Radiator blown

[scarletstarlet]

Lent my Starlet EP81 to someone and they ended up blowing the radiator up. Not just the cap but the bit that the cap sits on completely blew off the top. I've managed to start her again once she cooled down and as far as I can tell she sounds alright.

For a bit of context: she was running hot for a while and leaking coolant. Always had to keep my eye on the temp gauge until I found the leak was coming from one of the hoses off the engine. Looks like some rust had built up so much on the bit where the tubing goes on that it wasn't sealing. She ran much cooler from that point and I could relax somewhat, though at times she still almost touched the red on the temp gauge. Also hadn't seen the fan working for while.

Guess I'll need a new radiator and fan but had a few questions:

- should I get a radiator from a scrap yard, or is this the sort of thing you should get brand new?

- if the latter, are there better aftermarket radiators to upgrade to than a standard Starlet radiator?

- what could have caused this in the first place? Anything else I should be checking before installing another radiator and having the same thing happen again?

Any tips greatly received.