Cracked Radiator
 

I just found a horizontal crack near the top of my radiator . . . I have a few questions:

1) Has anyone been in contact with PWR recently? Did they get a new batch of radiators in yet?

2) Does anyone know what type of plastic our radiators are made from? I've done some searching outside of our forum on repairing plastic radiator tanks. Apparently, there has been some success using PVC pipe solvent. Has anyone heard of this or tried it on our radiators?

3) JB Weld? People (not selling the product) have claimed it was still holding tight three years later when they finally got around to replacing their radiators.

Thanks,
Dan

PVC adhesive is good for joining not repairing. The two surfaces must have total contact with each other. It does not fill gaps. PVC adhesive fuses the plastics together. It's geat on PVC pipes but I don't know if it is good on plastic radiators.

I had good luck with magnum steel for patching radiators.

Ebay
 

Check Ebay in the SVX BuyItNow listing. There is a company selling the PWR radiators for $479 with $15 shipping. That is about the same as we got our first "special" buy. I have JB welded my parts car radiator, so I can move it around, but would not recommend for long term use. If you plan on keeping the SVX for a while the only real solutions are a new OEM radiator or the PWR. I questioned the PWR seller and he claimed they were the corrected versions.

Lee

For those of you who have had radiator failure while driving, does the temperature gauge move from its fairly horizontal position when you start to overheat?

I have to drive to work two more days before I have a day off to repair/replace my radiator. So far in each of the days since I found the crack, I've only had to top off the radiator with about a cup of water each day I drove it.

Dan

I just bought a radiator direct from PWR this last week. A simple phone call and it was on it's way in one business day.

Until you get a new rad, clean the crack, sand it down, and JB Weld it thouroughly. I used plastic epoxy which proved to be troublesome, but as long as I keep the coolant toppped of ther eis no overheating.

The smell and vapor is driving me nuts however.

---

DO NOT BUY FROM EBAY. That PWR "distributor" does not make attempts to communicate, and I've spoken with on emember here that did not receive his radiator from that seller.

I used epoxy on the crack in the top of my radiator and drove the car (about 25 miles per day) for a couple of days while the new radiator was being shipped. Not surprisingly, the epoxy didn't hold for long but it slowed the flow, and I kept the radiator topped and avoided stop-and-go driving, and the temp gauge never rose above normal. That was in the cool weather of late November.

Any sort of adhesive product should be considered a temporary repair. The cost of a new radiator is a small price to pay for being freed from the worry of how long the "fix" is going to hold.

dcb

Believe me, I love my SVXi way too much to leave a band-aid on for too long! :eek:

I'm still hoping to hear from someone who can tell me if their temperature gauge moved beyond the normal horizontal position when their radiator blew.

I have a cell phone and AAA if I start to see anything going the wrong way . . .

Dan

gauge movement
 

I can confirm that when the car is low on coolant the gauge will move upwards. That's how I found that I had a leak in one of my radiators.

Incidentally, I repaired that radiator with a two part plastic epoxy that I got at a local auto parts place. I don't know what brand or model it was though. I made that repair back in '03 at some point and it's still holding. If I could afford $400 or $500 for a new radiator I'd put one in, but I really can't so I'll keep using it until it lets go. The repair wasn't from the typical top tank crack though. It was a puncture in the bulge near the lower hose that I aquired by bottoming out on something while backing up. The hose clamp got pushed into the plastic and made a hole.

Jay

guages
 

when my radiator cracked I didnt get any movement from the temp guage but it wasnt really low. The only time it moved is when my water pump failed and it shot up faster than I could watch it.

Mine never did overheat, but I filled it daily. I wouldn't go too long though. I went a few months while waiting >>>Patiently?? on the first batch of PWR's. The result is that parts car you see in my signature. :D

Don't think it can't happen. I didn't think it would hurt it either. :eek:

Well, I had a rather spectacular radiator explosion last summer. I wrote about it in this post.

But I didn't have a cracked radiator - my problem was head gaskets.

To recap, I had never had any trouble with overheating since we got the car so I wasn't paying close attention to the temp guage. I was going about 160km/hr on the autobahn (almost 100 mph) when I realized that my guage was already up at the 3/4 mark and still going up rapidly! I got into the right lane, slowed down, and just as I was on the off-ramp to the rest area, my radiator blew up. Clouds of steam and quite "exciting" for my 15-year old niece who thought the whole car was about to blow up. :rolleyes:

We replaced the radiator with a brand new one at a Subaru dealer, but the gauge would still start creeping up after driving for a while. The stupid dealer refused to consider head gaskets, but that's another story.

I finally had the whole car overhauled, and it has been great ever since. (knock on wood!)

Don't know if this really answers your question, but at least it's an interesting story to tell: How I managed to blow up my car :D

I've been going since December.

Course I also pop the hood if the fog starts rolling in, and pop it every day in the garage.

Plastic radiators CAN be repaired
 

The key is to drain the system, get the inside surfaces dry. Then take a Dremel and drill holes at the ends of the crack (which tends to keep it from expanding), then run a cutter down the entire length of the crack to give you sufficient room for the repair material to "mushroom" out BEHIND the crack. In this way the pressure inside the radiator tends to keep the repair material in place.

If you can wipe the surfaces (interior & exterior) with alchohol (I've used right angled pliers to hold a Q-Tip) and then a hair dryer to warm the surfaces, JB Weld &/or the green epoxy radiator repair plugs you knead and then push through the enlarged crack can hold very well and for a long time.
When done right, JB Weld is often stronger than the material it is being used to repair. I never had an overheating problem nor any high gauge readings: just a little steam and a drip of anti-freeze.

Like most repairs of this type, the time spent on proper prep of the surfaces can make all the difference as to the effectiveness of the repair.

The last time I fixed my original radiator as above the repair lasted: unfortunatly I had already ordered a factory replacement right before the new aluminum rads hit this board. If this one lasts another 120K I'll buy a new improved one. Gladly!

Cheers!

I installed my band-aid today. I went to the store for some JB Weld and bought a Permatex Radiator Repair Kit instead. The kit is very complete and has a much shorter curing time than JB Weld. One drawback is that it's a one time use product.

The kit includes fine sand paper for cleaning/roughing up the surface and an alcohol wipe for final cleaning. After you've prepped the area with the included materials, you cut a piece of fiberglass mesh (included) to size. Mix up the two part epoxy resin in its plastic bag, cut off the end of the bag and spread some of the epoxy on the crack. Apply the fiberglass mesh and cover with the rest of the epoxy. Use the supplied brush to make sure everything is smoothed out nicely. Then wait about 30 minutes to cure.

The only thing not in the kit was scissors to cut the fiberglass and open the plastic bag of mixed epoxy.

My PWR radiator is on its way . . . $500 shipped. :D

Dan