due to an unfortunate situation my car basically hit a slab of cement while going about 35 mph. I have a 1995 coupe. I tried to brake when i hit it, but i hit it really hard and there was instant leakage. The front of the car looks fine, but right under the bumper and in about a foot, theres a pretty big dent, and its leaking from two places what smells semi sweet (radiator fluid im guessing?) and I'm gonna have to figure out how to fix it.

I fix computers all the time, but this is my first car so I expect i might have some additional reading to do. Pictures of the damage should be coming in less than 12 hours once its daylight.

I already found a list of service manuals in pdf for the mk3 camry, so should i just start there? is there any other suggestions for someone with nil car experience?

god i hate random slabs of cement.

 

What color is the fluid?

 

Hi jasmtz531. The fluid is bright green (antifreeze if i recall right?).

Also, the 'Coolant' thing is empty. I guess what i have to be worried about now is how is it leaking out? If you can see in the pictures theres like two plastic sheilds under the bumper like a foot in and they have a nice indent in them now. The fluid was leaking through the holes in the bottom of that plastic shielding, so it must be behind it. I'm wondering if thats like the bottom of the radiator (?) and hopefully didn't like crack the radiator but just like a hose connection going into it. I'm gonna see if my friend who knows something about cars can't help me take it apart and then see what we find.

 

Yea the green stuff is antifreeze, but my car which is a 94 takes red coolant. I'm pretty sure your does too... but thats the least of your worries right now. Take the radiator cap off and see if theres any coolant in it.

 

i think you either cracked your radiator, or there is a hose loose/cracked.
hoping its the latter.

thats one hard *** hit as those plates arent easy to bend. Good luck

 

yea, so i got 4 out of 5 bolts of the plastic shield in front and the last one got ground down on by the cement and i cant get the ratchet onto it. I'll have to see if some vice grips will help me remove it but do you guys have any techniques for taking off a deformed bolt. I'm thinking worse comes to worse i could get my dremel and make two flat parallel surfaces on it to grab on to.

once i get that front shield off, and im trying to determine where the leak is coming from, should i pour water into the system and see if it drains out? and if it doesn't, should i start the car and see if it pours out?



Also, the hood wont shut right now. I found the source of the problem to be that the latch that normally accepts the hook from the hood looks to be about 1/2" towards the center of the car (although it doesn't look like its moved at all) and now the latch is hitting on the vertical part of the hook instead of the horizontal part it can latch to. I think this is because the center support thing behind the grill was pushed inwards from the impact and since its bolted right in front of the latch it yanked it inwards a wee bit. I'm not sure what that bar looked like normally so i cant tell if mines warped or if they just look funny, but heres a good shot of it.

thanks guys, ill update tommorrow after work.

 

damn now from that photograph i have to say the radiator cracked somewhere down there. Its not that flexible!.

if u have metal drill bits , just drill through the bolt...it'll come right out.

try not to start your car if you dont have to. if you do, dont drive it.

not sure about the latch and all that jazz...looks to me like you're gunna have to straighten things out manually if you're not looking to repair it professionally.

 

what do you mean drill through the bolt? Won't that strip out the hole its in? Im taking off for bed now but like i said, updates tommorrow agian.

 

you use a smaller drill bit than the bolt of course. once the core of the bolt gets partially to fully drilled through it'll collapse on itself basically and you should be able to easily remove it. If the bolt doesnt collapse on itself then you can use a slightly larger bit and that should be enough force to actually twist the bolt out.
By the way...are you going to keep your bent plastic shield etc there? you're going to scrape everywhere. Another thought, if you get a new radiator will it still fit there properly since that lower frame is now bent?

or you can do your dremel idea.

 

ok, so things are starting to look up. Being this my first car (got it on the 11th), my first accident (of course), and my first time working on my car (many more to come hopefully in beneficial way) I think i've made lots of headway. But lemme say this first, i think i could seriously hurt myself lol. So, i got the plastic shields off the bottom, pretty much didn't get to see much though so i went at it removing the front grill and headlights and then having the radiators exposed i went about removing them.

And this is where i hurt myself. After i got the main radiator out, there was one in front of it. So i was unscrewing the screw on this metal pipe thing that went into it so i could remove it and all of a sudden BOOOOM i get sprayed in the face (luckily i closed my eyes, but not my mouth enough) and whatever was compressed in there sprays all over. I'm pretty sure this was the power steering stuff (?) but whatever it is i'll have to find out as im sure its running low now lol.

So i got both radiators out after that snafu. You can see in the pics the damage to both radiators near the bottom center where the impact pushed them in. Here comes problem numero uno and where i need your guys macguyver help. the bottom bracket that both radiators mount to is pretty bent in, so i took my car jack and tried to find some stable surfaces (harder than i thought) and jack it back in place a lil, but it still has a few inches it should be moving. So any ideas on the best way to get that back into place???? Tommorrow's my day off, so im gonna try to find some replacement radiators and see what i can do about getting em to fit in there nice and tight.



Also, if you remember the latch. that thing is pretty flimsy for where its held on and then has a little bracket that connects right in front of it to the bottom center middle of the radiator where i hit, so i was able to just bend that back forward and it works fine now.


ALSO!!!!! anyone know whats the best solution for me getting a radiator? I'm sure i could find a u pull it and go scrap some, or i could get them from shucks i think, or i could buy one off ebay. but what do you guys do? or what might you recommend for me? big thanks all, you don't know it but you've helped out so far.



btw, that last shot of the dented radiator, thats the one that was pressurized and sprayed me down. its the one closer to the bumper.