Repairing a plastic / aluminum radiator.

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   Anyone else on forum do this before?
I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this repair was to complete. 2 hours?

It began with my 5k engine oil change interval. When I stepped out of vehicle to fetch ramps to assist/elevate front of vehicle for oil change, I smelled coolant. I noticed a small drip coming from upper radiator tank???  What’s going on? That’s new.

Anyway, just finished repairing our 2000 330k vehicle’s fatigue hairline crack in it’s upper plastic tank that’s connected to an aluminum radiator core. Crack was in a flat area to the side of its hose fitting, equally spaced between its lower lip & top of tank. 
Drained / lowered radiator of coolant. Unhooked upper radiator hose. Unplugged both electric fans, unbolted them, slid them up & out. Took a flat screw driver & prided each aluminum tab from core back away from plastic tank. Tank easily lifted out. Left gasket in place & dried it with a cloth. 
Mended the crack using 1000f soder gun to melt/mix plastic over crack. Then laid a strip of aluminum window screen across crack area covering about an inch beyond crack on all sides. Melted screen into plastic using the soder gun & smooth roughed up melted plastic. 
Reinstalled mended tank. Used a large channel  pliers to squeezed both sides of aluminum core back up to meet edge of tank lips(center to right & center to left). Then using a large vise grips set to an initial soft-squeeze setting & started in middle of tank to re-squeeze tabs downward onto tank lip.  Again center to right/center to left/squeeze a few on both sides as you move). Then tightened vise grips a turn & squeeze tabs again. Then 3rd time tightening vise grips another turn & repeat. 
Reinstalled everything, refilled coolant. & no leaks. 

Edited by AC7060IL - 14 hours 9 minutes ago at 6:00pm

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AC7060IL Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 19 Aug 2012 Location: central IL Points: 3498	Post Options Post Reply Quote AC7060IL Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Repairing a plastic / aluminum radiator. Posted: 17 hours 34 minutes ago at 2:35pm
	Anyone else on forum do this before? I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this repair was to complete. 2 hours? It began with my 5k engine oil change interval. When I stepped out of vehicle to fetch ramps to assist/elevate front of vehicle for oil change, I smelled coolant. I noticed a small drip coming from upper radiator tank??? What’s going on? That’s new. Anyway, just finished repairing our 2000 330k vehicle’s fatigue hairline crack in it’s upper plastic tank that’s connected to an aluminum radiator core. Crack was in a flat area to the side of its hose fitting, equally spaced between its lower lip & top of tank. Drained / lowered radiator of coolant. Unhooked upper radiator hose. Unplugged both electric fans, unbolted them, slid them up & out. Took a flat screw driver & prided each aluminum tab from core back away from plastic tank. Tank easily lifted out. Left gasket in place & dried it with a cloth. Mended the crack using 1000f soder gun to melt/mix plastic over crack. Then laid a strip of aluminum window screen across crack area covering about an inch beyond crack on all sides. Melted screen into plastic using the soder gun & smooth roughed up melted plastic. Reinstalled mended tank. Used a large channel pliers to squeezed both sides of aluminum core back up to meet edge of tank lips(center to right & center to left). Then using a large vise grips set to an initial soft-squeeze setting & started in middle of tank to re-squeeze tabs downward onto tank lip. Again center to right/center to left/squeeze a few on both sides as you move). Then tightened vise grips a turn & squeeze tabs again. Then 3rd time tightening vise grips another turn & repeat. Reinstalled everything, refilled coolant. & no leaks. Edited by AC7060IL - 14 hours 9 minutes ago at 6:00pm

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Codger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 23 Dec 2020 Location: Utopia Points: 2313	Post Options Post Reply Quote Codger Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 17 hours 16 minutes ago at 2:53pm
	Did that a time or two in the past. Proved it wasn't a sound long term viable solution to replacing the radiator. Tanks usually will crack elsewhere. Probably alright for self use, but when something fails on a customer's vehicle even if totally irrelevant to your repair, somebody is not happy.
	That's All Folks!