Radiator leak in car to be scrapped

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]My car will be scrapped in two months when the new one arrives but now has a serious radiator leak. I don't want to spend £100's for a proper fix.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I have tries Kseal a couple of times without any joy.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Have looked at epoxy resin but the radiator has a sort of grill over it and it would seem very difficult to get at the actual area the leak is coming from which is quite low down.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Can anyone think of any other tips I might try to keep the car on the road?[/FONT]

missile

Second hand radiator?

Get a quote for Radiator repair.

Ebe_Scrooge

How bad is the leak ? Could you get away with just topping it up every day ?


Of course, topping up with the correct antifreeze mixture will start to get expensive if you're doing it every day. And topping up with just water leaves you at risk of it freezing and making it even worse. But if the car's going to be scrapped ... well, do you ya feel lucky punk ?

EdGasketTheSecond

You wont get a satisfactory epoxy repair without taking the rad off and draining it and thoroughly cleaning the area. Use JP Weld as it withstands high temps; not araldite.

You could try radweld but by the time you've bought several lots of jollop that haven't worked, you could have bought a rad from the breakers and fitted it instead.

Just a thought; you are putting the entire K-Seal contents into the radiator aren't you and not just the expansion tank?

Tom99

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

You wont get a satisfactory epoxy repair without taking the rad off and draining it and thoroughly cleaning the area. Use JP Weld as it withstands high temps; not araldite.

You could try radweld but by the time you've bought several lots of jollop that haven't worked, you could have bought a rad from the breakers and fitted it instead.

Just a thought; you are putting the entire K-Seal contents into the radiator aren't you and not just the expansion tank?

How do you get the K-Seal directly into the rad then, I don't see a seperate entry other than the header tank?

shaun_from_Africa

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

How bad is the leak ? Could you get away with just topping it up every day ?


Of course, topping up with the correct antifreeze mixture will start to get expensive if you're doing it every day. And topping up with just water leaves you at risk of it freezing and making it even worse. But if the car's going to be scrapped ... well, do you ya feel lucky punk ?

Keeping on topping it up with the correct antifreeze mixture is not a good idea.
The taste of antifreeze is very attractive to dogs and cats but it is also extremely toxic and it only takes a small amount to kill an animal.
If the rad is constantly leaking and it has antifreeze in it, there will always be some of it under or around the car.

arcon5

Tom99 wrote: »

How do you get the K-Seal directly into the rad then, I don't see a seperate entry other than the header tank?

You won't. Run it up to temperature so thermostat is open and it'll run through radiator.

EdGasketTheSecond

arcon5 wrote: »

You won't. Run it up to temperature so thermostat is open and it'll run through radiator.

No that generally won't work because only a small amount of coolant gets drawn back into the radiator from the header tank when the engine cools down; The sealant will be too dilluted to do anything useful. It will certainly never 'run through the radiator'.

What you have to do is:
1) Undo the radiator cap (or disconnect the top hose if no cap on the actual radiator)
2) Syphon or drain some coolant out equivalent to the volume of K Seal you are putting in
2) Pour in the K-Seal to the radiator or back down the top hose
3) Refit cap, top hose
4) Run car up to temp so the rad gets hot.

Tom99

I have just seen K-Seal HD for tractors! Has anyone tried that in a car? I assume its a thicker mixture.

EdGasketTheSecond

Might also block up your cylinder head waterways.