You may have heard that you can easily fix your radiator on your own. “Just solder the radiator neck or fins…”, “Try this putty or adhesive and the leak will immediately stop!”, or “It is not possible to fix a radiator!”.
Now here is the truth, old traditional car radiators were designed fully with metal, normally copper or brass, therefore, you could simply apply metal fillings to repair and patch them. Just soldering and brazing them was enough to return them into a fairly good working condition.
The current modern car radiators are now made from two major materials. The first one is aluminum. Carmakers utilize this as the “core” or, the section that conducts the heat exchange. Aluminum is more difficult to repair as compared to copper and brass radiators that were installed in olden day cars. These radiators’ cores are thin thus they are not weldable, brazing can be effective at times but it is difficult to seal the hole.
Radiator Cap
The other material that modern car radiators utilize is plastic. They utilize plastic tanks on either side of the core and they compress and fold the plastic tanks to the core made from aluminum. These folds and ridges are at times prone to leaks. To re-crimp these joints you have to have special equipment and tools, only select radiator shops can do this. You cannot repair theses joints without using special tools.
Also, modern trucks and cars now have a transmission cooler embedded into the radiator. Any sign of the coolant having a red oily liquid raises the possibility that there is a transmission fluid leakage into the coolant. Replacing the radiator is the only solution to fix this problem. An auto repair professional can make these repairs for you. Need your radiator fixed? Don’t hesitate to call us today!
