Radiator: repair or replace?

[sparkchaserXJ]

The nipple that the overflow hose connects to broke off and I am wondering if I can repair it using a kit like this: http://www.radiatorexpress.com/category.asp?cat_id=R002 or am I better off replacing the radiator?

 

[Jess]

You can try to repair it, but I have seen similar products at my local auto parts store much cheaper. Make sure to keep an eye on it because it would be horrible to blow your engine because it ran dry.

 

[Leep]

If you take the radiator to your local shop they can repair it for a few bucks. I would recommend getting the entire radiator checked. If the overflow nipple broke then what will be next. The last radoator that I took in for rodding out and general repair was $60 and had no issues.

 

[sparkchaserXJ]

Good idea Leep. Sadly the only dedicated radiator shop I know of in town closed up shop earlier this year. I'll have to find someplace that can do this.

 

[djblade311]

I would clean up the break and re tap it and insert a threaded nozzle with blue rtv if you want a cheap fix

 

[Ecomike]

The nipple that the overflow hose connects to broke off and I am wondering if I can repair it using a kit like this: http://www.radiatorexpress.com/category.asp?cat_id=R002 or am I better off replacing the radiator?

Sealing the nipple back on is not as hard as sealing the radiator core itself, which needs to hold 1 lbs of pressure, but it does need to be air tight so that the cool down cycle can suck coolant (not air) back into the radiator from the overflow bottle through the nipple.

If I were in your spot, I would try a good quality brass metal filled epoxy metal repair paste from a reputable brand like Permatex. I did not look at the specific one you linked to, but from the name of the site, if it is designed for radiators I would go for it, and then check the radiator coolant bottle level every morning to see if the coolant is going back into the radiator properly.

I am assuming the nipple and neck are brass???? and not plastic? or alluminum?

 

[sparkchaserXJ]

I am assuming the nipple and neck are brass???? and not plastic? or alluminum?

The nipple and neck on the radiator are plastic.

 

[avnsteve]

The nipple and neck on the radiator are plastic.

in my humble opinion, the plastic radiator is not worth repairing unless you are stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. it's an opportunity to upgrade

 

[jeeperjohn]

Get an all metal large size tire valve stem and just remove the core.
P.S. all this talk of nipples is making me.....excuse me for a few minutes

 

[Blaine B.]

Wow, if nipples make you wanna.....

You haven't gotten any for awhile.

 

[lawsoncl]

01110011 01110101 01100011 01101011 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01100010 00100000 01110010 01101111 01100011 01101011 01110010 01100001 01110011 01101000 00001101 00001010

01001000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01010010 01110101 01100100 01100101 00100001

 

[Blaine B.]

What?

 

[Yucca-Man]

01001000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01010010 01110101 01100100 01100101 00100001

What?

There are 10 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and those that do not.

Jim www.yuccaman.com

 

[sparkchaserXJ]

01001000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01010010 01110101 01100100 01100101 00100001

01010010010011110100011001001100

 

[avnsteve]

01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01110011 01101111 01101110 01100001 01101100 00101100 00100000 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101000 01100001 01100100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01100110 01110101 01100011 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01101111 01100010 01110011 00100000 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01100101 01100110 01100110 01100101 01100011 01110100 00101100 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110100 01110100 01101100 01100101 00100000 01110111 01100001 01111001 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100110 01110101 01100011 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00100001

 

[90Blue_XJ]

01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01110011 01101111 01101110 01100001 01101100 00101100 00100000 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101000 01100001 01100100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01100110 01110101 01100011 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01101111 01100010 01110011 00100000 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01100101 01100110 01100110 01100101 01100011 01110100 00101100 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110100 01110100 01101100 01100101 00100000 01110111 01100001 01111001 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100110 01110101 01100011 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00100001

Translation please.

 

[avnsteve]

http://www.paulschou.com/tools/xlate/

 

[90Blue_XJ]

Went to that link. You couldn't make it a little easier could ya.

 

[avnsteve]

I would have typed in plain text if it were meant for everyone. now, those that have bothered to do all the research and such (as effortless as it was) can honestly say, "what a disappointment all that mystery was..."

sorry it wasn't the key to understanding women or something more useful...:laugh2:

 

[lawsoncl]

http://www.paulschou.com/tools/xlate/

Now that's cheating. I wrote a quick perl script to translate back and forth. Oh well, I guess that's just my inner geek showing.