My girlfriend was driving the blazer home last night and she came up a hill and at the top was a deer and she hit it going about 60. The police said she was lucky being the deer was massive, and not too much damage was done to the truck. She's fine no injuries so that's good. She got the car towed to her parents house so I went to look at it.

The grill is gone, the drivers side headlight is gone, and the radiator is fubared. She said that green coolant was leaking all over the ground after she hit it and the truck was still running. She knows nothing about engines so she kept it running then she said it started to make a clicking sound and she shut it off. The support in the middle (radiator core support?) is bent back into the radiator. Right now I can't get the hood open because the latch is also bent all strange so I need to bend that before I do anything. The hood looks to be fine though so hopefully it's just the latch.

I can't start work on until this weekend due to school and two jobs, so I thought I'd ask if here if there is anything behind the radiator that might have gotten smashed. Also, if anyone has any tips for fixing this, I'd much appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

 

You are basically in for a complete front end job. The hood might not look bent, but I bet it is atleast a little tweaked. The fenders are probably tweaked as well.

First thing to do is assess the damages. Open and close the front doors making sure that they clear the fender and that the lines look good. If they do, you are in luck.

I would then start the disassembly of the front by removing the grill, headlights, and bumper. Have a look at everything in there. To get the radiator support out, you should support the fenders at the wheel opening. You should then be able to unbolt and remove the support.

From the sounds of it, a new support, radiator, headlights, grill, and probably a bumper are required. Good thing for you is that these parts should all be readily available at your nearest auto recycler.

One last thing. PICS are required! LOL

 

Thanks for the quick reply! I know the drivers side door opens just fine but I have not tried the passenger side door yet. I'll try to get pics as soon as I can.

 

Well, I think it's safe to assume that the radiator, core support, and fan are all toast. Once you can pop the hood open, remove all of these first. The hardest part will be the fan, because it's difficult to remove even when it's not damaged. Instructions are right here (I just did this last weekend). In fact, you should remove the fan cover and fan before you take out the radiator, because it will then be easier to do.

Also inspect all the cooling hoses. I'd probably just go as far as replacing them anyway, for good measure. Also, since your girlfriend didn't shut the engine off immediately, it's possible she may have damaged the water pump and/or thermostat, since all the coolant drained out of the system when the radiator was hit. She should have shut it off immediately (hindsight is 20/20).

Once the radiator, fan and hoses have been replaced, refill the coolant and start the engine. DO NOT use Dexcool, because obviously someone has flushed it out already (Dexcool is red, not green). If you mix Dexcool with the green stuff, bad things will happen. You'll know if the water pump was damaged if you see coolant spilling out from it. The water pump is located directly behind the center pulley. The above instructions also tell you how to replace this.

Once the cooling system has been repaired, you will then want to check to ensure the engine itself hasn't been damaged by overheating. You may be able to do this before replacing the cooling system parts, but without them, you can't even check to see if the engine will run, which is why I suggest you fix the cooling system first. Other people may feel differently.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: And what Kyle said! Give us some pix! [&:]

 

I hit a deer once before... Tweaked the bumper ever so slightly, but I fixed it.
The clicking she said she heard may bethe shroudhitting the radiator fan or something else interfering with the gyro of the belts.

*edit... Psychropod beat me by three minutes...

 

Wow this forum is insane with the whole quickness thing.

Anyways thanks for all of the instructions. Those will definitely help. I'm aware of the whole Dexcool thing, but thanks for the refresher. Isn't Dexcool bad enough on its own? (killing gaskets and such)

 

Well, not to get off on that tangent, but Dexcool in and of itself is not the cause. It does not eat gaskets. The gaskets are the cause. Especially if you are talking about the 3.4L V6 shown in your sig. They are KNOWN for their poor intake manifold gasket design. The 4.3L is as well. That is why GM has released metal framed gaskets for all of these applications.

Besides, it is very difficult to find a true EG coolant in the stores now. All of them have gone to a similar formulation to Dexcool.

 

Ah, I see. Well that makes sense. Luckily, I've had no gasket failures that I know of. Although the 3.4 does use oil (about a quart a month) so that could be the culprit.

 

if the fan was hitting the shroud at all it would sound more like a helecopter. my fan used to hit the shroud in the winter i shimmed it up to fix it

 

It might of sounded louder, but she does'nt really remember. I'll figure it out this weekend though. It's going to be fun getting that hood open.


I'm sorry, but lmao --> [sm=gobble.gif]