I was blowing compressed air from the back side of the radiator to dislodge the bugs from last year and noticed moisture streaming from a plate. Sure enough a very small pool of anti-freeze is on the base of the frame.

Upon looking closer, I noticed under the top radiator mounting bracket that the shroud and the radiator were touching. Not sure if this is where the leak is or not, the moisture was about 3-4 plates from the top.

I cannot start the car, the rear is out of the car and I don't want to gas my garage out for the 30 minutes of run time.

I know the answer, but is there a repair for this? If not does Tom offer a discount for forum members. This radiator is 12 years old, and the car never over heated.

 

see if you can borrow a pressure tester to look for the leak....




if the rad is 12 years old, is it a brass replacement type ?? if so, it should be able to be repaired easily.... but if the wife asks, we'll tell her that the only way to fix it is with a DeWitt's..........

 

No, it is repo Harrison, original type. I think it is 12 years, not sure. My car was in a museum for some years, and second has info is that it was installed around 96. It may not have been new at that time either, maybe used. I have never looked at the date stamp. I had it out 2 years ago during the motor rebuild and cleaned and painted it. Looked inside it with the bore scope at the hangar and it looked OK.

I know just were to get the pressure tester, thanks.

Mark

 

I had a small leak repaired on my orginal radiator done with epoxy....... not that I am recommending it, but it held OK with a low pressure cap.

If you have the means, I would recommend a new DeWitt's, I have seen a lot of them and they are a great product.

 

If you don't come up with anything to repair it, you can always dump the Barr's in it. That'll stop most leaks for quite awhile.

 

JB Weld used to affix a patch plate will work. use same metal (alum) for the patch plate and it should be at least 1/2" on each side of the hole.

it will take about 2,000 pounds to pull your patch off.

Doug

 

Just did a pressure test to 15lbs. The radiator did not shoot or even drip fluid, but some wetness appeared in the lower right hand corner. I could hear no leakage and pressure held steady. I had a few hoses that started to drip and a slight twist of the clamp fixed that. Other then that, there was no pee stream, or spitting anywhere.

Will BARS clog/coat the lining of the block, or damage the water pump? I have heard wives tales of Bars stop leak, but have no experience with it. I know GM puts a few pellets in new vehicles. If I were to use this product, is there a type of Bars that is recommended? i.e. Liquid/pellets ?

I also changed antifreeze two years ago, and the yellow stuff was used. Never had a problem with the green.

I can afford a new radiator, (Credit Card always works) but would prefer to use this one if I could, (new house, money for landscaping this spring) and have it reliable enough for road trip. A small leak would not be the end of the world on the road but having coolant misted all over the engine, firewall and belly would be a large enough PITA that I would rather fork over the $900.00 for the new unit.

 

It's such a PITA to remove the radiator to repair it I would just bite the bullet and buy a new aluminum radiator from Dewitts. Two things I don't like to mess with repairs on are gas tanks and radiators. I'm great at spending other people's money

 

I can't imagine that a few pellets of Barrs stopleak would hurt if, as reported, GM puts it in new cars.

Good luck.

 

I pulled the radiator. The fan shroud bolts with the hood on was a PITA. When I went to take the bottom radiator hose off I noticed the clamp was snug, but not tight. There was some fluid around the bottom outlet area.

I took the radiator up to the radiator repair shop to have them pressure test it. I set it on the counter and the guy with gray hair sad "Can't fix it, its junk". I told him I wanted it tested. He should have it done in an hour or two.

My hope is that the bottom hose clamp was loose, and that the fan just whipped some fluid around?? Wishful thinking??

If the radiator is leaking, I am going to call Tom for a new one. What the ^$&^%^ my neighbors can look at another dirt yard for another year as I spend my landscaping dollar on my car !!!

Mark

 

The green Prestone USED TO come with stop leak included in the contents of the jug. I don't know if it still does. Don't know if the yellow stuff does. If it doesn't, you might change to green and make your problem go away.

If your radiator core has a white crust or film on the backside, you can bet the whole core is starting to rot. In that case, the stop leak would be your only recourse to get a few more years out of that radiator and you'd have nothing to lose.

On the other hand, if the core is solid except for the one place noted, I'd pull the radiator out where you could see what you're doing and go the JB route.

The factory pills were intended to stop minor weeps/seeps in the cooling system joints. However, I have used the stuff with great success to stop fairly good sized radiator leaks. Took 6 pills instead of the standard two.

It's my understanding the Barr's will not clog. Somewhat like your blood coagulating when it hits air. So it circulates freely until it finds another leak.

I had a heater core blow out on me out in the middle of nowhere. I don't mean leaked. Blew out. Inside the truck filled with hot, steamy water and almost burned my kids feet. I dumped a bottle of a bottle of Barrs pellets in it. The heater core was only dripping by the time I got the radiator full. By the time I got a mile or two down the road, the leak was fixed. Stayed fixed for ten years and then I changed engines. Changed anti-freeze and it still didn't leak. No cooling problems noted during that time either.

 

BAD NEWS. Two pin hole sixe leaks. A very small one just on the outsided of one of the plates, about 4 rows down on the left. The other is on the tank, by the outlet.

Is there anyway to patch this so it will last? The fellow at the radiator shop said he used a 2 part heat appoxy and has had good results, but has not tried it on a this particular type of alum. rad. He also said that JB weld in his opinion will blow off, and more often then not, it will leak from the side of the JB patch. I have had good luck with JB in the past on some projects. There is an epoxy that the mechanics at the hangar use for some projects. I think it is 50/40. That stuff is awesome. It is pretty thick and I would need someting that I could get into the plate channel with.

I am going to take the rad to the hangar tonight and lightly bead blast those areas.

 

The Radiator is stamped with the part number and below that is 80K

Is that Nov. of 1980?

 

That is correct, so the radiator is 28 years old. In other words, waaaay passed the expected life of an aluminum radiator. You could use the two part epoxy repair kits (piston type) that you can get at the hardware store. Do not bead blast it, even the lightest pressure will open the holes up many times larger. Instead, brush the paint off with a stainless steel brush. The cleaner the spot, the better the epoxy will work. Use a heat gun or blow dryer to heat up the area and the epoxy will flow like water. Do not over heat it because this will excelerate the chemical reaction and do not use too much. 1-2 drops will do the job better than trying to build it up. Make sure you let it harden, I'd wait over night and have it pressure tested again before re-installing.
My offical recommendation is to throw it out and get a new one. If the body of the radiator corroded enough to pop holes in it, then it's just going to blow somewhere else, again and again. It it usually does it at the worse posible time. Time Bomb!

 

I would take Tom's advice - summer is coming and with the grief you had removing this radiator do you really want to do it twice ? Those pin holes are unquestionably harbingers of things to come - after 28 years the thing is just worn out. Patching instead of replacing it comes under the heading of 'false economy'.

 

Good advice Tom, I guess I will be giving you a call on Fri. to send me a new one. I think I have made it through the five stages and have come to acceptance.

Tom, do you have any sales or specials coming up?

 

I didn't notice anyone else comment on this - so I will.

It is not a good idea to use compressed air or even a garden hose nozzle to clean a rad.

IMO the generally accepted home driveway method is to remove the garden hose nozzle and wet down the rad, then flush the soaked/sogy bugs from the back side with a gentle water flow.

 

George,
With all of your miles, I would think you would have the proven system
Don

 

Go with Dewitts now that you went through all that trouble to remove the old one.

A cure for pin hole leaks is a teaspoon of coarse ground Black Pepper. Goes directly to the leak while circulating and doesn't cause the crud in your system that Bars and other products produce. My father told me about this when I was a kid, and it does work.

 

[QUOTE=65convt; A cure for pin hole leaks is a teaspoon of coarse ground Black Pepper. Goes directly to the leak while circulating






So does Quaker Oats.