DIY aluminum radiator repair

If a car's radiator leaks, then most of us resort to replacing it. However, in most cases it is possible not to change, but to repair the radiator. Sometimes no skills are required, but sometimes it is impossible to do without knowledge in the field of welding or soldering. We learn to determine the condition and try to restore the radiator with our own hands.

The most common problem is when the radiator leaks due to old age. Coolant (coolant) runs out of the joints between metal and plastic, which automatically leads to overheating of the engine. It is not always possible to find a replacement radiator, and repairs will cost at least 2 times cheaper than a new one.

Further we will talk about car radiators in general and it does not matter if it is a repair of a heater radiator, an air conditioner radiator or a radiator of the engine cooling system.

Repair of a radiator with chemistry. Minor damages can be repaired with special products known on the market as radiator refurbishing fluid, radiator sealant, or powder reductants. The principle of operation is approximately the same: pour the radiator reductant into the engine cooling system (SOD). The resulting mixture will seal cracks when exposed to air.

Chemistry is different from chemistry, therefore, it is impossible to answer for the quality of such a method as a whole. For example, a low-quality reductant may not help, but, on the contrary, harm it by clogging up the entire SOD. For example, the stove will stop heating and it will be necessary to flush the SOD or change the radiator of the stove. Better chemistry is able to eliminate radiator leakage only for a while (from several days to several months). Thus, chemistry for repairing a radiator is only a temporary solution to the problem.

There is a popular method for repairing radiators. It consists in patching holes using cold welding (a material similar to plasticine, which hardens after use). It is better to close up a small hole in the radiator after degreasing the work surface well. If the hole in the radiator is large, then a piece of tin can be used as a patch, which is again glued with cold welding.

We repair the radiator honeycomb with a mixture of epoxy resin and hardener. Degrease and pour the substance into the damaged honeycomb and level it with a spatula. Now the holes in the radiator are 100% sealed.
In general, the folk method involves the use of many materials for sealing, I just showed the main ones. Whether this approach can be called a high-quality radiator repair, decide for yourself.

The following instruction assumes knowledge of basic welding and soldering skills.
To repair the radiator permanently, it must be removed, but before that, the coolant must be drained from it (described in detail in the article on cleaning the radiator). Now that the radiator is dismantled, we can determine its condition, whether the radiator can be repaired or replaced with a new one.

Repair the radiator by soldering. We clean the place that will be restored well and solder a piece of sheet brass (brass radiators). Here you need to resort to using a gas torch and a soldering iron.

If the radiator tubes are cracked, then it is better to replace them with new ones. We heat the solder until it becomes soft and take the tube out of the tank. In its place we solder a new one. The disadvantage of this method is the effect of high temperatures on the elements of the radiator, which leads to its internal deformation.Therefore, it is better to use argon arc welding (argon welding).

Repair of a radiator with argon welding. The filler material here is a special welded aluminum wire. Special equipment is indispensable here. It should be noted that places treated with argon will be protected from oxidation.
Repair of a radiator using gas-dynamic spraying. When a special powder is accelerated along the inside of the radiator at a very high speed, a 1-1.5mm thick coating forms on the damaged surface. It makes no sense to describe these two methods, because they cannot be done at home.

There are various ways to repair a car radiator, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. In one case, there will be a short-term repair of the radiator, and in the other for a long time. If you doubt your abilities, then it is better to entrust the mission of restoring the radiator to specialists and argon welding. They will not only repair, but immediately clean the radiator and, if desired, install a brass tank.

If the radiator is damaged after a head-on collision of the car, then the repair will cost a pretty penny. It is more correct in this case to buy a new high-quality radiator.

The normal operation of the motor is influenced by many factors, including the correct operation of the cooling radiator. For example, a car is stuck in a traffic jam, the engine runs smoothly, and suddenly steam starts pouring out from under the hood of the car. Another case. In the cold season, the motorist suddenly wanted to turn on the stove. And then a breath of icy air was felt from the deflector, and the fuel began to be consumed much faster. A faulty radiator is the cause of these two phenomena. For this reason, it is necessary to try to identify its malfunctions in a timely manner and carry out high-quality repairs.

Among the options for a radiator breakdown there are those that can only be eliminated at a service station.

What can happen to the cooling radiator? So, the generator fails due to the fact that:

• The tightness of the pipes through which the coolant enters the radiator tanks is broken;
• Cracks form on the radiator tubes (for supplying and removing fluid);
• After a car gets into an accident, due to the effects of corrosion, cracks and holes appear on the radiator itself;
• The rubber seals of the steel are not tight;
• The conductive tubes were clogged, as a result of which the liquid could not be cooled sufficiently.

In order to repair a radiator with your own hands, you must first identify faults in its operation.

Learn how to make the correct highlighting of the number and whether you need it - find out in this material.

Also here you can find out how to remove the VAZ 2110 vacuum brake booster.

If there are leaks of coolant, then the radiator is faulty. It is not difficult to identify a radiator leak, you just need to carefully inspect the parking lot.

Looking for leaks. In case of problems with the radiator, this is the first action of any motorist. To do this, you need to open the hood, in which you then search for the pipes leading to the radiator. It is necessary to check the condition of the upper and lower pipes of the motor and two pipes of the stove. Careful inspection of the connections and the sealing clamps is necessary. Hoses must be free of cracks or breaks, and clamps must be free of leaks.

Next, you need to inspect the radiator itself, whether there are traces of recently leaked antifreeze on its body. You need to turn off the engine, wait until it cools down a little, then turn it on again and warm it up to operating temperature. What's in the open hole? During normal operation of the thermostat, antifreeze should flow inside. An empty radiator means that a stuck closed thermostat must be replaced.

You can also check the thermostat with a completely cooled motor.To do this, you need to remove the plug from the radiator and look into it. Antifreeze flowing inside means a stuck open thermostat. In addition, it is because of a faulty radiator that the motor constantly overheats. Diagnostics of the condition of the radiator is carried out as follows. The coolant levels are checked and should be normal. A "cold" start of the motor is carried out. When the engine warms up, the temperature of the pipes supplying the radiator becomes slightly higher. The radiator pipes must be cold. If the outlet pipes become warm, then the thermostat is out of order. If the lower branch pipe becomes warmer, then everything is in order with the thermostat, with poor cooling, we can say that the thermostat needs to be replaced (repaired).

Radiators made of brass. Holes, cracks, gaps in this kind of radiators are eliminated. Before starting work, you need to stock up on a powerful soldering iron (an electric one with a power of at least 500 W is fine); drill, flux or soldering acid (zinc chloride additive); solder; sandpaper and a metal brush.

First, the faulty radiator is removed from the car and cleaned. Further, all damage is inspected on it. Holes or small cracks, for example on the surfaces of the radiator tanks, as well as other damage can be cleaned with a brush. Then it is necessary to sand the soldering points to those. until a uniform metallic sheen appears. This is done in order to remove oxides and so that the solder and metal adhere perfectly. After that, on the brass surface (in the place of the proposed soldering), soldering acid, a drill with flux is applied, due to which the spreading of the solder along the damage will be excellent. When soldering damage, you need to look at the condition of the factory welded seams, which, when heated with a soldering iron on a highly conductive brass material, can also begin to "float". When damage is found near the places where factory seams are located, they are cooled or methods of restoring radiators from aluminum material are used.

Radiators made of aluminum material. To repair damage in this kind of cooling elements, it is worth taking various sealants and adhesives.

Holes with damage 1 cm deep are sealed using "cold welding", produced in the form of small bars and includes a pair of components with an adhesive base and a catalyst. Holes are repaired using the same method as repairs with epoxy and polyester adhesives. Before starting the process called "cold welding", its components are kneaded until they become a homogeneous mass and take the form of a conical shape, the sharp angle of which is pressed into the damage.

Cracks that form at the base of any of the tubes are sealed with epoxy adhesives or its components. The best results with this restoration method can be achieved by adding fillers (for example, aluminum powders) to the glue. A solution of the prepared glue is applied to the places ready for work, after which a certain number of layers of glass fabrics soaked in an adhesive solution are wound in the places of gluing (to increase the rigidity). After the completion of the repair work, the epoxy glue must be dried (at least one day), after which the radiator element can be operated.

Note that the restoration of radiators with huge holes is carried out using epoxy glue and glass fabrics. In this case, the damage is sealed with a certain number of fiberglass pieces, the size of each of which increases (ascending). Each layer is dried after gluing.

If the radiator plastic tank is damaged (such structures are quite common), you can use either the method described above, or soldering the plastics.For the process, it is necessary to use materials identical to those used in the construction. The sequence of soldering is identical to the connection of elements made of metallic material.

You will learn even more details about the repair of radiators from this video:

At the end of the article about how to repair a car radiator with your own hands, Recall that after self-repair, the radiator can last a long time if:

• secure it securely;
• the external radiator surface must be periodically cleaned with autochemicals;
• fill the cooling system only with high-quality antifreeze;
• the cooler must be changed periodically (when its qualities change).

You can also, in order not to suffer, buy a new radiator or send it to a service station for repair. As for the cost of repairs in specialized workshops, the price will depend on the service station itself, on how popular it is. For example, in workshops belonging to branded manufacturing enterprises, repairs will be more expensive. In service stations located outside the city, repairs will be cheaper. In cities closer to the center, repairs will be more expensive, further - cheaper.

The repair of aluminum radiators has always caused a stir, both on the part of the owners of cars and on the part of the craftsmen. The former constantly wanted to fix all the faults, the latter to make money. In this article we will try to consider all aspects of the repair of aluminum radiators. Everything described below applies equally to both cooling radiators and stove radiators.

Most common radiator malfunctions:

• the appearance of cracks in the area of ​​the outlet and supply pipes of radiators;
• violation of the tightness of the tubes;
• violation of the tightness of the seals;
• the appearance of holes and cracks as a result of mechanical damage;
• poor fluid passage, as a result of clogged tubes.

First, let's take a look at the construction of aluminum radiators and what composite materials are used during their production. The first type is a traditional aluminum radiator with plastic tanks, it may differ depending on the model by the type of cup clamping and the manufacture of the core. As a rule, the tanks are clamped with a wave rolling or teeth.

Sometimes it may seem that the difference is only in the method of rolling, but this is not true. Without going into details, we note that the type of gasket used between the bottom of the radiator and the reservoir imposes certain restrictions, or, in other words, entails the use of a specific type of rolling. Now let's look at the types of cores.

Typesetting cores are divided into:

• solid-brazed;
• typesetting (or prefabricated).

Solid brazed

These radiators are more difficult to manufacture, and, accordingly, they are much more expensive than prefabricated ones. The meaning of the core is that it is collected, like copper, but then sent to a special furnace, with an inert gas atmosphere and a strictly defined temperature for sintering. Then, when the core is ready, plastic tanks are connected to it using wave rolling. Naturally, there are also combinations of the above methods in nature.

As a rule, prefabricated models are based on round tubes with a cross section of 7-11 millimeters, and stacked heat sink plates, they are not welded to the tubes, but simply tightly put on them. The advantage of this design is its low cost, since almost all work is done mechanically, without the help of welding. But still there is one type of prefabricated radiators, where the tubes are not rolled through silicone gaskets to a metal mesh, but are soldered to an aluminum one. To these radiators, in 99 percent of cases, the tanks are connected by means of a toothed expansion of a certain type.

A bit apart are all-aluminum radiators, in which the cores and tanks are made of aluminum. The cores of these radiators are always manufactured by all-brazed technology.

But, surprisingly, not a single cooling radiator from a major manufacturer uses this technology, since the tanks may need as much material as the core itself. The only exceptions are exclusive American radiators, they are made under the order of the capricious owner of the "drag" or restored "classics".

In our country, this technology is found either in stove radiators of some manufacturers (for example, Daewoo Nubira, Lanos), or in models of an openly Chinese or domestic manufacturer. But these two described options, although cheaper than a copper-brass radiator, but the quality of their assembly and design is completely copied from the brass models, and inherits all the "innate" shortcomings. In addition to the above, it must be said about aluminum stoves, their tanks are not welded to the grid, as they should be, but glued, and even with the help of glue, which is dangerous to use even to a garden watering can, not like to a heating radiator.

That is, in order to make a high-quality aluminum radiator, which, in addition to a good heat sink, can still withstand mechanical and hydrodynamic loads long time, careful design is required, and the use of sophisticated equipment during production. And this increases the cost of the final product, which will immediately transfer it from the category of leaders, in comparison with the "copper" product, to the level of expensive outsiders.

Since, for example, at a GAZelle, on our roads, a brass radiator rarely drives off without breakdowns 40,000 Km, which is about a year with a daily load of 100 Km. After overhauling the radiator with our own hands, we can double its life time, unlike the factory one, but it is quite difficult to do this with an aluminum analogue, and most importantly, it is not very profitable financially. Here is a reason to ponder whether you need to save money when buying between an aluminum and a brass radiator?

As a rule, craftsmen call stoves and radiators exotic, which can be very rarely found. As an example, you can cite a heating device Opel Omega 1992, it is made of an all-plastic mesh (bottom) and tanks, made in one piece, and connected to an inlaid core, which has oval tubes, with a welded-on turbulator. Apart from this example, there are also a number of rare varieties, but this, again, is rare.

It should be noted that the more exotic the radiator is on your car, the more difficult it is for car mechanics to repair it, and not only because of the complexity of combining different materials, but also because the experience of many craftsmen simply does not make it possible to apply the tried and true one the first time repair option. That is, an inexperienced master will perform repairs at random, while learning the subtleties, so to speak, exercising with his own hands on your radiator, gaining experience for himself.

As mentioned above, plastic tanks make it easier tos and make the design cheaper. But it is necessary to make a reservation, the term "plastic", considering the tanks, is not very correct, since they are based on polypropylene, and no one will disclose the rest of the additives and impurities, survival in a competitive environment depends on it. Here you can find fiberglass reinforcement, fillers, and other tricks.

After a certain time, the plastic tanks dry up, the plastic base changes under the influence of a constant temperature difference, and they become brittle and form a leak. In this case, the best option would be to replace the radiator with a new one, because replacing the reservoir is not always cost-effective. But sometimes, if we consider exclusive models, you cannot do anything, how to repair cracks in the tank with your own hands, but here the second question arises - which repair option is better?

There is three main repair options:

• replacing the tank with a metal one, which is welded or soldered in place of the plastic one;
• soldering the tank with plastic;
• use of special polymers.

The first method is the most reliable, but also the most expensive, and there is still a problem with the second tank (since there are two of them in the radiator). If you replace two tanks, the cost will be such that it is easier to order a new, original radiator, and all the assurances of the masters, such as the radiator will be eternal, you need to ignore it, since the aluminum part also has a certain resource, and it decreases simultaneously with the resource of plastic cisterns. The high price of these tanks is explained by the fact that they are not made by the master himself, but by an industrial plant, like an aviation plant (Antonov Design Bureau or KhAZ), and the master only welds it with his own hands using argon welding.

The next two methods are more accessible, since use of polymers and plastic soldering is both cheaper and faster, and during the operation of an already very old radiator, it will make it possible to "turn over" before purchasing a new one, without large capital investments. But I must say that soldering a complex composition of polypropylene is sometimes even dangerous, you can make it even more fragile in the soldering area.

The repair of the aluminum honeycomb itself always caused a severe headache, both for the owners of the cars and for the craftsmen. The main reason is both sometimes a very complex and almost unrepairable design, and rather thin metal in radiators that do not have “weak points” in the design, so to speak. But let's look at everything in order.

The first type that we will describe is a prefabricated car radiator, which, as we said above, is inexpensive, but its high-quality repair requires quite large material investments, but at the same time it is quite possible with the hands of professionals. Design consists of a honeycomb part, which, by the way, if it breaks, it is not often, as a rule, the rubber seals fail first. Round honeycombs are fixed to the mesh by rolling, through a rubber seal, which is plastic at the beginning of life.

But this is only at first, and only when pouring high-quality antifreeze, then the gasket turns into just a terrible sight. For example, the resource of a German radiator, which is operated on high-quality antifreeze, is about 11-16 years, a Soviet one - 7-11 years, the resource of a modern and Chinese one can sometimes be from 20 minutes to several years.

If the soldering of the central part of this radiator (well, rubbed it, or punched it with a screwdriver) is possible with the help of special solders, then it is profitable and efficient for both sides, it is almost impossible to repair the "sinister connection". Some workshops, at one time developed a composition that makes it possible to solder aluminum honeycombs to a steel mesh, but, of course, it is inappropriate to use it for repairs, for example, for VAZ-2107 products, this option is well suited only for repairing "foreign cars".

This is already a more advanced product, which requires an advanced and expensive intervention during the repair. Since the solid-brazed unit is almost never found in budget cars (for example, Daewoo Lanos installs a solid-brazed version, while Daewoo Sens is type-set), the slightly more expensive repair cost justifies itself almost all the time.

Complication of soldering, for example, of corner honeycomb packages is explained by the fact that different metal thicknesses will not allow the craftsman, even a professional who handles the torch, to melt the solder, the temperature of which often reaches 500-650 degrees, and at the same time not damage the plastic tank.

Removing it for this is also impractical, and you can damage the factory connection, an alternative is a high-quality photopolymer or polymer.

As a result, I would like to say that the aluminum radiators of a car with their plastic tanks, although quite difficult to repair, but with a competent approach and high-quality materials, make it possible to achieve excellent results.