Radiator repair with hot melt glue? DC CASE

Greenfrog · Apr 3, 2010

I asked this question last week, but now can't find the post. (???)
Let's try again:

Can I use hot melt glue to repair a hole in the radiator of my DC CASE. Radiator is old and fragile, and hard to remove. Or how can I fix?

Bob · Apr 3, 2010

You aren't SERIOUS, are you???

Tim in OR · Apr 3, 2010

The heat from the coolant will probably melt the glue, therefore a waste of time. I would probably try RTV in a pinch.
Tim in OR

DeltaRed · Apr 3, 2010

use a quickfix to get you by,then fix it right when you have you have slack time.if it is rotten as you say, it willnot last.recore it

BCnT · Apr 4, 2010

i doubt hot glue will hold...i have used fiberglass resin to patch leaking tubes with pretty good luck...just run radiator cap on first click so you dont blow repair out.

JHH · Apr 4, 2010

Use JB Weld, make sure you clean it to bare metal, spray with Gumout to remove oil and moisture.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 4, 2010

We have a 955 Cat loader with the bottom of the rad. imbedded in Epoxy. More than 10 yrs. now!

showcrop · Apr 4, 2010

GM dealers have a powder that works very well.

Mathias NY · Apr 4, 2010

here's the link to the old post. The modern view has a better search function.

I still feel silicone caulk is your best an easiest solution. Hot-glue on something that gets hot is still a bad idea.
link

Anonymous-0 · Apr 4, 2010

Old roundy-round racers trick, use Bondo. I"ve fixed damaged radiators on dirt bikes with Liquid Nails with very good results. Somehow I just don"t think a hot glue gun will do the trick.

Dean · Apr 4, 2010

The only durable way to repair a pressurized radiator is to properly clean and solder it.

Dean

Greenfrog · Apr 4, 2010

Thanks for reply you guys. I did patch it once with blue silicone gasket stuff, and then also with JB Weld. The JB is still holding. Barrs inside. Cleaned surface with brake parts cleaner. One old fella at a radiator shop said said farmers use to put in fine hay chaff. Huh.

Thanks for a good discussion...and someone found my original question. Thanks for the forum.

Greenfrog · Apr 4, 2010

I also thought of using the rubber stuff that you dip tool handles in. I contacted the company on this material as to if this would work and to what temperature it would stand. It ought to work according to them. YOu can now get the tool dip in spray can. I took the radiator out when i made the repairs with JB and silicone....that way I could lay it down. I am thinking of a way to do so without removing. If you are familia with a DC, it has a heavy cast grill and radiator cast iron form around the radiator core..mine has rusted bolts which would make core removal difficult. New cores can be found. I forgot to mention in the original post, that this IS NOT a pressurized system. JUst gravity flow. this helps with no pressure on what ever there is to seal with. I posted this to see what other ideas are out there with such a problem, and others can learn by it.

Greenday · Apr 4, 2010

The reason they call it hot glue is it Melts when it gets HOT! Radiators get hot! See where I'm going with this?

gitrib · Apr 4, 2010

Go to Conklin.com and order DIKE. It will fix it and not plug the radiator. Run a branch through the radiator on a 4020 squeesed the tubes shut added DIKE and run it till I got a new radiator.
gitrib

Lamar Fudd · Apr 4, 2010

There IS a hot melt glue (Jet Melt from 3-M) that melts at 300 degrees, but the gun alone is over $150.00 That glue is one tough customer-I've reattached a mirror that got broken off when the car got too close to a mail box-mirror lasted a decade with that "patch".

Anonymous-0 · Apr 4, 2010

Like someone else said JB weld is the way to go. It will hold, but it is a little hard to get it to stay in place until it dryes. Stan

John M · Apr 4, 2010

In the week youve waited to check your answers to the original post, you caould have pulled the radiator and either had it fixed or repalced. Im not a fan of quick fixes and patches if they arent done right!

Red1 · Apr 4, 2010

JB weld...absolutely,

If you can get a little fine mesh wire around the leak, it will help hold the JB in place. I reattached the input exhaust pipe to the muffler that way.

mEl · Apr 4, 2010

(reply to post at 05:37:30 04/04/10)

Took a aluminum radiator to a professional radiator shop for a core that was punched and leaking, it came back with a brown epoxy type patch on the damaged spot, do not know why the same could not be done to copper, but hot glue----------------? mEl

JD Seller · Apr 4, 2010

I started working at very old John Deere dealer many years ago. I saw one of the older mechanics fix several radiators, that slow leaked, with just Black pepper. That is right just coarse ground pepper. I know of an 8n that he fixed over twenty-five years ago that way, that is still being used. Many things have been tried and a lot of them worked.

Dean Barker · Apr 4, 2010

My nephew used the GM stuff on his New Holland combine engine that was leaking anti-freeze into the oil pan. Ran it all last season without losing any more anti-freeze. Now, he isn't sure whether to fix it right, trade it off, or keep running it as is.

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Apr 4, 2010

It isn't hard to solder it. Use acid core solder, not rosin core. The rosin core can be made to do it, but you have to really clean the radiator and use lots of flux. A quick brushing with a stainless brush and acid core solder does the trick.
I had an aluminum radiator fixed once and they used an epoxy type material to repair it.

BillinCentralMO · Apr 4, 2010

I don't know. It depends. Are you repairing a tractor or doing some crafting with the girls?

MeanGene1 · Apr 5, 2010

Actually, Bondo works very well, sets up fairly quickly, and can last a long time- there's a hole in the radiator of my old '77 F250 4x4 from a flying critter that was plugged with a dab of Bondo in '78, and is still holding, and it had a 427 in it for 10 yrs that saw a lot of RPM. I used to keep a can in the trailer when we ran the sprint cars for "emergency repairs"

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