Interesting. The white mess along the tank to core tube plate joint suggests that seal is failed. Also in the first photo a possible leak from the pipe/tank joint. So, either poor design, assembly, fitting, stress vibration or a combo of these.
We made rads for Triumph Acclaim cars ( early 1980's) and these had plastic tanks clamped to the core tube plates with a silocone bead as sealant. The core tubes were expanded into the tube plates to give a tight seal. Two rad sizes for 1.3 and 1.5 engines.All our other rads were brass tanks soldered to the tube plates with the inlet/outlet pipes spot welded in before high temp soldering to seal.Every rad was pressure tested in a water bath and simple repairs could be done, then spray painted. Large scale production of Rover, Land Rover, BL, JCB, Caterham, London Taxis plus rads for repair trade for Ford, Vauxhall etc. Buses, lorries, "specials ( inc military and free standing units. We even refurbed a Spitfire core for the BoB Flight once. Heater cores/ units, expansion tanks also made. Factory is still going.
Back then I remember 2000 Landrover rads a month, 2800 mini rads ( original mini) Marstro, Metro etc. occasional small volume builds of older dars like Maxi, Princess, Morris Minor. Orders for after markets Marston, Halfords etc. Interesting scheduling for JIT to say the least!
