Seems this should be able to work fairly reliably, i'm picking up a car for $50 that runs and drives fine, just has a cracked radiator and the starter is starting to go. I plan ghetto rigging the radiator with JB Weld to get me through the Winter, seems there shouldn't be any problem with this, has anyone sucessfully done it? I doubt it, but will it prevent the crack from getting bigger?

 

It will work, some people hold their car together with it.

 

JB weld has worked for me...well it was for my friend anyway. so yea my friend, she had a cracked radiator but couldnt afford to replace it. cuz damn when ur living in hawaii stuff is either 1.) expensive as hell cuz shipping from mainland 2.) not available. but yea I fixed the problem. JB weld works great. I forgot how much pressure it can handle but it was up in the thousands of PSI, and high temperature tolerance. so no doubt JB weld will be able to handle the radiator crack. so yea i could call it a success.

 

I have seen people use jb weld on there oil return nut

 

clean it good and get a good, clean surface when bonding it. MY buddy JB'd his radiator and it only held for a couple of weeks because he didn't clean the JB'd area

 

yup u gotta sand down the surface just a lil to get some adhesion on the radiator for the jb weld to hold. good pointer

 

Yup, i plan cleaning it with a wire brush tool on a drill to get it nice and rough. Seems like this should be okay to do, figured i'd ask before i wasted my time trying to do it, it's cold outside!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have seen people use jb weld on there oil return nut </TD></TR></TABLE>

ME ME ME

works great

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by O16581724 5 2 5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yup, i plan cleaning it with a wire brush tool on a drill to get it nice and rough. Seems like this should be okay to do, figured i'd ask before i wasted my time trying to do it, it's cold outside!</TD></TR></TABLE>

just don't go happy with teh drill or you might drill even larger chunks out of the endtank

Try cleaning it throughly with some acetone. Scratch it with some semi coarse sand paper, and clean it with acetone afterwards. Should be good like that

 

Yep, I repaired an actual punctured tube on my previous M3's radiator. It ran fine for about 6 months, but I finally got a new radiator since I was a bit nervous about possibly overheating a very expensive engine.

 

Its iffy how long it will last. From accounts I have read on the web (had a cracked radiator and looked into it) , the expansion of the nylon endtanks is different than the jbweld and it will just end up flexing and cracking at some point.

The best way to fix it, is do some plastic welding apparently.

But maybe its worth a shot if you don't mind having to pull over if it cracks again?

 

I don't know where the crack is in the radiator, if it's the end tanks and they're plastic, i'm not going to try JB Weld, i'll find something else to seal it with. I haven't bought the car yet, i plan picking it up later today.

I'll post pictures of this $50 turd.

 

And it'z pimp!



Gots a Carbon Fooler hood, yo.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by StyleTEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Its iffy how long it will last. From accounts I have read on the web (had a cracked radiator and looked into it) , the expansion of the nylon endtanks is different than the jbweld and it will just end up flexing and cracking at some point.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I've defintely experienced this first hand. I followed the steps above that were mentioned for cleaning and prepping, but it was just my radiators time to go I suppose. The crack was just under the JB Weld only at one point...

 

Drill a hole at each end of the crack. Then JB Weld it. This will prevent the crack to continue from old scars.

 

Shoot, good idea, too bad i already JB welded it. =\

 

Well if you got the car for $50.00, cant you get a new radiator for $75.00.....

 

Sure, but why spend 150% more on the fix than you did the car ... no sense in throwing money into a high mileage pit like that. Use it for what it is ... a beater ... don't spend any more than you MUST when fixing something of this caliber.

 

I'm unfortionately going to have to buy a new radiator, it's got more cracks than i realized.

 

In that case, buy a use one somewhere. Im sure lots have old single core civic radiators laying around.

 

"I have seen people use jb weld on there oil return nut"

I have never leaked

Ive also used it on my radiator held up for a very long time.

 

I picked up an Accord radiator for $20, i figure with enough ZipTies and possibly a BFH, i can make this work.

 

Don't forget safety wire - that's the ultra in ghetro-bling. You can get a spool cheap as chit from Home Depot or something. Should hold that beast pretty well. Zip ties are cool, but I've seen some nasty failures from heat cycling them(the nylon loses its mechanical properties with heat cycling over time).

 

it held to 16 psi no my friends intercooler,but then blow and made a bigger crack