5000 Radiator Overflow Tube Broken

[Beatty, Robert]

Matt,

I had the same failure.  I was looking over some things on the 86 5ktq sedan
and TOUCHED, yes jus TOUCHED the overflow fitting and it broke!  I went to
the local Lowes/Home Depot kinda place and bought some 1/4" copper tubing.
Took my battery powered drill with a dremel bit and hollowed out the hole to
allow the tubing to fit inside and then covered the whole repair with a big
glop of epoxy.  Car has been running about a month with no problems, though
I do need to get my extra metal radiator repaired and installed in that car.

Rob
86 5ktq
89 200tqa

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Devlin [mailto:bdevlin at stanford.edu]

That's not an overflow tube in the way an American car would have
one. It really lets bubbles get out of the radiator and into the
tank. It is pressurized along with the rest of the system, so you
lose some boilover protection by having it disconnected. Plug both
ends and it should cool just fine. But you will want to use the plug
in the radiator as a purge valve next time you refill the system.
-Brian

>Hi,
>
>I broke the overflow return on the radiator end.
>I've plugged the hole with a machine screw.  Has
>anyone
>had experience with this blocked?  Are there
>overheating problems?
>
>Any recommendations/BTDT for fixing.  Has anyone
>drilled the tube out the radiator and epoxied in a
>tube?
>
>thanks,
>Matt
>
>
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