2002 E430 Cracked Radiator Neck
 

OK, I am a member of the club now, with a crack in the neck of the plastic radiator tank on the drivers side where top radiator hose connects. I haven't taken off the hose to really scope it out because it's still drivable and just a very slow drip at the moment.

I have read a lot of threads on Behr vs Nissens, but isn't it possible to just get a side tank and gasket and have a radiator shop replace the tank??

Thanks,
DH

cracked neck on 1995 SL500
 

I would sure like to know if anyone has fixed these cracks. Mine has a slow drip, its a nuisance, and it cools just fine. Anyone know of an inexpensive fix? Six months or so ago, I saw a product advertised that had an insert to support the neck and I believe it was epoxied into place after draining the radiator but I have not been able to find the product or the link again. Can anyone help? Thanks, Steve

Well, I didn't get any input, so I forged ahead with a repair. The leak was a single drip about every 30 seconds while the system was under full pressure, so pretty minimal for now.

I took off the upper hose and my radiator already has the aluminum support in the neck. The hose has not been off since the car was new, and it has 105K miles. So, it was never over-tightened. It has just fatigued from the heat cycles and miles.

I could not actually see a crack, but I guessed that it was coming from the sharp joint between the neck and the tank. I used some of the loctite brand radiator/fuel tank repair epoxy and added a patch to that area. I sanded it first and cleaned it well with brake cleaner. The patch was the 2-part putty type epoxy.

It's all good for now, and I'll report back whether the leak returns.

radiator neck crack repair sl500
 

I can see the crack in the neck. The hose stops short of where the crack continues and I am not sure if an epoxy will stop it. No way to wrap around that portion of the neck. I don't think I have a metal reinforcement because I didn't see one when I had the hose off. Also, I am leaking around the plastic piece that enters the top of the radiator tank. This plastic piece connects the overflow hose to the overflow tank. Is this piece removeable? Does it have an O-Ring or something to keep a tight seal?

These have been repaired before. You can epoxy a piece of metal inside the plastic neck. Measure the I.D. and get some copper or aluminum pipe with an O.D. the matches the I.D.

Overflow nipple http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w123-e-ce-d-cd-td/1475276-broken-radiator-overflow-nipple-repair.html




:spidereek

Following up to close this out. The leak returned (I sort of thought it would). So I bought a new exact replacement BEHR radiator. It's relatively inexpensive, and the original lasted for 105K, so I would consider that a pretty high quality unit.

Easy to install, problem solved 100%, nothing to watch or worry about now.

replace the radiator, heat and plastic don't mix well, its just going to crack more and leak more.

Maybe I wasn't clear - that's exactly what I did!