Hello. To be honest, it's kind of hard to Monday morning quarterback this situation. It is entirely possible that the thermostat housing was leaking the first time you brought it in. But it's also possible that it wasn't leaking.
The thermostat in a car is kind of like a valve. When the coolant reaches a certain temperature ( 200°) the thermostat opens up, which allows coolant to flow through the system and cool the engine while, in turn, being cooled by the radiator. Now, as the coolant warms up, it expands. This expansion puts pressure on the various parts of the system. If the thermostat doesn't open, then the coolant just gets hotter and hotter. As it gets hotter, the pressure builds up beyond what the parts are designed to handle. At some point, the weakest point in the system will crack, or start leaking in some way or another.
So with that in mind, it's entirely possible that it wasn't leaking there the first time around. Your uncle should know that. He's right that they could have missed it, but we have no proof either way.
Hope that clears things up for you. Feel free to ask more questions for further clarification if you need to.
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Wednesday, May 19th, 2021 AT 5:07 PM