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Fixing a Radiator Leak?

M

magoo

[H]F Junkie
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Oct 21, 2004
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14,697
I have an old Exos2.
I took it all apart to clean it and install new fans.
In putting it back together (if you are familiar with the design) I just barely scraped a channel in the radiator with the hold-down screw...........and now I have a leak.

The design is kind of poor. The radiator is essentially upside down, horizontally, in the housing. Held in place by these big-assed screws that screw into the two top mounted 120mm fans. The screws go through slots, just barely wide enough.....and apparently one deviated just enough to scratch the radiator channel.

The scrape is no bigger that a pinpoint.

Epoxy it?:eek:
Ideas?:D

Help appreciated. The radiator in these things is aluminum.

And yes......it still works fine and cools my everyday use computer.
 
I would try soldering it from the outside and then maybe epoxy over that.

I wouldn't want to take too much of a chance with it. You don't want that leaking when you're not around
 
toss it. you can solder it but it is a specialized process. As for epoxy, it could work if you could do it on the inside, where water pressure would hold the seal. On the outside the water pressure will continually push on it until you have a break. Not worth the risk.
 
Thanks.

The interesting part about this is the thing only leaks when the pump is off!:eek:

You can see the wounded area through the housing, and I checked it very carefully after I removed the housing.........when running, there is essentially no leak, when shut down the thing leaks slowly for about 5 minutes and then stops.

Maybe about 3 cc will collect overnight.....I suppose all the fluid that is in that particular channel.
 
ok, then it sounds like the epoxy might work since the pump is generating negative pressure in the radiator. Just never turn the system off.... :)
 
If you are gonna go into that much trouble, you might as well just take the radiator with you to a car repair shop, and have one of the guys fix it like they fix any other car radiator.
 
sok0 said:
If you are gonna go into that much trouble, you might as well just take the radiator with you to a car repair shop, and have one of the guys fix it like they fix any other car radiator.
Click to expand...

JB Weld is used pretty much like epoxy. The difference here is that it will hold up. It's been used for things much tougher than radiators.
 
dandragonrage said:
JB Weld is used pretty much like epoxy. The difference here is that it will hold up. It's been used for things much tougher than radiators.
Click to expand...

It worked like a dream.:D The stuff is fabulous.....and cheap......4 bucks.

I've never had to have a car radiator repaired, but if I'm not mistaken alot of times they just pour gunk into the radiator to plug the leak, and that would not be an acceptable treatment for this circumstance. It would tend to screw up the Rad.

The JB Weld was way simple to use, very much like a thick two part epoxy. I just spread it over the scraped area and let it dry overnight.
Leak fixed, now going on 24 hours of leak testing and is dry as a bone.
 
magoo said:
It worked like a dream.:D The stuff is fabulous.....and cheap......4 bucks.

I've never had to have a car radiator repaired, but if I'm not mistaken alot of times they just pour gunk into the radiator to plug the leak, and that would not be an acceptable treatment for this circumstance. It would tend to screw up the Rad.

The JB Weld was way simple to use, very much like a thick two part epoxy. I just spread it over the scraped area and let it dry overnight.
Leak fixed, now going on 24 hours of leak testing and is dry as a bone.
Click to expand...

Keep an eye on it, I have used it to temporarily repair a car radiator and it only help up for a day or 2. Of course Car radiators are under a lot more pressure and heat.
 
If it does start to leak again, pop the JB weld off (I hate that stuff), go to Autozone or silmiliar and pick up a plastic repair kit. It comes in a two-part epoxy type tube. Unlike JB weld wich doesn't hold up well at all, I have used the plastic repair stuff to fix car radiator leaks that haven't started leaking after over a year of being repaired.

Sand the area whre the leak is to rough it up, mix the plastic repair stuff, and apply. Let it dry overnight and you should be all set.

As for the guy who said that soldering aluminum is a "specialized process".. hrmmff.. I have sucessfully soldered aluminum with a regular soldering gun and regular non-lead based electrical solder... you just have to rough it up by sanding and get it hot enough for the solder to be able to bond to it. Doing that on a radiator would be very tricky and require a very high power iron.

And of you want to do Aluminum welding, even Harbor Freight carries aluminum welding rods for use with a gas welder.
 
I would imagine if the JB Weld fell apart on the car radiator it was due to high heat and/or poor surface prep.

I read a number of articles based on JB Weld before I used it and the failure of the stuff is generally due to bad prep or using it where the expectation was way too high........like hoping it would hold two pieces of steel together that are under high stresses.

I'm hoping it stays put once and for good.:D
 
I used JB weld to fix the reserve bottle tube on my mom's 84 Delta 88 radiator. Held fine until we sold it YEARS later. I sanded off all the paint and rust before I put a good ring of it around the tube.
 
If you go to one of the auto parts houses they can hook you up with something even better. I can't remember the exact name of it, but it comes in different varieties (for different metals). If you describe it to them they will know just what you are looking for...it comes in stick form, kind of like a tootsie roll in a cylinder. You just pinch off a piece, knead it with your fingers and apply. It works even if anti-freeze is coming out of the hole...and it will hold. They even have some now that will plug a hole under water.
 
rickss69 said:
If you go to one of the auto parts houses they can hook you up with something even better. I can't remember the exact name of it, but it comes in different varieties (for different metals). If you describe it to them they will know just what you are looking for...it comes in stick form, kind of like a tootsie roll in a cylinder. You just pinch off a piece, knead it with your fingers and apply. It works even if anti-freeze is coming out of the hole...and it will hold. They even have some now that will plug a hole under water.
Click to expand...

It's this : http://jbweld.net/products/water.php also made by JB Weld.
 
whrswoldo said:
How is your radiator holding up now?

I recently put together a machine using my old WC loop and accidentally punctured the rad by tightening the screw too tightly :(
Click to expand...

Do the same thing OP did. The rad never gets much pressure at all or heat...JB weld (so long as its prepped and applied correctly) is utter overkill for this.

In fact, as soon as i saw this thread i jumped in to recommend JB weld as well. Its tough stuff.
 
JBweld works great... I have perma-mounted several barbs and repaired countless pumps using that stuff... even JB quick works good... just rough up the surface and make sure its clean and wait for 24 hours or so
 
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