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Published on 15 February 2025

Poor old SRT8 has been in the wars unfortunately. Clogged radiator, A/C clutch died and it got hammered in a hail storm. I haven't finished the radiator job yet. When the A/C went out a few weeks ago I knew the rubber plate part of the clutch had failed, but I though it was the compressor that had seized, so I went nuts and bought a new compressor, receiver/dryer and evaporator valve envisaging that the car would need a re-gas. On closer inspection, after I had all the parts, it seemed like just the rubber had failed and nothing else. Clutch still engaged when switched on, compressor was able to rotate. So I got brave and nicked the rubber part of the replacement compressor and off it went, blowing cold air again. Lucky for me you can buy just the failed bit of compressor from Aliexpress, so I have made my replacement compressor whole again. The radiator failure was a bit painful. I have been smelling coolant for a little while but couldn't find the leak (something that seems to be common on anything with plastic parts in the cooling system). The radiator tank was leaking ever so slightly and then the car nearly overheated on me. So I had to source another radiator (ebay this time). Only half way through that job. Before that though, that hailstorm turned my bonnet and roof into a golf ball. For obvious reasons I'm a bit reluctant to go back to my insurer over something like that. I see you can buy a hail dent remover kit from Ebay that uses hot glue, a set of plastic pullers that are glued into the dent, and a little hand tool that has big feet on it which pulls the plastic pullers against the glue. My first thought was it will rip the paint straight off the car. Nope. My second though was I'd turn the golf ball look into a rolling ripple. Nope again. It takes a serious amount of patience and about 20 minutes per dent but you can get them pulled to near perfection. I've done about 10% of them so far and I'm pleased with the results.