Thread: Weeping radiator header tank

Hi All,

I've got the carb problems that I was having sorted pretty well now however something else has come up.

I noticed that in the end of one of the stiffening dips on the top of the radiator it has developed a slight weep.
A quick look online suggests that I should be able to just solder it up with plumbing solder, some flux and either the little propane/air torch or the gas soldering iron.

I think if I were to do that it would look something like this: clean up tank with scouring pads, etc until clean copper, open radiator cap, apply flux, apply heat, flow solder over area with hole, let cool, put cap back on and drive off.

Does that sound like a reasonable plan? Should I drop the coolant first?

Or is this a job where I should just take the radiator out and take it to Natrad in town and get them to fix it. If I'm doing that I might talk to them about changing the cap fitting to suit a recovery bottle if that won't cost an arm and a leg.

For now it is just a farm car, but once I've got my house built I'll be putting it back on the road so I'm after a fix that will last a while.

Cheers,
Rex

I ended up getting a chance to look at this over the weekend. Gave the cracked area a quick hit with the scotchbrite wheel so it was all clean and corrosion free. Dabbed a bit of flux onto the cracked areas then heated gently with a propane torch. Didn't take much to get everything hot and I found that if it got too hot the solder would just run away down from the cracks. With a bit more careful heat control, waving the torch around I found that I could fill the crack without the solder running away.

Took it for a drive around the paddocks after the fix, temperature seemed to stabilize at about 70C measured at the back corner of the head, where the heater feed goes I think. That seems a little cooler than I'd expect, but I wasn't working it very hard and it's probably got a better adjusted cab/ignition system than it has had. No leaks or weeping was found around the repairs so I'm calling this a good fix.

Cheers,
Rex