Radiator Neck Fix/Preventive Maintenance

[EricSilver]

I have the radiator with the all-plastic neck in my 89 260E. While trying to stop what I thought was a persistently leaky hose -- losing about 2 quarts of water a day -- I over-tightend the hose clamp and crushed and crumbled the outer-lip portion of the neck.

It turns out that the hose connection was fine and there was actually a hairline crack in the inner part of the "L" of the neck.

My remedy (which is holding up so far):

From Home Depot I bought a 1" copper pipe bushing, some putty epoxy, and some JB Weld. The bushing -- a rather substantial piece of metal -- fit perfectly and tightly into the radiator neck, and was exposed only where the plasitc had broken off. I filled the exposed areas with the putty epoxy then, after it hardened, covered it, and the area around the hairline crack, with the JB Weld.

After drying and curing overnight (plus a few extra hours) I rough sanded it, and reattached the hose, turning the clamp as tight as I wanted since there is no way I'll damage that copper fitting. So far, the car is dry as dust with no leaks, and running noticeably cooler.

Just thought I'd share this cheap and easy fix -- or preventive measure -- for a common problem.

Eric Silver
1989 260E
165,000 miles