Coolant Reservoir bottom neck broken

[Sheffield Corey]

Hi Scott,

I have had recent experience with this problem. I had
the expansion tank neck and the radiator neck both go
out within a week and a half of each other. I went to
the wrecker's and got a tank out of an older CGT. It
looked just like mine in my memory, but once I got it
home I found that the forward securing tab was
shorter. I had the same problem on my original tank;
ie. the metal sleeve was no positioned into the neck
far enough. When the radiator neck went the next week
or so I thought about putting in an all metal
radiator, but opted to try an experiment first. I
found that the inside diameter of the neck was
~25mm(1"); at the hardware store I found that the
metal pipe for the drain on a clothes washing machine
is also 1". I cleaned everything and sandpapered both
the length of pipe I cut off the $2.00 washing machine
drain pipe and the inside of the  radiator neck and
and broken off piece of neck. Then I used Devcon two
part high strength plastic welder. Supposedly
waterproof, good to 3500psi and 200F. I know, 200F
sounds like the "weak link" here, but so far so good.
I have been running this set-up for about a month and
everything appears to be as solid as a rock. For your
expansion tank I would recommend this glue, but not
superglue; I do not trust that stuff for anything
important. Also, this Devcon plastic welder glue will
not bond to polyethylene or polypropylene plastics. It
worked fine on the radiator, but may not bond to the
tank any better than it bonded to the peanut butter
lid I mixed it in...pulled right out when dry. You
might want to experiment with a drop on the tank
bottom, before committing yourself.

I am trying this approach on my radiator neck purely
out of curiosity. I know that Audi sold a repair kit
similar to what I am attempting, but with a plastic
pipe. I could not find a two part plastic glue that
worked in excess of 200F; so, I used what they had
that sounded like the toughest stuff...smells pretty
tough, anyway:-) Use with good ventilation!! If it
doesn't hold through the Summer heat I'll get an all
metal one; if it does work it may be a alternative for
the budget minded. If it doesn't work...well, another
experiment gone horribly awry:-)

Happy motoring and may your weekend not be weak on
either end,

Shef

>From: "Scott Miller" <macatawa at chartermi.net>
>To: "Audi quattro" <quattro at audifans.com>
>Subject: Coolant Reservoir bottom neck broken
>Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 22:24:23 -0400
>
>I had enough neck left to slide the clamp up when the
>infamous radiator neck
>broke, but not this time.  The neck on the bottom of
>the coolant 
>reservoir
>broke off flush with the reservoir.  There's a
>stainless sleeve in the
>broken end. It stuck out past the end of the plastic
>stump about 1/4 inch.
>If it had been fully in the neck it would've
>prevented this break.  I've
>shoved it back in and a little more, so it will
>greatly help gluing the
>thing back together, and strengthen the joint.  I'm
>planning to use
>superglue, and two-step epoxy around the joint.  Any
>BTDT?
>
>Thanks,
>Scott Miller
>Holland, MI
>'90 200tqw


=====
Sheffield Corey
Wickford, Rhode Island U.S.A.
'87 5KCSTQ
'87 XL600R
'66 Corvette Coupe
Quattro: The way to GO! when conditions say: "NO!!!"
But as a wise fellow once said: "4x0=2x0".

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