What would cause a radiator to blow a hole in it?

Answer 1

There's a few reasons this might happen. First you must understand that its a closed pressurized system. When you crank your car, it starts out with little pressure. As the car warms up the pressure builds. This is why when you take the cap off the car when its cold, nothing happens but the slightest turn when the car is hot the cap will fly off and fluid goes everywhere. Once the pressure builds up, the fliud is forced through the system over and over. If your system hasn't been flushed in a while there could be something plugging it up so it creates a constant strain on that point eventually too much so it blows a hole. The second reason one may have this problem and the worst possible case is a bad head. If you have a bad head it puts back pressure on the system causing too much pressure with what your car already has and it will eventually blow something. It has to release it somewhere. Also in some cases if it is a small hole then something from the road may have flown up and punctured it. If this happened at a stand still, such as a traffic light, or traffic then there's a higher possibility of a bad head. Mostly because when you aren't pressing the gas, the pressure shouldn't be a strong, and this should not happen. However when you are pressing the gas pedal this should move fluids more rapidly through the system adding pressure.

Answer 2

A radiator can blow a hole if it becomes too hot or too pressurized. This usually happens due to a buildup of pressure from a malfunctioning radiator cap, a blockage in the cooling system, or overheating of the engine. In extreme cases, a manufacturing defect or physical damage can also cause the radiator to fail.