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One of my mates had his 04 2.5 X Forester blow its radiator. His wife noticed steam coming from the bonnet, pulled over and eventually got a lift home. Not noticed whether it had overheated on the gauge. Car driven to mechanic's with water in the radiator the next day, blown radiator- brittle split/fragmentation at top, radiator replaced. Car is running fine, no sign of coolant loss or fluid mixing (oil/coolant). Car has 214k km.

The (apparently perished) top hose had been replaced not long before, I suspect the mechanics may have damaged the (already brittle) radiator, but that's now a moot point.

My questions are, is there anything my mate should look out for? Is damage already likely to have been done? Is it simply a matter of time before some related failure, or could the car be OK? They've 2 young children and it's their only car.

Thanks,

A Tee-Kay test on the coolant will determine whether there is any signs of combustion gasses in the cooling system. Thus letting you know if there has been any damage to the head gaskets.

I'd also change the oil as this would have most likely boiled and lost most of it's protection properties.

Many thanks, will pass the info on.