tool can't be the culprit. If it was on the front and outside of the A/C evaporator, I could see it, but inside the fan shroud?

 

Did you drop the fan clutch on it trying to remove it for other work?

 

Hopefully, your ability to not just recognize, but also admit, this means you are on your way to being a better man!

 

Unlucky. Rock chip

 

Did you drop the fan clutch on it trying to remove it for other work?

No, I had not done anything under the hood other than spin on an oil filter and add oil for over a year. Nothing remotely close to the radiator. With the shroud and the fan, you'd really have to try to poke something into it in the location of the leak.

 

Freak accidents happen to normal people, too.

Regardless, glad you were paying attention to your gauges and got it fixed.

 

unlucky - likely some small object was launched by the fan...... unless you damaged the fins, can see the witness marks above and below the tube
I work in the engine cooling industry and it "happens" enough that some manufacturers of vocational trucks screen both sides of the cooling module to reduce incidental damage

 

We're any bright light's reported in your area? Alien probing perhaps?