Radiator repair

owains

owains

owains

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16 Jan 2004
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Looking for some advice on DIY radiator repair...

Found a small crack in my radiator today (small enough that it's invisible and doesn't leak unless the system is under pressure), which I'd like to have a go at fixing it myself. Ordinarily, I would just buy a new radiator, but I have a feeling the car is going to fair its MOT soon, so I'd rather not waste any money on it. That said, I realise I may have no option, just thought I'd try the cheap option first.

I'm not quite sure what would be the best way to go about this sort of thing. I'm considering having a go with the soldering iron (link), or maybe using a blob of chemical metal (link).

Has anyone here done anything similar? Any advice?


Thanks chaps!
 
I was out with my driving instructor once, and his radiator had a leak, so we patched it up with some chemical metal, worked perfectly and stopped the leak. Probably not great for long term though.

just go to a scrappy and find an old one.
 
If it's a really small leak then the first stop would be K-Seal. This is a modern sealant that doesn't gunge up your cooling system like the old Bars leaks etc used to.

If it's too large for K-Seal and the radiator has a copper/brass core then soldering is the best solution, but you need a pretty hefty soldering to do it, and some proper plumbers flux (rather than just electrical solder with a flux core) makes things easier. The small gas pencil torches work quite well for this. If it's alloy, then you could try special aluminium solder, though I've never had that much luck with it.

Some kind of epoxy (e.g. aralidite, JB Weld etc.) would work as long as you can get the are scrupulously clean. You can get metal loaded epoxies that are more suitable for this kind of thing well.

Chemical metal is polyester resin loaded with various fillers, i.e. basically car body filler. It might work, but it has a very thick consistency (just like body filler strangley enough!) so you'd struggle to get it down the sides of the fins if the crack isn't right at the front.
 
I'd try K-Seal first too, it doesn't cost much and works well.

Used it on my 940 after I found the previous owner had snapped 3 of the 5 studs that hold the water pump on and thus it was impossible to get a good seal, some liquid gasket to begin with (which wont be any use on your radiator) and then K-Seal fixed the parts that were still leaking afterwards.
 
B1aze said:
As a temporary fix, I think I've managed to stop the leak with some Quiksteel. Just have to see how long it holds up!
Click to expand...

I know of a Daihatsu Applause whose engine suffered from an externally cracked block (due to a strengthening plate not being fitted). Quiksteel was used to patch it up and it lasted for several years. The car was then scrapped and engine fitted to a Terios, may still be going for all I know. Good stuff anyway.
 
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