If you had a metal radiator tank, then probably you wouldn’t have come here. So, I guess you really have an urge to know how to repair a plastic radiator as you have one in your arsenal. After all, things can get pretty bad with a crack or leak in the radiator.
A leaking radiator can cause some major hassles. Among them, the most common one is overheating. If you’re familiar with this one, then you probably know what can happen in the middle of the road with the overheating issue. So, it’s better if you can just fix it up, and I’m going to tell you how to do that.
How to Locate the Crack?
When we look for a treatment, the first thing we usually do is find out what’s wrong. It’s quite the same when you’re trying to fix up a leaked or cracked radiator.
The first thing you should do before going for the repair is finding out the leak or crack. Now it might seem a hard nut to crack as the leak can be a very small one and might be hard to see. So, to find it easily, you need to follow the simple steps below.
- Allow the engine to run until the temperature rises. It shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to build the pressure up.
- Shut the engine off. The pressure built in it will force the coolant out through the crack.
- Check the crack and mark it.
- Patiently wait for the tank to get cold so that you can take off the cap.
How to Repair a Plastic Radiator
Changing the radiator completely is not something that I’ll ever suggest to you when all you have to do is just deal with a crack or leak. It’ll be better for you if you can just fix that up. Fixing it up is also more cost-efficient than investing in a new radiator. Want to know how to do the repair? Read the steps below.
Step – 1: V-Grooving
You need to get the radiator to a compatible state first to start the repair. When you start draining the radiator, at a certain point, the coolant level will reach below the crack line.
To weld over nylon radiator tanks, it’s essential to get a perfect penetration. The most recommended tool to do that is the V-grooving tool. So, use this tool for nailing the penetration part. In case you don’t have it, use the welder’s tip as an alternative.
Step 2 – Preheating
Nylon is a material that can sustain a higher heat level and, obviously, comes with a high melting point. So, to ease up things a bit, it’s better to preheat the crack point with a heat gun. It’s nothing mandatory, but it can speed up the repairing process.
Once you start heating the crack up, it’ll start to take a glossy look. Keep it heating up for a while so that the inner part can get soft as well. When you feel like it has softened properly and reached the required level, you can go for the next step.
Step 3 – Welding
Now, it’s time for you to lay your hand on the nylon welding rod. For running the welding process, you’ll need a plastic welder too. With the help of the welder, melt the rod down into the V-groove. The color of the melted part will turn into light brown.
When you see the color of the rod and radiator becoming the same, consider that the mixture has been a good one. Don’t stop till it’s perfectly mixed.
Step 5 – Final Touch
After the mixing, it’s time for the final touch. With the welder’s tip, smooth the mixture on the surface of the radiator. Once you’re done with that, your radiator is good to go.Epoxies also does the job quite perfectly , it also has some distinctive measures.Our team will be providing an easy guidance very soon.
Way to Fix the Leaking Between Plastic and Aluminum
Though the situation sounds like a complex one with a complicated solution, it’s actually not that much different than the regular leakage issues. More or less, it’s quite similar. But you’ll have to take some additional steps to get the leak fixed.
As we know, aluminum and plastic are two different materials with different characteristics. So, we can’t apply the above-mentioned repairing method without bringing some changes to the process.
We can’t melt the aluminum with a heat gun, and neither will it be necessary in this case. So, we need to detach the plastic, do the repairing and reattach it. If we organize it in a process, then it should be as follows.
- Step – 1: Find out the leak.
- Step – 2: Detach the radiator from the housing.
- Step – 3: Remove the plastic tank from the radiator with the help of a screwdriver.
- Step – 4: Complete the V-grooving on the crack.
- Step –5: Preheat the crack with a heat gun.
- Step –6: Do the welding with a nylon rod and plastic welder.
- Step –7: Mix the melted rod perfectly.
- Step –8: Smooth up the mixture with the surface.
- Step –9: Reattach the plastic to the radiator.
- Step –10: Attach the radiator back in the housing.
Final Words
It’s up to you whether you’ll rely on the expensive option or grab the cheaper one and make it effective. But I’ll never suggest you change a radiator just because of a small leak or crack.Also sometimes , the radiator side tank gets damaged.It also has some easy repairing hacks!
However,that’s exactly why I have just demonstrated to you how to repair a plastic radiator all by yourself. Now it’s on you if you want to say goodbye to the bucks in your wallet when you have the chance to save most of them.
