Timing was impeccable yesterday. No problems with the brick for many months. I pull up at the parking lot, lock the car and start walking away. Then a horrible gushing sound. Nissens plastic radiator that I put in just 1.5 years ago, complete with all new hoses, reservoir, etc. had massive catastrophic failure - a crack right down the left hand tank where it meets the aluminum a few inches beneath the upper rad. hose.

Fortunately, there was a rad. shop nearby - got a ride from my nice boss, and put the new one in right in the parking lot, took less than an hour! New one is made in Portugal by CSF.

My questions - 1) does anyone know anything about this CSF brand? The thing fit, but not as well as the Nissens and the original unit.

2) Is it usual for Nissens rads to be such garbage, or do I have another cooling system problem that could cause this? I thought the expansion tank (which is only 1.5 years old, including cap) was supposed to vent excess pressure. Is it signigficant that this thing cracked a few inches under the upper hose port? Would a bad t-stat (which I also replaced yesterday) do this? The coolant flows from bottom to top, right?

3) According to my searches, there are no all-metal rads. available for 940 turbos. Can anyone prove me wrong? At this point, I'd put an all-metal one in next week just for the peace of mind!!

Thanks sorry for the long post - frustrated that the original engineering is so good, and the replacement parts are so bad!

Ben