The forums consider Blackstone to be the best aluminium and plastic radiator, but some posters put life expectancy of 10 years and others as 20 years. Not stated if the 10 year life is for those without metal tube inserts in the neck, since early Blackstones did not have such metal inserts??

My Blackstone is 13 years old so don't want to tempt fate, especially when holidaying on isolated gravel roads in desert areas, but won't blow A$335 on new OEM radiator unless advised to replace radiator.

The forums mention the necks suddenly snapping off with catastrophic coolant loss.

Nevertheless the (fibre reinforced?) plastic must be tough as I found a crushed Blackstone in the junkyard and to test toughness I belted the plastic tank hard several times with a hammer - no effect. I then used a 1cm wide screwdriver blade & hammer - took about 6 blows to penetrate plastic.