Permatex Radiator seal didn't work for me

J

Jim Henderson

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I will soon be getting either a new radiator or have the local shop put on a new end tank.

I recently tried the Permatex Radiator repair kit(comes with Fiberglass patch and some black epoxy). NAPA and the instructions say it should work well for the hairline crack I had but I think because of the location and the bulge along the hairline, it was destined not to work for me.

The crack in my radiator is on the front passenger sidetop of the tank. It runs vertically from almost the top of the tank down about 2 inches to between the tank clamps holding the tank to the radiator and some parts on the radiator that are in the way.

The instructions say clean well. I used steel bruch and Alcohol several times to clean up the area. They also say needs 1 inch all around the hole. Near the top portion of the crack I did have this clearance but down loser I had maybe 1/2 inch on each side at best. I think this, plus the bulge is what caused this reapir not to work for me. I have a slow leaker still, volume depends on hot day and mileage etc, but ingeneral maybe a quart a day now that I am in below 80F weather.

Just my experiences.

I never really did truct sealers for pressurined parts like radiators. BTW I read about "soldering" the crack with plastic and a heat gun. Urethane SUpply sells a kit that does this for something like $60 but a new radiator is around $100 so not sure I would do this repair. There are You Tube videos showing how to do this with a soldering iron and a tie wrap, FWIW.

Jim Henderson
 
The problem here is that it's not a crack due to some impact. It's a crack due to the plastic degrading. If you did manage to patch it, it would just open up again a few inches away. If you did replace one side tank, how long before the other one opened up?
 
Yeah probably why I hate plastic cooling system components so much, the local mechanic also dislikes them.

However, while trying to do the patch repair, it looks like the end tanks are held on with a kind of clamp system, a ring around the end tank with fingers that are bent in to hold in place. Probably not worth doing but I was wondering if the local radiator shop could unclamp the tank and clamp a new one in place. Years ago, I thought I had read that shops could unglue the end tanks and replace.

Not like the good old days when you could just desolder th end tanks.

Looks like a Rock Auto radiator wil be my cure, just thinking outside the box, for now.

I am cheap plus I have already put in more $$ in this car than it's current book value and want to keep it down til I can trade it in, maybe a Korean econo box with 100K warranty, eh?

Jim Henderson

LS4me said:
Tough to do with a plastic radiator......
Click to expand...
 
Where do you expect to be able to buy a new end tank (without the radiator and the other tank)?
You'll need the gasket too. I wonder how many times those fingers can be bent, unbent, and rebent before they break?

Do as you please, but it seems very impractical compared to replacing the whole radiator. (They don't cost much, and the odds are really good that you'll never have to do it again.)
 
Semi-off topic but to speak from experience when I bought my Sonata new in 2013, I was able to purchase the full bumper to bumper 10 year / 100,000 mile warranty from the dealer for $900. They wanted 2500, I negotiated down to 900.
 
Along the lines of jjcool, my girl friend has a 2007 Santa Fe, 3.3 with 80k miles on it.
I did her winter tires last week end, and checked the whole front and rear suspension
including undercarriage. Every thing was in tip-top shape.

We live in pretty harsh winter conditions, and, pretty bad road surfaces. Come late December
early January, and it's pot hole festival up here. Our cars take a good beating.

Not vouching for Korean cars, just saying that for the dollar spent, they make a pretty good
vehicule.
 
The sonata is my DD and it gets about 35 mpg, has a turbo goes 0-60 in 5.8 secs and has 100,000 mile warranty and out the door brand new I paid about 22k so I can't complain.

Back to the thread topic - that area is a very common area to fail on the radiator and from what I've read and I personally have dealt with this as well this is one of the few parts you can go aftermarket on without an issue. I got the autozone radiator for less than 100 bucks (using a $50 coupon) and it has a lifetime warranty and is specced better than OEM. So you can save money there if you're "cheap."
 
I was pretty sure the radiator is a non repairable part, but since I have no experience with plastic radiators I was looking for confirmation or advice.

As far as the replacement, Does the LSV8 from 2004 have internal transmission cooler? The Rock Auto website shows two versions for the V8, one with and one without. I tried to get a good look but did not see cooler lines going to the tranny. But it is tight and hard to see in some places so I wanted to hear if anyone knew for sure. There is about a $30 difference between the two, $100 vs $130.

By the way, the Permatex patch kit was $20, wasted in my case.

And joegr is right about plastic probably failing further. The plastic used on this car's cooling system seems to all start to fail at the same time and the several pieces I have replaced all were kind of crumbly, you could break of pieces with your fingers. I hate plastic parts. Kind of like an old 74 Datsun I owned way back. All the cooling hoses needed to be replaced every 25,000 miles or another would fail with 1000. The LSV8 appears to start to fail around 80,000 and you better replace most or all the plastic parts or... Sadly the Datsun parts were about $35 while the LS is around $800, arr.

Just my experience,

Jim Henderson
 
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