DIY: Fixed broken Radiator
 

I ve been out of the forum for a while, been verry busy. but had the oportunity / necesity to fix my broken radiator. this is just a temporary fix till I get a new one but ill will let you know how it holds up...


first what was broken:

one of the plastic flanges on top of the radiator broke while the tech at the dealer was replacing the reservoir tank.

they did not inform me and i found out 6 months later whan I went to replace it again. this time i did it myself.

it had been leaking coolant throgh it all of this time and that is why my coolant light kept comming on and i was missing collant every other day..

so i boght a metal flange, some epoxy and went at it.


had to remove the air box to gain access to the top of the radiator

than removed the hose

screwed the flange into place (this was tricky as not to crack the rest of the plastic top of the radiator.

covered all of the sorowniding area with epoxy and waited 4 hours.


i will test it later today so ill let you know how it holds up.


I am a little concerned that the inner diameter of the flange is a little smaller than the original. Will just have to keep an eye on the temperature gauge for the next couple of days.

Thanks for that DIY instructions. Let us know the outcome of the flange.

24 hrs and still not a leak. The temp has held even in our 90 degree weather so if a week goes by i think im good

I broke that, tried to fix it, and made it worse.... congrats on it working out for you. FYI, I was able to find a new OEM radiator online somewhere for around $100, if the fix doesnt work for you...

3rd day after the repair and ive started to flog it properly just to make shure that it is sturdy

the real test will come the next time you try to take the hose off the nipple, otherwise good job

the same thing happened to me while doing a routine reservoir replacement... we should make some kind of sticky warning for other members to spare them the headache.

Yeah I just had my 05 in and the tech broke an attachment to the radiator taking off the hose for the coolant overflow tank replacement. I couldn't believe how crumbly the plastic that is the radiator was. I'm at 105k miles and I'm glad it broke in the shop and after this, that they told me. Took the opportunity to get a shiny new mishimoto 100% aluminum radiator and a 6-piece Samco silicon hose kit from THMotoring. Boo OEM, hooray beer.

Perhaps an easier step to take for future reference would be to just slice the hose down lengthwise and replace the hose. Cheaper that a new radiator and less headache than trying to repair.

I also did a fix like this last week, worked ok for a few days but then on the way home it must have burst and sprayed hot coolant into the CAI. Temps didnt go up untill i pulled into my gateway,car stopped,temp went to max, lots of smoke and steam and car wouldnt start. It was 3am and i had to push my frigging car in the driveway...Gravel driveway and 1 really skinny (hence the name bones) man pushing it.
My new radiator arrived today, My mechanic is bringing me coolant and oil today to get the new rad installed. Car starts fine now by the way but when it stalled in the gateway it was acting like it had no compression

Hi Oreo, i know its years since urs happened, but how's your rad holding up? Had same problem, used a brass tube joiner to fixed it in place then used epoxy to seal around it, left it for 48hrs before testing, but there's still a slight leak somewhere around it and can't really spot it. I don't really want to take the radiator apart until im ready to replace the hose.

Just buy a new all aluminum radiator. Those plastic parts on the OEM radiator get brittle over time.