Heater Rad Leak

Papad

Lads, my heater radiator is leaking badly. Would something like "stop leak" fix the problem or should I pay the €1,000 that the garage wants to replace it?

8~)

It won't work. Even if it does it will be very short term.

A grand is a lot to pay to fix - what model of car is it?

Papad

It's a Daewoo Leganza. The price is around €200 for the heater radiator and the rest for labour, as they will have to take out the dash in order to get to the rad. They reckon it could take a day and a half.

BrianD3

Don't use a stop leak product, if it does work it'll be temporary at best, also I think these products can cause problems in other parts of the cooling system.

I would suggest you look for a garage with a lower labour rate, by my calculations your garage is charging around 60-65 per hour for labour, is it a main dealer? Try to find an independent garage/mechanic charging 35-40 per hour. Also, as a stopgap to stop the leaking you could connect the inlet and outlet pipes of the heater matrix using a piece of piping and some jubilee clips. You'll have no heater but you should also have no leaks.

Papad

Thanks for the tips lads.
I have a loop done already to bypass the heater (and therefore no heat, which is ok in this weather).

And Brian, you're right: it's a main dealer.

crosstownk

Papad wrote:

And Brian, you're right: it's a main dealer.

Try get a quote from a good independent repairer. It should be a lot cheaper than a main dealer price. Unfortunately, as you point out, there is a lot of labour involved - so you need a garage with labour rates that are lower than the exorbitant rates main dealers can charge.

Seth Brundle

To change the rad does not require removing the dash as the rad is usually right behind the front bumper!
Is it the heater matrix?

crosstownk

kbannon wrote:

Is it the heater matrix?

That's the correct name, but it's not uncommon to hear it referred to as the heater rad. It depends where you learnt it I suppose. I regularly hear both references.

Papad

It's called many things ............ heater rad, heater core, heater matrix, ............. heater 'money pit'.

Esel

'Novastop' is meant to be a very good sealant. About €20 a can. Worth a try I'd say?

Seth Brundle

crosstownk wrote:

That's the correct name, but it's not uncommon to hear it referred to as the heater rad. It depends where you learnt it I suppose. I regularly hear both references.

My bad!

Papad

BrianD3 wrote:

Try to find an independent garage/mechanic charging 35-40 per hour.

I'll give this a shot. Thanks for the help lads.

BrianD3

I know of some people who are not "expert mechanics" who have changed heater rads themselves over the course of a weekend, in fairness the cars were older and simpler than a Leganza would be. I would say the job on the Leganza doesn't require a whole lot of mechanical ability either but I wouldn't attempt it without step by step instructions on how to dismantle the dash. Are there any forums for Daewoos where you could ask for this. One of the main things to watch for is the procedure for working around airbags. Also, if the car has aircon that may add an extra complication.

Papad

I have AirCon, which may have to be drained (adding to the work schedule) in order to complete the heater rad replacement.

A couple of lads did a Daewoo Matiz rad replacement in about 4 hours but it was an ordeal for them. Other than that, no other specific web info for Daewoos.

The air bags will probably have to be taken out (as well as the steering wheel).

Trying to get my hands on a manual at the moment.

Mailman

esel wrote:

'Novastop' is meant to be a very good sealant. About €20 a can. Worth a try I'd say?

Also called innostop and can be bought on ebay.
Appears to be a better solution than radweld.