Radiator repair
 

Hi,

While not an MB, the radiator of a late model Acura integra has a hairline horizontal crack on the rear side of the plastic top(I believe it is called the 'tank'), It is part of the radiator, and houses all the fins below it, but is plastic itself. My truck has a similar design, as does my 300D, it is plastic and has BEHR on top of it. The piece has a crack, and it oozes out a little coolant constantly when running at operating temp. Causes the level to get low and engine temp to get way up when driving slow.
Reccomendations for what would be best to repair the crack would be most appreciated. I woukld guess some sort of epoxy perhaps? Any reccomendations would great. Thanks very much,

JMH

Epoxy should work well. I use a brand called Supermend which is available at my local hardware store. It can also be plastic welded. I have a plastic welder designed specifically for welding radiators. If you took it to a plastic welder I would think they could do the repair in short order. Harbor Freight Tools sells a plastic welder for about $40. I bought one but haven't experimented with it yet to see how it compares to the one I bought designed just for radiators. You have to make sure your welding rods are of the same material as what you are welding.

JB Weld works -VERY- well. It dries as hard as a rock and is easily machinable. I did it on my 83 300D when it cracked the top nipple, worked like a charm.

If you use something like JBWeld... I recommend that you not use it alone... take something like sheet brass and rough up a large surface area and epoxy the brass across the whole thing... does not have to be heavy brass.. 10 thousanths will do on things like this... but the large surface area of glueing really makes it likely it will fix it.. I have used this on gas tanks on tractors and they are still holding 20 years later.... Greg