ATENTION all first gen aveo owners! mabe second gen not sure. radiator problem!!!

[jonelledge]

ive got a first gen 06 hatchback. keep all fluids changed and what not (being a mechanic my self i know what itll do if you dont lol). anyways to the point. i pull to work the other morning, and the car has a little smoke, not much just enough from me to say there is something wrong. i open the gate and pull in park the car, pop the hood, eyes are attracted to the radiator and there it was not a big leak just one to catch my eye, i order a radiator $160 i pull the car in and after investigating before i confirm my verdict! the cooling fan has rubbed a hole through the radiator cross tubes. replace the radiator end up loosing all tranny fluid (not to mention $15 a quart) but after going to the dealer for that. get the car going again. pretty poor design, the fan needs spacing between it and the radiator so it dont rub. please check yours itll save you at least $180 if not more. pictures shown radiator where the holes are, and new radiator installed with spacers (just had to space it at the top bolt was enough for mine!
hope this saves yall some headaches!

[petrified.rabbit]

thats an interesting predicament you had, good solution. I will be sure to check mine.

[avguy]

I'm not understanding this at all. I just checked my '05, and there is at least 1/2" clearance between all fan surfaces and the rad. And everything is solidly in place, so there is no possible way the fan could even come close to rubbing the rad, unless it was to break broke loose from where it's attached to the housing.
Did you check the fan-to-rad clearance before removing the assembly? I'm guessing that either something broke, shifted due to being hit, or perhaps an object somehow lodged beween the fan and rad. Wouldn't have to be there very long to cause that damage - maybe no more than just a few seconds. Or perhaps someone replaced the rad previously and used the wrong part?
Do you think anything like that was the possible reason for what happened to your Aveo?

[petrified.rabbit]

he is saying the fan housing is what was making contact with the radiator, not the fan itself.

[jonelledge]

yeah avguy the fan housing not the fan, the fan housing dont cover the whole radiator (i would think they should make it) but its just how they made it, the center pic shows the position where the housing was rubbing but i pictured it spaced after i got the new radiator in. nothing was hit never replaced before. brother inlaw bought the car new and now we have it. bolts have never been removed and the car has never been in a wreck, its just poor design.

[avguy]

Ok, I went out and took another look. The fan shroud on mine is still attached very tight and solid to the rad, and I can find no movement of these parts relative to one another. But I do see that a couple of the bolts have quite a bit of rust on them.
I'm thinking that in order for this to have happened, the fan shroud must have loosened up a bit, allowing it to move and rub on the rad, correct? So do you know if one or or more of the bolts which connect these 2 parts to each other either rusted out completely, or in some other way came loose on yours?

[jonelledge]

no the one up under the outlet side (driver side where the tranny lines go into the cooler) it was loose, but the fan dont touch there, only on the passanger side and mine was rusted on the top bolt, and still in the clip in the bottom. the plastic housing looks like it might have warped. but i know it gets way hotter down here but. just something to keep an eye out on. just saying. to check. everything is all tight on mine (both the fan shroud and the radiator bushing and brackets) and was when i took it apart. just trying to say take a look to save some folks some headaches not saying that everyone is having this problem.

[avguy]

Ok, this will be another thing for the watch list - thanks for posting this info!

[jonelledge]

[Thymeclock]

Ok, I went out and took another look. The fan shroud on mine is still attached very tight and solid to the rad, and I can find no movement of these parts relative to one another. But I do see that a couple of the bolts have quite a bit of rust on them.
I'm thinking that in order for this to have happened, the fan shroud must have loosened up a bit, allowing it to move and rub on the rad, correct? So do you know if one or or more of the bolts which connect these 2 parts to each other either rusted out completely, or in some other way came loose on yours?

Maybe something else happened to it. Maybe it's not due to a bad design.

I'd be the last person in America to come to the defense of GM when its products are poorly designed - as they sometimes, but not always, are. But this doesn't sound like anything that was a design flaw. It sounds like something else might have happened during the life of this car, along the way.