Radiator repair

[Jason]

I drove my BMW diesel around for 6 months with a ratchet strap holding the
tanks together.  :)  Some rad shops can recrimp the ends tighter.

Jason



On Fri, Feb 14, 2014 at 4:05 PM, John Larson <viejoloco at comcast.net> wrote:

> On 2/14/2014 9:29 AM, Radek wrote:
>
>> The leak is in the bond between the plastic top and the aluminum core.
>>  The core is held to the plastic end by U-shaped notches (for the lack of a
>> better term) which I managed to set a little deeper with a punch. This has
>> slowed down the leak.  Has anyone managed to separate the core from the top
>> and bottom ends without destroying something?
>>
>> Radek.
>> 88 90Q
>> 91 V8Q 5-sp
>>
>>  The important issue here is the inherent fragility of heat cycled
> plastic.  Better radiator shops may have the tools necessary to replace the
> rubber o-ring between the plastic and the aluminum, but the plastic may
> either be eroded or break during the repair process.  In the 40 years I've
> worked on Audis, trashed plastic cooling system components have become
> commonplace.  We have seen it in radiators for decades, and in water
> manifolds bolted to heads and blocks as those have replaced the metal
> castings formerly used. What looks like an o-ring failure is nearly always
> disintegrating plastic surrounding the rubber.  My advice?  Buy a new
> radiator and be done with it.  It'll be cheaper in the long run.
>
> John
>
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