I had a small crack in my radiator that I used epoxy to seal. It worked well until yesterday when one of my fan belts broke. this is the result:


Luckily a local guy had an extra radiator, so I'm back up and running today.

Random shots of my car...

 

red x

 

Bah! Hang on a second
Edit: They should work now.

 

i can almost predict what those red x's shall show me....

 

Quite the "little crack" you have there..... Good thing you're back up and running.

 

After blowing my top radiator hose. I am not messing around anymore with cooling systems. I went the cheap way as well, I didn't replace the coolant hoses or water pump. I almost burned up my brand new motor with only 406 miles on it. Luckily when the hose blew and the hood seemed to lift about 4 inches and it sounded like an explosion under there. I pulled off and killed it. It still runs fine but that was a close one.

Now.....new water pump, fan clutch, thermostat, radiator cap, top and bottem hoses, pressure tested b4 putting all the fans and shroud on.

Its funny, you stop one leak in these old cars and 27 more weak spots show themselves.

 

I'm confused. How is the broken fan belt connected to you having repaired the radiator and your thread's title?????????

 

got hotter than usual and pressure busted the radiator open?

 

just get it welded shut dude.

 

The end tanks are plastic.

That said, any rad shop can usually replace the tanks (generally with copper or brass).

 

wow that's such a simple solution. i wonder how much that would run in cost.

 

Well if the belt broke and the water pump was slipping and turning slower than usual......

I can get my A/C and my Power Steering nice and tight due to the screw adjustments. Bu the smog and Alt are a different story. More the Alt than anything else. I can get a good pry on the smog pump but I feel that I ma going to damage something on the Alt. Maybe that is why many have problems with the water pump slipping when the smog pump is removed.

 

Buy a Koyo replacement, if you can afford it.

 

I'll just pretend that was a joke and laugh

 

It constantly amazes me how many people have never heard of plastic welding...

You could repair it that way, but it is likely that the tanks are brittle due to age, so another crack will eventually form elsewhere.

Don't just jump into buying an expensive aftermarket radiator for an NA without comparing the cost of a stock replacement. The same radiator handles modded turbos (i.e. over 200hp) and has proven itself to last 15+ years. Unless you live in a really hot climate or do lots of racing, it's not really money well spent.

 

Colorado in the summer gets hot. Plus there are lot of hills and they are killer on cooling systems.

NZ I am not sure of your point. Don't waste money on after market is ok. But why would you risk it with cooling system?? Plastic welds are just a band aid. I am sure it just the symantics that is throwing me off cause you are usually solid with info.

 

heh, I never heard of plastic welding before. What's the process? Anyways, that's a pretty good crack. Though, it's cool that you got it up and running quick...congrats.

Edit: Just a band aid?....well then..hahaa

 

I had a similar problem last summer. On the way home from work, the fuse for my e-fan jiggled loose and it shut off. It soon over heated and blew the top tank, sounded like the motor blew when it went. Now I have a new fuse holder so it wont happen again.

 

^^ isn't that wild???? Mine sounded the same way. I thought for sure the motor "threw a rod" (j/K) the percussion was really loud. scared the **** out of me.

 

I thought I was pretty clear. Plastic welding is a very common practice, but it should not be used on old radiator tanks due to the condition of the plastic.

No, they're not. If the plastic is good condition and the weld is performed correctly, plastic welding will result in a join as strong as the parent material, just like welding metals.

Exactly the same as welding metal. Heat up the join area until it melts, flow in a filler material, wait for it to cool and solidify.

As a semi-relevant example, many body shops will repair damaged plastic bumpers this way. The repair is usually undetectable once painted.

 

The same exact thing happend to the plastic end caps of the radiator in my 'vert.

First it craked a little
Then I epoxied it, and it lasted a nice long time
Then, it blasted the 'square' out and cracked all the way across X_X
Antifreeze EVERYWHERE

I have a new radiator, this one is 100% copper

I guess it's cool that the stock rad lasted 15 years, but I still dont think so highly of plastic endcaps :p

I also assume its better that the plastic cap blows up first, as opposed to something internal to the engine :O

 

I replaced my stock radiator with another stock radiator. I paid $40 for it, not bad since i was in a rush.

Currently I'm saving for rebuild and can't afford an aftermarket radiator, although someday when it's a turbo vert, it will have an aftermarket radiator.

 

Good point.

 

I've heard of it, and seen it done. But the end tanks are very brittle. I don't know what the result would be.

 

That's why I said not to do it...