[bulahee]

Hi all, just found out today there's a small crack on top of my radiator that connects to the hose going to the engine. Since the crack is small, I was wondering if I can just JB Weld it. Has anyone done this? Will the epoxy hold up to the temp and pressure + steam? Thanks!

 

[roncor]

Read this article from mercedes source...normally, he recommends replacing the entire radiator. But he has a quick fix - similar to what you want to do.

Radiator Neck Kit | MercedesSource.com

Please note that he claims if the neck is cracked/broken, there is no fix other than to replace the radiator.

 

[Kynyption]

I saw some stuff down at the parts store just now. Dont know what it was called but it is a metallic,epoxy made for foxing radiators, but since we have a plastic neck i dont think it would work on this application, but hey you never know.

 

[MTI]

Reguarl JB Weld is great stuff . . . but it's still a two part polymer plastic epoxy and it's going to be subject to the same limitations of those products. It may last a bit longer than the 99 cent stuff, but it's clearly just an emergency fix when high temps or expansion/contraction is going to be involved.

 

[EDBSO]

I wanted to do a temporary fix on my 16vlv before I replaced the rad. The neck was dripping a few drops. I didn't think that it would even begin to work but I had read on another thread that it would so I tried it. Recommended and used was a two part plastic epoxy from Wal-Mart. I previously had never even heard of a plastic epoxy. The most unusual smelling stuff you can imagine and it is working well. I just might not replace the rad. I had a small crack at the top by the hose. I would normally have not even tried this type of fix but it came highly recommended. So far so good and I have tried reefing on it to break it and can't. I would say try it.

 

[bulahee]

Hey, thanks everyone for the reply. So it's a mixed feeling on whether or not epoxy will work. My mechanic certain doesn't think so... Nevertheless, it's hard for me to believe that the steam + pressure + heat is so high that epoxy won't hold ('cuz its spec exceeds all that...) and the only thing unusual about radiator leak is that it has water coming out of the crack. So perhaps that 'mixing' of water and epoxy causes the glue not to stick especially during constant thermal expansion. Having that in mind, I still go ahead to do a 'plastic epoxy' fix, like EDBSO has mentioned. The plastic epoxy I bought however is from ACE. That stuff works great on all my previous glue job, including a valve cover hole fix I had a month ago. Obviously it withstands the heat from the engine pretty well. Now, I prep the surface with Acetone first followed by sanding and Acetone clean again. Sanding makes me see the hairline crack a lot better. I apply the two part epoxy to it and will wait for a few days before starting the car. Maybe upon which, I will apply another layer of JB Weld if desired... Let's see how it'll go.


UPDATE (EDIT): After a week of JB WELD my radiator's crack (on top of the plastic neck going into the hose on the driver's side), a 70 mile constant highway run at an ambient temperature of 70F does NOT blow the glue! JB weld seems to be holding up the pressure and the heat quite nicely!! This is my lame fix to the radiator leak problem.