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Plastic Radiator: Repair or Replace?

1 Generally speaking: Is it standard practice to replace a plastic tanked radiator or do radiator shops repair these? Say for new cores etc... I'm kinda thinking in terms of old copper or brass radiators and don't know what the standard practices are for modern radiators w/ plastic end tanks.

2 Specifically if there is a tiny hairline crack in a plastic tank on top of the rad that produces a drop of water every 5 or 10 minutes - can that be 'sealed' say with a special plastic welding process or perhaps scuffed and use JBWeld or ...?

Reply to
loadhawg
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Generally speaking it is not a standard practice to repair craks in plastic radiator tanks. They can be replaced though. If the radiator core is good and only the tank is cracked, the standard procedure would be to just replace the tank. However, in many cases the cost to have a tank replaced is about the same as purchasing a whole new radiator.

There are those who have claimed to have success at repairing some cracks in plastic radiator tanks, and there are various methods that have been tried without success. I have never personally seen a patch that held for very long, and I know that just using some J B Weld on the crack will not usually work. You could try a Google search to find links to various remedies that you might try.

Reply to
Kevin

It's certainly worth a try. What do you have to lose? My daughter's Mazda Protege had a crack in the top of the plastic rad at the base of the pin that holds the rad in place. It was leaking a lot more than a drop every few minutes. I scuffed it up around the crack, cleaned it real well with brake cleaner, and applied a glob of JB Weld, working it into the crack as best I could. The rad was warm and I let it cure for a few hours before topping it off & giving it a try. It held fine for over a year. I finally replaced the rad when I did the timing belt, water pump, etc. It mighta held forever but I didn't want to risk her being stranded somewhere. If it were my car I woulda left it. I was surprised that it worked so well. As always, YMMV...

Reply to
ZZ

Don't JB Weld, epoxy, or super glue it. The best repair is done by melting a groove where the crack is with a soldering iron (use a completely clean tip or cover it with aluminum foil) and filling the groove with more of the same plastic. Radiator tanks are almost always made of fiberglass reinforced nylon, and rods of this material are available from GM dealerships or radiator supply houses. Don't use the wrong type of nylon, such as from a plastic wire tie. Nylon gives very strong repairs when melted together.

Reply to
do_not_spam_me

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