I was just welding up a radiator and was pretty close to the end, the only opening left on it was pretty much the 1" hole for the filler neck, as I was adding the last of the filler the radiator made a loud POW and blew a large hole out where I was welding, it shot aluminum everywhere. Am I doing something wrong? I know pressure can build up with the heat but there was still an opening for it to escape. Maybe coolant is explosive and nobody ever told me!
I'm a bit upset because I was almost done and ready to pressure test it, hopefully I learn something from this though. Anybody know why this could have happened?

 

ethylene glycol is flammable

http://www.croberts.com/coolant.htm

you have to show us a picture of the aftermath.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ROTARY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ethylene glycol is flammable

http://www.croberts.com/coolant.htm

you have to show us a picture of the aftermath. </TD></TR></TABLE>

good read...i didn't know.

 

Wow, did not know that, thanks!

My ISPs webspace is being stupid and won't let me upload the picture. The carnage isn't anything super crazy but it was bad enough that I have to cut the entire piece out and make a new one, and maybe properly clean the inside of the radiator.

 

was there any room for the internal welding gas to vent?

 

I cut the filler neck off so there was a 1-1.5" hole about 8" away from where I was welding.

 

makes me look forward to welding a radiator!

 

I've welded radiators before..... you just have to flush it out well before welding it. I've never had a problem. I also have never heard of it being a combustable. Good info.

 

its the coolant remnants left in the Radiator, does the same thing when your welding the fins without cleaning them out well enough.

 

holy crap. i c ant count how many times i;ve had coolant leaking into my engine bay. i've always had bad luck with cooling systems/ faulty parts.