The radiator has a crack in the end tank (appears to be cast aluminum). Its leaking enough that I probably should stop driving it, but I can't get the radiator out of the car to replace it. Are there any reasonably permanent (or otherwise permanent enough to sell it) ways to get it to stop leaking? I have a brand new radiator in a box so if I could get the old one out id just replace it, but although I have swapped numerous radiators before this one is beyond my ability to do.
JB weld as a temp? What car is it?
What makes this radiator so hard to swap / what car is this? I've never had luck with JB Weld to fix a radiator. Maybe it could be brazed in the car?
If its aluminum braze it, otherwise google "how to remove radiator in xxx car" ive never heard of a car with a non replaceable radiator haha.
Its a 98 Mercedes e300d. And it looks like the whole front of the car has to come off to get the radiator out. Partly because for some weird reason the transmission cooler lines attach on the front of the radiator with banjo bolts unlike any other normal car, etc. It only took about 45 minutes to swap the radiator in the 83 300sd I had, I would bet this one is 6+ hours at a shop.
Those Escorts that some GRM types seem to love also use banjos for the trans lines.
Get this stuff. http://www.rapid-fix.com/ I fixed a broken 928 coolant tank with it once.
You can approximate this stuff with baking soda and superglue. Make everything clean and dry, rub some baking soda into the crack, put a little bead of superglue on the crack to saturate it, drizzle more baking soda into the wet area, add a little more superglue to the loose powder, and so on, building it up. Don't work with your eyes too close or they'll water a lot.
Experiment on something to get the knack of what to do. It's really awesome. The superglue and baking soda react to form a rock hard substance that resembles the two-part stick epoxy stuff, only much more tenacious.
The Rapidfix setup is nice because it is easy to control how much of the powder you apply and where. It also seems to be a bit stronger than the baking soda. (The adhesive is superglue, or at least, I use superglue when my adhesive bottle's top sealed shut)
Interesting, I might have to try that.
I've also repaired a couple radiators with damaged tubes, a rare Audi all-aluminum intercooler (early urS4), verious interior trim pieces... it seems to work well to hold pressure in cracks and holes. Doesn't work so well for sticking broken pot metal doorhandles back together, but it's not a miracle product.
If you do the baking soda thing, it is easy to dump too much baking soda on. Key is to work in thin layers.
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