Coolant Leak After Small Accident

[GreenHeron]

I unfortunately was in a small accident last Friday. There was damage to the front passenger side of the R1S. It is not too bad, but needs to be repaired at a body shop. See photo below. After the accident the Rivian reported that there was a coolant leak. I did a little research and I believe that the coolant being referred to is the liquid that’s used to cool the battery pack and also it provides heat to the cabin with help from a set of resistive heaters. Rivian will not tow the vehicle to the body shop where I have a reservation for service, so I have to use my AAA towing service. But they do not take reservations. So I was wondering if I could drive it to the shop, which is 12 miles away (using no heating or cooling in the cabin and watching the battery pack temperature). Thoughts?

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[Joe Hoffman]

Can you? Yes.
Should you? That depends.

Educated opinion: if there is sufficient coolant loss, it might not circulate properly and may not even read the temperature increase sufficiently to display the problem on the dashboard temperature gauge. Meaning that watching the temperature of the battery may not be sufficient to ensure it’s being properly cooled and protected.

But you said only 12 miles. If I were to do it, I would keep my speed down low accelerate gently and at the first sign that the temperature is increasing be prepared to pull over and let it cool for several hours.

 

[GreenHeron]

Can you? Yes.
Should you? That depends.

Educated opinion: if there is sufficient coolant loss, it might not circulate properly and may not even read the temperature increase sufficiently to display the problem on the dashboard temperature gauge. Meaning that watching the temperature of the battery may not be sufficient to ensure it’s being properly cooled and protected.

But you said only 12 miles. If I were to do it, I would keep my speed down low accelerate gently and at the first sign that the temperature is increasing be prepared to pull over and let it cool for several hours.

Thanks for your thoughts, I will get it towed.

 

[Mathme]

Sorry for the hassle on this one. In situations like this, my first reaction is usually: "Oh great...how much time will this suck out of my life that I'll never get back?"

On the Gen 1, there's a small radiator up front That draws air in ... and on warm days you can hear the fans running. My guess is that this little "bump" was likely hard enough to break the hoses or the radiator in that area. Hopefully it won't be too much get fixed.

I'd likely tow it just to be safe.

Keep us posted on what you learn....

 

[GreenHeron]

Sorry for the hassle on this one. In situations like this, my first reaction is usually: "Oh great...how much time will this suck out of my life that I'll never get back?"

On the Gen 1, there's a small radiator up front That draws air in ... and on warm days you can hear the fans running. My guess is that this little "bump" was likely hard enough to break the hoses or the radiator in that area. Hopefully it won't be too much get fixed.

I'd likely tow it just to be safe.

Keep us posted on what you learn....

Thank you for your thoughts. I had it towed to the auto body shop this morning with AAA and everything went well. I am awaiting the estimate.

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