Radiator ?

[Autocar]

Anyone know how they make them ? I tried soldering one now instead of one hole I now have three  :D There almost like working with a tissue paper.

[Taylortractornut]

They use tiny   torches and also smaller sized solder to   fix them together.     I helped a retired rad man one time recore one off an old Diamond T.     He started out wit salvaging the tanks and   a fin for the  pattern.  He stamped it out  by hand and then  we made the fues and put it together.   I made 2 whole joints lol after a lot of practice.

[bandmiller2]

Autocar,its pretty much an art and a dieing one.The tourches I've seen use street gas and are not too hot,acid flux and scratch brushes.I have had luck with large electric soldering irons for spot repairs. Frank C.

[bill m]

Make sure the soldier you are using is 50/50. It melts at a lower temp. than 95/5 and is easier to work with.

[doghunter]

also the radiator shops sorter them right out of the hot cleaning vat while they are stil hot

[sandhills]

For holes and leaks I use JB weld  ;D, haven't had a problem yet and one of the "fixes" I did was about 12 years ago on a '68 GMC grain truck that gets used a lot in all kinds of weather/temps.  Make sure it's very clean and dry (I use a small wire brush, emery cloth, and a LOT of Brakekleen) before applying and let it set up for 24 hours before use.  Hope it helps.

[Al_Smith]

There's a trick to it .As stated you have to use acid flux and 50/50 solder .I'm fairly good at it using a B bottle torch but it took about half a life time before I got the hang of it .

Geeze the price of lead solder has went up and I have no idea where to get good old Oatey acid flux any more .Someplace I have two 5 pound spools and a big can of flux .Now the 64 dollars question is where pray tell did i hide them . ???

[Polly]

a retired radiator repair shop owner in maysville ky told me to use ground pepper to repair small leek ,absolutly nothing else ,pour about a table spoon in radiator withengine running , i have used this several times ,works for me  8)

[shelbycharger400]

ive fixed them before, trick is to rinse the radiator very very well with straight water to get all the antifreeze (oil) out. then you heat treat the area with a propane torch, enough to burn the paint off, and the corrosion, the oxides burn off rather quickly.  then use a small wire brush (tooth brush) brush the area, you might have to remove a few of the wavy fins to get to the hole.   then use acid flux, good solder, i have used butane soldering irons but it takes long time, best is to use the pocket butane torches, solder from outside around the hole til it closes up . let it sit for a while, rinse the radiator, then plug the 2 ends and use your radiator pressure tester and pressurize to factory psi, put it in a dunk tank if you can to check for leaks.       its a lot of work,   last one i just brought in,  he took the radiator all apart, cleaned it and resoldered it all back together on both tanks for $150 and it was a 3 ? core toyota forklift radiator,  they wanted 1,000 for a new one. lol.

[Autocar]

Polly if black pepper works I would need about a pound !  :D I went the J. B. Weld path and had pretty good luck but this one may be over the hill.

[Al_Smith]

 :D Ha I used to have a little Cletrac crawler model HG that always seemed to leak in the winter time .The thing had a Hercules 4 banger gasser that  used thermo-siphon instead of a water pump .

Being cold out I'd black pepper it to get by and once the thing started to circulate it smelled like a boiled egg with a lot of pepper on it .Dang thermo-siphon would first get the water to about a boil,then a puff of steam ,then it would circulate and cool down .

There I'd go occasionally  a little puff of steam and I just pushed snow 'til my hearts content .Not much of a dozer at two and half  tons but a dandy snow pusher .If it couldn't  go through a drift it could walk right over it .

[customsawyer]

The black pepper works very well but the nice thing is that it is a lot easier to repair the radiator later than if you use the over the counter stop leak stuff.

[bandmiller2]

Al,some of my older deeres have thermo-siphon. Normal stop leaks are designed for water pump circulation I've  found solder seal boiler sealer  to work better as it has neutral boyancy,cheaper too.The mechanic before me was from Ga. and he used cayenne pepper. Frank C.

[Woodchuck53]

Saw on Mythbusters where they stopped a leak with an egg. Just cracked it into the neck and less than a minute it stopped.

[bodagocreek2]

Never used pepper, but have used ginger a number of times. One truck still no leak after 14 years. The other 6 years on leaky heater core. Depending on size of leak, 2 tbls up to 1/2 half of a small box, Works better than radiator seal.

[Al_Smith]

Yeah I've got a '46 John -Deere A with no water pump .

Another thing that works especially on a cracked block is sodium silicate commonly called "water glass " .

The old Cats would cracked right behind the injecter pump between number 2 and 3 cylinder .Old Caterpilar cast iron is one of the toughest cast irons ever made to weld properly .

Well I had a leaker D4 so after about a day of welding it I water glassed it and that was over 25 years ago and it hasn't leaked a drop since .

[Al_Smith]

On a roll ,just thought of another .My dad talked about during the depression they had all kinds of leakers on the farm .They just tossed a hand full of ground grain cattle feed in the radiator and went about their business .

Back then they didn't run anti freeze in the winter in the tractors ,just drained them every day so they wouldn't freeze up .

[Burlkraft]

As the owner of a shop that includes a radiator  shop....
You guy's are crackin' me up

[Norm]

Money in the bank Steve.  :D

[Magicman]

When the ox is in the ditch, desperate folks will do desperate things to keep going......even if it will cost more later.

That egg thing made me smile.  Got breakfast  ???