Repairing a radiator leak

[tingo]

I have just drained and flushed the coolant in my car, and replaced all the hoses.

The bottom hose was a bit stubborn and I have damaged the radiator just below the connector. It is seeping very slowly - only a few drops a day unless I rub the damaged area when it seeps a drop every few seconds.

I don't want to use radiator gunk. I know where the leak is coming from and I would like to fix it. I have heard that radiators can be soldered.

Is this a DIY job with a standard soldering iron or does it need special solder? Do I need to drain the system before soldering?

I would be grateful for any advice.

[LouiseM]

It can be soldered - take a look at this thread:

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/index.php?name=P ... tor+repair

[simmitc]

Drain the rad, remove from car. Clean affected/damaged area with wire wool. Must be spotlessly clean, bone dry, with no trace of black paint, oil, crease, etc. Nice shiny metal id what you're after. Now heat the metal, apply flux, and then plumbers solder. You might get away with an electric "instant heat" gun, but not with a 35w electronics iron. A good blow lamp will make life easy. You need the metal got enough to take the solder, not to melt the metal ! Good luck.

[Alec]

Hello Tingo,

you would need a huge soldering iron, the instant heat one referred to are far too small.

Be careful using a blowlamp (one with a concentrated flame is better) not to soften the joint between the core and the bottom tank.

Alec

[bmcecosse]

Far better to take it to rad specialist - if this fails on you on a dark night in the middle of no-where........ And it could easily wreck the engine when the water runs away, before you realise! Just not worth the risk.

[kennatt]

I'm with bm here Takes a fair bit of heat and every time I have tried I've ended up with solder running out of other parts of the rad,any rad specialist will do the job quicker and better for next to no money,You've done the hard bit in getting it out of the car .