Re: 1990 200 TQW-Crack in radiator at upper hose

[Aleksander Mierzwa <alexaudi@kki.net.pl>]

At 20:52 99-10-20 -0400, Ron Frazier wrote:

>Tonight while I was replacing the crankcase breather hose on my 200, I saw a
>hairline crack in the black plastic at the hose connection of the upper
>hose.  water is seeping out at a slow rate.  What are the possible ways to
>fix this problem?  Do you replace the entire radiator,  take it out and have
>the top replaced or is there a miracle cure that can be administered in
>situ?  Also, What are the tricks for getting this thing out of the car.  I
>have read the Bentley yet but it just looks like special techniques may be
>required. Thanks for the help.

Audi supposedly sells a repair kit consisting of a piece of tube and some
epoxy. You can easily fabricate such a kit yourself. However, if the
plastic near the upper neck has already cracked by itself, the rest of the
plastic tanks is in similar condition. Plastic in cooling systems
detoriates over time, that't the sad fact. I'd have the radiator replaced
with an all metal unit. All usual benefits of having a new radiator and it
won't crack again. Alternatively, if you can find a competent radiator
shop, they might be able to fabricate new metal end tanks and fix them to
your old core. The cores on Audi radiators tend to last long, the problem
is in the plastic tanks.

--
Aleksander Mierzwa
Warsaw, Poland
87 5KT