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Thank you for the feedback. I think it was a combination of an older part that did not want to be touched and was inadvertently bumped into! The shop installed a brand new radiator this morning free of charge! This could have gone either way I guess, I have been going to them for over 10+ years having 3 cars serviced regularly so, maybe they accidentally damaged it and were owning their work, maybe they just saw the value in keeping a customer happy, either way, great customer service on their part, happy to say I will continue to be a loyal customer!

Impossible to say. I’m inclined to think in this case it broke under their watch but they may or may not be responsible. This is how this works: Older radiators can crack there. It’s not common on a 2009 and is unexpected. But not impossible or shocking. 1. It may be they did nothing to it 2. it may have already been broken but asymptomatic and just the process of working on it sent it over the edge. If someone has blockages in their heart then has a heart attack working out. you don’t blame the exertion or sue the health club for years of deterioration. 3. They may have broke it Most “customer” diagnosis and assumptions are wrong and the propensity to blame others is real. So I’m hesitant to assign blame without knowing any vehicle history - how many owners, previous work, has the engine ever been removed, headgaskets original or not, when was the timing belt replaced, what all was done for that...etc ******* That being said - the cursory info we have - 15 minutes is fairly telling that: 1. They damaged it 2. it was already fatigued and near end of life and they sent it to its grave #2 is challenging - they can’t be on the hook for any fatigued, asymptomatic part that’s ready to fail any moment. and that’s further confused by unscrupulous shops who use that fact to cover their blunders. You see how complicated this is?

age is a factor too. when i got the Forester (214K miles and 14+ yrs old) and did my initial maintenance on it (timing, plugs, filters, etc..) the radiator hoses looked and felt fine from the outside, but the lower one was so thin in places you could actually see daylight thru it. i was honestly surprised that it wasn't leaking. needless to say, it, and the upper, got changed immediately, along with that small one you just dealt with, for the simple fact that it was prudent to do so at that time, while the radiator was drained, and things were accessible. I also changed out pretty much all of the vacuum lines, most of which were hard as a rock.

Depends on the hose. All hoses have intended fluids. If you use bulk heater hose for PCV, it'll turn to mush. Standard fuel hose is only fuel resistant on the inside, and can't be used submerged in fuel as the outside layers will degrade. But for a coolant hose, fuel would probably be the worst, but oil is not good, either.

AMEN! to that!

No - I wouldn't buy anything from GM either. But then I just won't buy new cars period. You take a bath on them in depreciation and they are designed with a planned lifespan of the lease period. I could buy any new car I want, pay cash for it, and write it off as a shop expense. Unfortunately there's just nothing out there that isn't a pile of proprietary intellectual property wrapped in plastic and bits of shiny. No thanks. I like cars too - one's I can actually modify without reverse engineering a dozen computers designed by teams of engineers with a specific mandate to make that process nigh impossible. I don't need that frustration and they can keep their overly engineered and under designed plastic crap. GD