Radiator sealing liquids, any work?

[gezzard]

The radiator on my Allegro 1500 has started leaking, it's not peeing out, but it has a sizeable damp patch, if that makes sense.

Anyway, over a nice cup of tea this lunchtime my efforts to find a new one proved fruitless, soy thoughts turned to some kind of sealer.

So, I ask you knowledgeable lot if there's one that works 'better' than others? I've seen a few radweld, Kseal, Barr's.

Of course, if you know of a new radiator then I'd appreciate that too.

Cheers chaps.

[Rich]

Feb 18, 2023 14:09:56 GMT gezzard said:

The radiator on my Allegro 1500 has started leaking, it's not peeing out, but it has a sizeable damp patch, if that makes sense.

Anyway, over a nice cup of tea this lunchtime my efforts to find a new one proved fruitless, soy thoughts turned to some kind of sealer.

So, I ask you knowledgeable lot if there's one that works 'better' than others? I've seen a few radweld, Kseal, Barr's.

Of course, if you know of a new radiator then I'd appreciate that too.

Cheers chaps.

The issue with sealers is they will often coat the inside of everything and leave anything from lumps of slime blocking the rad and matrix core to solidify into a lump blocking the thermostat (I’ve seen it all, trust me) and don’t get me started on K seal. Will look like someone’s grated a copper pipe into your radiator and you’ll never get rid of it. Great as a bodge on something you don’t really care about but yea. I wouldn’t advise unless you are really REALLY stuck.

[paul99]

Could your original rad be patched or repaired?

[slater]

K seal works a treat. I wouldn't call it a permanent repair but I've seen it block a 1/4 hole in a core plug and doesn't block up heater matrixes or anything like that. Definitely does what's in intended to do!

Last car I used it in (with a holed rad) lasted over a year with no issues. Every now and again the rad would spring a leak again (probably as the corrosion continued) but the residual sealer in the system just comes along and blocks the hole again. Deffo one of those things you would want in the emergence toolkit on a long trip.

[homersimpson]

Can you not get a radiator repair company to replace the core in your existing radiator?

Thats the general practice on older cars where radiators aren't available new.

I've had a few done over the years by Motarads in Redditch www.motoradsonline.co.uk/pages/About-Us.html, they are local to me but there are no doubt many others and you could try Motarads and see if they would do a rebuild by post.

[dodgerover]

You could probably get a new core fitted to your existing rad if you aren't running it daily. If it is just a pin hole in a tube you can solder them up carefully for a permanent fix.

[igor]

An old retired Englishman I knew back in the '80s once told me that when he worked in west Africa as a young man just starting out in the oil industry he received some very valuable advice from an old Arab trader. It was this, "Bread for water leaks, soap for petrol leaks, and monkey skin for fuel pump diaphragms."

[truckdoctor]

Car body filler works a treat, dab a big blob on and job done. Just clean it before application. It doesn't mention it does exactly what it does on the tin, but it does.

[redratbike]

like this

based in hereford

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325489499594?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338364433&toolid=11000&_ul=UK&customid=EAIaIQobChMIsoKczaWu_QIVitPtCh2qXQokEAQYAiABEgJL1vD_BwE&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsoKczaWu_QIVitPtCh2qXQokEAQYAiABEgJL1vD_BwE


if no good i would find a local radiator specialist and have yours recored