Rad sealer

cubix

I know its not the best of stuff but is there any particular one that would be better than others, as in it wouldnt clog up the complete system.
Thanks

biko

Novastop is supposed to be best, although none of them will work if you have a major hole/leak.

Nonoperational

I used rad weld or something like that and it did the job in fairness. Was a very slow leak. I know a lot of people frown upon them.

redcube

Avoid at all cost i had to use it a rad sealer once and it clogged my engine water ways causing the engine head to blow

ytareh

Old timers used swear by an egg ...but if its a big hole you may just bite the bullet and get new rad ...theres people doing car transport for 50 euro round Dublin now...(Donedeal?)

PaulKK

ytareh wrote: »

Old timers used swear by an egg ...

That is an egg white.. and it is only a very temporary measure as a last resort to get you to a garage.

dr.fuzzenstein

Unless the car is an ancient shed that has to hold together for just another week I'd stay away from all that stuff.

Esel

biko wrote: »

Novastop is supposed to be best, although none of them will work if you have a major hole/leak.

+1 for Novastop. Costs about €20 a tin, but that's enough for 3+ cars.

cubix

Cheers lads, the bus in question is an 01 SWB Transit. ITs not that I wouldn't spend money on sorting the problem properly but how expensive it would be. From what I can tell its the heater matrix as I only loose coolant when I have the heater fan on in the cabin. Anyone have any notions where this rad is situated.

macshadow

esel wrote: »

+1 for Novastop. Costs about €20 a tin, but that's enough for 3+ cars.

How many liters of coolant does the average car hold?
I just put a full bottle of Novastop in my car if it's enough for 3 cars, will my car die?

Henry Ford III

cubix wrote: »

From what I can tell its the heater matrix as I only loose coolant when I have the heater fan on in the cabin. Anyone have any notions where this rad is situated.

It's behind the heater controls.

biko

Before trying this stuff, burp the car! No heat inside can be airlock in the hoses.
Easiest way to burp is to park car facing uphill, drive around until you find a steep hill (air will burp faster this way).
Then remove cap on expansion tank (beware, hot steam will spray out. You can use a face towel and cover cap and tank so it doesn't spray in your face). Gloves are good too.

Then have ready mixed (50/50) anti-freeze and water (distilled if you can find it) in a two litre old milk jug or similar.
Remove the top bleed screw on the radiator.
While engine runs and heaters inside are on full blast and max heat, slowly pour the mix in until the coolant starts coming out through the bleed hole.
You may have to push the throttle a little to increase flow.
Once the mix coming out the bleed hole doesn't have bubbles you should be fine.
Replace bleed screw and the fill coolant to the designated limit.
Replace expansion tank cap.
Make sure both are firmly in place, there is pressure in the system and if they aren't firmly on coolant will evaporate. Don't break them though.


A vid from one of my favs, Davidsfarm.
If you're not sure what to do, give car to a professional.

Location of hoses depends on car model!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMp82zLVxoU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcL_0TWeZJY

Hellrazer

PaulKK wrote: »

That is an egg white.. and it is only a very temporary measure as a last resort to get you to a garage.

Real old school stuff.
Its a complete egg not just the white and I wouldnt call it temporary.I dropped one into a rad in a car I was driving a good few years back on the advice of this ancient mechanic I worked with.The egg was in it for four years and it still wasnt leaking when I moved the car on.

Something to be said about the old school ways.Anyone heard about bananas or sawdust in old transit diffs

Keeps them going for years if they start getting "loose"

dr.fuzzenstein

Love it, also don't forget the old classic of chicken wire and paper machee to repair sills to sell on a shed.
Heard of a guy in England who failed the MOT due to rust.
He dressed the rusty areas with wall paper, painted over it with a roller, prayed for no rain, drove down to the test centre and passed...

dr.fuzzenstein

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Love it, also don't forget the old classic of chicken wire and paper machee to repair sills to sell on a shed.
Heard of a guy in England who failed the MOT due to rust.
He dressed the rusty areas with wall paper, painted over it with a roller, prayed for no rain, drove down to the test centre and passed...

Lad on a Rover forum I post on rebuilt arches on a Prelude with newspaper, a light skim of filler, painted it matt black wit rattle cans and sold it for quite decent money, albeit to an absolute f***tard.

Hellrazer

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Love it, also don't forget the old classic of chicken wire and paper machee to repair sills to sell on a shed.
Heard of a guy in England who failed the MOT due to rust.
He dressed the rusty areas with wall paper, painted over it with a roller, prayed for no rain, drove down to the test centre and passed...

Classy repair there.

You could do a whole thread on old school repair "methods"

Hellrazer

RoverJames wrote: »

Lad on a Rover forum I post on rebuilt arches on a Prelude with newspaper, a light skim of filler, painted it matt black wit rattle cans and sold it for quite decent money, albeit to an absolute f***tard.

Saw a bloke do that with a one-off body kit that he got made.He rebuilt a bumper skirt with newspaper and filler and sprayed it matt black.

Probably not an old school one but Ive repaired ****-loads of coil packs with epoxy when they start arcing and have small cracks in the casings.
Have one car that I repaired a coil pack in for a friend @ 60k-Now theres 140k on it and the pack is still going.New pack would have cost 150+ fixed it for 4 euro!!!

Epoxy putty (EP400) is savage stuff in fairness :cool:

geespot

ive never seen that stuff working and if it is the heater rad it will definetly not work

DublinDilbert

Please don't try an egg in it. It used to work in the old days before cooling systems were fully pressurised. The thermostats used to open at a much lower temperature about 83c before lots of pressure built up.

Most cars built within the last 20 years the stat opens much later, running the engine hotter reduces imissions.

In short get the problem fixed, if it's the heater matrix it can be by-passed, but wouldn't recommend it with the cold weather coming in...

Matt Simis

esel wrote: »

+1 for Novastop. Costs about €20 a tin, but that's enough for 3+ cars.

Another bump for Novastop, though I paid EUR20 for a 300ml bottle thats good for 1 car, not 3?
I works excellent though (tried it firsthand), not gunk up dangerous like others (Radweld types) are meant to be.

Esel

macshadow wrote: »

How many liters of coolant does the average car hold?
I just put a full bottle of Novastop in my car if it's enough for 3 cars, will my car die?

Matt Simis wrote: »

Another bump for Novastop, though I paid EUR20 for a 300ml bottle thats good for 1 car, not 3?
I works excellent though (tried it firsthand), not gunk up dangerous like others (Radweld types) are meant to be.

It's a good few years since I used it, but pretty sure it was enough for four normal cars. Could be wrong though... Bought it in Consort (usually the cheapest, I find).

Hellrazer

Hellrazer wrote: »

Probably not an old school one but Ive repaired ****-loads of coil packs with epoxy when they start arcing and have small cracks in the casings.
Have one car that I repaired a coil pack in for a friend @ 60k-Now theres 140k on it and the pack is still going.New pack would have cost 150+ fixed it for 4 euro!!!

Had to post this unbelievable coincidence.

Posted the above on Saturday evening.Guess what happened Sunday morning.
Yep-Coil pack packed up.Small crack in the casing.Repaired with epoxy--See if it holds up when I get home--Its currently drying out in the hot press.

You couldnt get a coincidence like this.The God of bad repairs decided to get one back on me.

Esel

I used epoxy resin successfully once on a cracked motorcycle coil...

Dan Jaman

Hellrazer wrote: »

Classy repair there.

You could do a whole thread on old school repair "methods"

The best one I've seen was a mate who glued (with body filler) strips of Formica over a couple of small rusted holes in the chassis legs and feathered the edges to make them look like welds.
A coat of body schutz and bingo - MoT pass. I'd not condone this to anyone and I've never been tempted to do it myself - MIG welding is dead easy and that's the route I've always taken on my own cars.
Regarding get-you-home radiator repairs, I once tipped half a fistful of porridge oats into an Avenger rad and it held coolant for months after that, until the car went to the scrappy.