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Thread: VR 1993 Commodore has a leak in the Radiator

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    Default VR 1993 Commodore has a leak in the Radiator

    Yes like the title says our VR Commodore radiator has sprung at leak around the middle top around 1 inch from the top caused by a rock. Yes this radiator is about 4 year old and traveled about 7000k. Its easy to get at thus the rock getting in so what I would like to know can you get a epoxy cement or other to fix this hole in a Aluminium radiator. The Hole is extremely small luct to see the spray coming out



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    Not worth repairing mate, around $120 for a new one, when it comes to your cooling system it needs to be spot on, if a repair lets go on a radiator it could end up costing you a new engine

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    Not worth repairing mate, around $120 for a new one, when it comes to your cooling system it needs to be spot on, if a repair lets go on a radiator it could end up costing you a new engine
    Yes I thought this is the case. Looked at ebay and they are cheap.

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    First thing I do on any car or vehicle I own is to fit a low coolant alarm, which I make myself, second thing is to fit a coolant temp alarm which I make myself, they have saved at least 8 engines..You never know when a leak may arise from whatever cause. There is a commercial 2 part epoxy for sealing radiator leaks also a tape for split hoses

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    Rick (28-03-17)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Mix View Post
    First thing I do on any car or vehicle I own is to fit a low coolant alarm, which I make myself, second thing is to fit a coolant temp alarm which I make myself,...
    Sounds like a good couple of projects you could start a thread about.

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    admin (29-03-17)

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    If you get stuck somewhere with this sort of problem then the quick fix is ground black pepper. A tablespoon or so fairly rapidly sprinkled in the top of a running radiator will quickly block and seal the problem from the inside.

    Kind of Barsleaks for poor bastards, but it works really well, and will get you where you need to go, in some cases lasting for months. I have done this twice after rock strikes. Once in a VC Commodore and once in an XF Falcon with perfect results.
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    +1 for the water temp alarm ,but i used this -

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    Rick (28-03-17)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr 672A View Post
    Yes I thought this is the case. Looked at ebay and they are cheap.
    Yep they are cheap.

    I have a mate that imported Radiators by the container from China.

    He almost went bust from all the returns due to failures.......cheaper is not always better.....

    Yes the cheaper ones use pretty thin weak alloy cores that get eaten through quicker than the better ones and the plastic end tanks are weak, brittle and prone to cracking due to the plastic used.

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    I put a cheap Chinese Ebay radiator in my auto VS Commodore wagon almost 10 years ago, not a problem with it since (touch wood).
    Like everything, there is good stuff and bad stuff out of China. A lot of the big radiator brands and car manufacturers also use stuff from China.
    When I was still swinging spanners for Holden, I had a mate who worked for NatRad and he told me which Ebay seller had the same stock that they used at the time.
    The price was almost double from NatRad even with my trade discount for the same radiator.
    i have also seen a lot of crappy ones with crumbly plastic tanks and leaking core seals after less than 12 months with the seller nowhere to be found.
    Another thing you need to be careful with is the transmission cooler inside the radiator if it's an auto. If these block up or have crap in them from the manufacturing process you could also stuff your transmission, costing you much more than you saved on the radiator.

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    I buy a few rads through this seller
    2 year warranty, they have a contact number listed as well as pickup option, there service is fast and radiators are good quality, I havent had any complaints

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