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Has anyone ever used a Radseal type product to repair a leaky radiator? I fired up the old Benz today and noticed I have a small hole. Nothing terrible but I could do with sorting it, at least til I find a replacement rad.
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i use them brown turd things in a tube in an emergency, but they all sludge up the water system so shouldnt eally be used unless you have no choice.
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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archieboy
Posted a lot
Volvo Amazon 2 door
Posts: 1,168
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I tried rad seal a few years back and it lasted........... all of 10mins before it leaked again
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Oh dear. Not looking good for radseal! I might be able to track down another rad. I swapped the original for a W126 S-class one some time back, so sourcing a replacement might not be that difficult.
Anyone have any good experience of radiator sealers?! I really don't wanna take my cooling system apart in the cold! ;D
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get an egg, let the car get up to temp, crack the egg into the coolant.
It has to be proper hot to work, but it will plug up some big old holes too!
J
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archieboy
Posted a lot
Volvo Amazon 2 door
Posts: 1,168
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get an egg, let the car get up to temp, crack the egg into the coolant. It has to be proper hot to work, but it will plug up some big old holes too! J Ive heard of that but i thought it was just an old wifes tale. Does it actually work?
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the egg poaches and blocks holes up the the size of a screwdriver being whapped through the rad. Wouldent trust it for long, and i can imagine it goes pretty smelly after a while, but in an emergency J
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get an egg, let the car get up to temp, crack the egg into the coolant. It has to be proper hot to work, but it will plug up some big old holes too! J RLY?! I've heard of that as an emergency repair, but will it hold up til I can get a replacement rad?! One slight problem is that I have the rad cap on the header tank on my car, so may have "delivery issues" - I can envisage one nicely poached egg sitting in my expansion tank! ;D
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Pop in an egg, defo. Might be worth sticking in a bit of spinach and melba toast too for a tasty mid-day snack which is not to heavy on the old calories either. Yum yum!
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1972 Fiat 130 1985 Talbot Alpine 1974 Lancia Beta Saloon 1975 + 1986 Mazda 929 Koop + Wagon 1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica 1977 Toyota Carina TA14 BEST CAR EVER!!!!!!!! 1979 Datsun B310 Sunny 4-dr 1984 Audi 200 Quattro Turbo 1983 Honda Accord 1.6 DX GONE1989 Alfa 75 2.0 TS Mr T says: TREAT YO MOTHER RIGHT!
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An ex-car radiator designer writes If it's a copper/brass radiator you should be able to solder it up with some plumbers solder and a gas soldering iron. If it's an aluminium rad, get some araldite rapid and make a good strong repair around the hole. If it's a really small leak, and you need a 'get me home' fix, remove the radiator cap so your water system isn't under pressure. Car cooling systems usually run at 1.1 or 1.2 bar which raises the boiling point nicely, however it also pushes water out of little holes quicker too.
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I've just been out with an egg. Unfortunately it's one of those free-range, extra large ones so it won't fit through the hole. Besides that, I'm considering a vegan diet. Perhaps soya has similar properties? Or Quorn for that matter...
Monseur_B, I seem to recall you doing some kind of rad repair on one of your motors, but I'm b*ggered if I can get the search to bring it up.
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If it's an aluminium rad, get some araldite rapid and make a good strong repair around the hole. Cheers for that, 'tis an alu rad. I think sod's law will dictate that the hole will be somewhere unreachable, but I'll have to get the rad out an have a proper butchers at it. If I have to snip away some fins then it's no big deal.
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you don't put the whole egg in, do you? i think you only put the albumen in, not the yolk. personally i wouldnt, some mate of stigmas dad put and egg in his old metro, blocked all sorts of stuff it shouldnt have and boiled it. the engine, that is, not the egg.
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New albumen, out now look around you FTW
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I had a look around the net for opinions on Radweld. Some people say they've put it in and it's stopped the leak and never looked back, others said that it clogged their heater matrix / other cooling system parts. Hmph. If I can't get hold of a replacement rad, and the holed part of the rad is too awkward to get some Araldite on it, I'll give it a bash.
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I've use radseal a couple of times on cars and it has blocked the hole and never appeared again.
I don't remember exactly what make I used though.
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Rob
Posted a lot
You know, for kids!
Posts: 2,515
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i put a screwdriver through my rad a week before CaRS last year, I was then on hols for the next 7 days My mate took it to a RAD MAN and he braised (or woteva) it up and good as new for 15 notes... why buy a new rad ? Rob
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i have used car body filler to bung up a hole in a rad, squeezed it through the fins till it came out the back of the rad and that worked for a few months.
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,936
Club RR Member Number: 71
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Radseal and radiator repairs?bstardchild
@bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member 71
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I've always popped the rad out dropped it in at a local radiator centre
they recore it for £50
Re-fit and forget
All those rad sealer componds block up stuff you really don't want blocked up!!!
A guy at work kept complaining his heater was rubbish in an Ashtray - I said are all the pipes hot and engine up to temp and he said yes
I said probably air locked and explained how to squeeze the hoses to push the air out - he didn't get it so one lunchtime I had a little poke around - definately plenty of water in the hoses but squeezing it to pulse pressure didn't help. I diagnosed blocked heater matrix as the return hose was cold
I explained how to back flush the matrix as it was probably blocked up but he asn't confident
Obviously I did not want to do it for him but his rad did look very new and he hadn't had the car more than a year and teh heater had never been very good.
He went to a local garage who basically changed the thermostat, told him I was talking plums (no offence Mr B) and he still didn't have a working heater.
I said come round one saturday morning and 2 inches of coper tube in the end of a garden hose undo the feeda and returns for the matrix and give it some back flushing.......
You would not believe the gooo that came out - rad weld!!!! Remember that green slime stuff - thats exactly what it looked like!!!!
Heater has worked fine ever since
I reckon someone tried to save replacing the rad and it didn't work for long!!! Well long enough to block the matrix up!!!
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I've got a rad in my coupe if it'll fit. Its a goodun, only got it off ebay a few months back and not used the car since. Is yours an auto?
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