Technical Fixing a leaking radiator

[DaveG]

Noticed about 4 months ago that my coolant had dropped a couple of inches in a few days. After some investigation and a trip to my local Fiat garage I was diagnosed with a radiator leak. My dealer quoted a whopping £447 to replace (including the hoses and anti-freeze)....

Did a bit of searching on the internet and found a product called "K Seal" (cost £10), looked around various forums and the feedback seemed fairly positive, so gave it a go. The marketing gumf said that it should create a permanent fix (unlike Radweld which is supposed to be a temp fix) to any holes or cracks less than 0.75mm once the radiator gets upto temp and as its copper based will conduct heat correctly across the plugged hole.

... I`m pleased to say that it did indeed fix the problem in a matter of minutes (...does what it says on the tin and all that)... and four months down the line I still haven`t lost any coolant.

Just thought you might want to try this before shelling out the big bucks. Anyone else had experience of this or similar?

 

[DaveG]

Although I first found it in my local car spares shop, guy behind the counter recommeded it over Barr`s Leak and Radweld, was sceptical at first, but did a trawl of various forums etc and took the chance, it certainly has done the trick for me.

 

[HornetUK]

Dave G my coolant takes about 1k miles to go down about 3mm, its a small leak on the radiator I think.

The K Seal site says add K seal and 1 litre of water - will I have to wait until my coolant goes down more to do this as I'll be way over the max if I add K seal and a litre of water?

Cheers

 

[amclpreston]

RE: K-Seal

Yes I've used it on several cars that I've owned, including two Fiats.

Has worked very well for me... http://kalimex.moonfruit.com

Andrew

 

[dave]

i wouldn't use it, bungs up water ways

 

[pleinichen]

just curious about where you guys are buying your K-Seal and in what quantities?

The reason i ask is that i've used it a few times, and just bought another bottle for my current car, and it's always in 250ml bottles and just need to shake well and chuck them in the rad / expansion tank. None of the "1 litre bottle, needs to be mixed with 1 litre of water" - sound like a lot of fuss and bother to drain 2 litres of coolant first (unless you are draining the system and replacing it all - even more work when you think about bleeding the system too!).

Also, through the joys of eBay (if you can wait for an eternity for the Royal Mail to bother delivering !!!!!) you can get the little bottles for about £7 or £8 including postage - that's got to be cheaper then a new rad in my 104k mile Marea 105 JTD!

 

[nad1974]

Radweld

Hi.I've got a small hole in my rad causing me to lose a small amount of water every week.I thought i,d give some Radweld a try before replacing the rad altogether (might save myself a couple of hundred.If not ive only lost £6).
Now,my mate who owns a garage told me to warm up the coolant,then pour the Radweld into the coolant.But on the back of the Radweld bottle it says to pour it straight into the Rad.Which is right ?.Is the Rad on a Stilo('02,1.6,16 v)hard to get to ? Thanks.

 

[Ffoxy]

Re: Radweld

Hi.I've got a small hole in my rad causing me to lose a small amount of water every week.I thought i,d give some Radweld a try before replacing the rad altogether (might save myself a couple of hundred.If not ive only lost £6).
Now,my mate who owns a garage told me to warm up the coolant,then pour the Radweld into the coolant.But on the back of the Radweld bottle it says to pour it straight into the Rad.Which is right ?.Is the Rad on a Stilo('02,1.6,16 v)hard to get to ? Thanks.

Personally I'd just get a recon rad... I wouldnt put the rest of my coolant system at risk.

 

[B3NNETT]

Re: Radweld

crack an egg in it

no seriously, for the risk of blocking up all the thermostat etc.. its better just to replace one for one that doesnt have a hole in it. as there is also no guarantee that it will work, i prefer to work on the better safe than sorry principle.

 

[mrapriliafalco]

Re: Radweld

I had a small leak on mine also,I tried that Radweld and did not work.So I gave
K-SEAL a try and it worked A TREAT,no leak for around a year now.

 

[nad1974]

Re: Radweld

Thanks for that.Do you put the K-seal in the coolant or straight into the rad ?

 

[mrapriliafalco]

Re: Radweld

I put in straight into the expansion tank,(where you put the coolant into).
I bought it of ebay for around £6 but noticed its only around £8 or 9 at my local Euro parts.
Hope it works mate

 

[nad1974]

Re: Radweld

Cheers,thanks for that.

 

[dave]

Re: Radweld

if you could see the mess inside the coolant system K-seal makes you wouldn't use it. its for dodgy used car dealers to bung in an fix a car before selling. don't put it in your own car if you are keeping it

 

[Davren]

Re: Radweld

Stilo, in common with most modern cars, have small bore radiator cores. Traditional sealants are not suitable.

Wurth make one specificly for small bore radiators but it's about £20 a tin.

 

[nad1974]

Thanks.Found some Wurth's Radiator Seal HP online for £7.95 w/p.Has anyone any experience using this ? Is it better than Radweld,K-Seal,etc.?

 

[chicken_chau_mein]

Re: Radweld

crack an egg in it

I saw when they did this on Mythbusters! It actually worked and plugged the leak from the radiator!

 

[Pookster]

Re: Radweld

If your feeling brave just change the rad for a 3rd party one dearest one is for the stilo abarth at £80

http://www.aaronradiator.co.uk/catalog/Fiat_Stilo_Radiator-559-1.html

Don't know how much work is involved but would imagine that's a front bumper off job. Forward Auto's in St Helens quoted me £360 fully fitted inc VAT so shop around. Also you might find a garage that could swap it over for you at a cost fo £120, using sealant is fine if it's an older car that your going to run into the ground. But if not then just change the rad.

 

[roy lovelock]

Re: Radweld

If your feeling brave just change the rad for a 3rd party one dearest one is for the stilo abarth at £80

http://www.aaronradiator.co.uk/catalog/Fiat_Stilo_Radiator-559-1.html

Don't know how much work is involved but would imagine that's a front bumper off job. Forward Auto's in St Helens quoted me £360 fully fitted inc VAT so shop around. Also you might find a garage that could swap it over for you at a cost fo £120, using sealant is fine if it's an older car that your going to run into the ground. But if not then just change the rad.

i second that, i bought a replacement from eurocar parts and it was about 60 notes, i was loosing loads of coolant for a while.
the rads are easy to fit, just the not so quick release hoses are a pain, the car needs to be quiet high in the air as well.
i wouldnt ever put these sealers into a modern car, back in the day my old fiesta (w reg suffex) was shot and i used powdered english mustard after rad weld etc didnt work, it was fine in that car for about 5 years until i scrapped it - but in a stilo i suspect it would have killed the car.

roy

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

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