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Radiator stop leak


jenevers

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Had a leak on my diesel genny water system in an inaccessible place. So I drained and flushed a couple of times. Then refilled with Radweld and water (no antifreeze). Worked a treat.  Now that it's summer I thought I'd leave the antifreeze til later in the year (as its very "searching") and it would give the Radweld time to coat the system and prevent any further leaks. Then when winter approaches, drain the system and add the antifreeze. Anything wrong with that?

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24 minutes ago, WotEver said:

You do realise that Radweld is purely a temporary bodge to get you home, enabling you to find and repair the leak, don't you?

According to their website " Radweld works its way through the system seeking out leaks and forming permanent repairs in minutes."

Its worked for me as a permanent repair in the past.

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25 minutes ago, David Mack said:

According to their website " Radweld works its way through the system seeking out leaks and forming permanent repairs in minutes."

Its worked for me as a permanent repair in the past.

What happens when you put inhibitor into the system?

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31 minutes ago, WotEver said:

What happens when you put inhibitor into the system?

It's what doesn't happen, internal corrosion of the passages which incidentally is a cause of leaks. I doubt most people change the coolant or at least top up the inhibitor every couple of years.

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1 minute ago, NMEA said:

It's what doesn't happen, internal corrosion of the passages which incidentally is a cause of leaks. I doubt most people change the coolant or at least top up the inhibitor every couple of years.

Yep, I'm aware of that but I was wondering how much bodge fluid the inhibitor might wash away. 

  • Greenie 1
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I bought a diesel forklift cheap as it had a blown head gasket, so I drained and flushed the system and added a liquid head and block repair filled up with a 25% antifreeze solution and its been fine now for 4 years with no loss of water or pressurising.

Neil

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Add antifreeze and radweld together, no one has suggested that.

You don't mention where the leak is, if it's a cracked engine block, or heat exchanger?

You might want to up the anti, and use "kseal" in place of rad weld.

Whether you attempt a permanant repair or not depends if you can live without the generator from the day it becomes unservicable, and I hope you have some overheat device to shut it down in the event of a complete drain down.

Richard

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3 hours ago, jenevers said:

Thanks everyone for your comments.

i think a couple of months without antifreeze will be OK (think of all those raw water cooled engines).

I'll drain and add antifreeze then and we'll see what happens.

Six months without antifreeze will be fine: it's the inhibitor you need right now. Those raw water cooled engines you cite have a very different cooling system. You already have issues with your system which are not going to improve by running it without inhibitor and you're gonna have to add antifreeze for the winter at some point, so why not do the job right and do it now?

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2 hours ago, RD1 said:

Add antifreeze and radweld together, no one has suggested that.

You don't mention where the leak is, if it's a cracked engine block, or heat exchanger?

You might want to up the anti, and use "kseal" in place of rad weld.

Whether you attempt a permanant repair or not depends if you can live without the generator from the day it becomes unservicable, and I hope you have some overheat device to shut it down in the event of a complete drain down.

Richard

The leak was from a small pipe between the water pump and thermostat. I'd replaced the water pump cos the bearing had started to leak. After reassembling, the pipe started to leak but I would have had to take everything apart again which would have meant damaging the pump gasket. Getting another gasket would have taken too long so I used Radweld to solve the problem, which it has. 2 other members have already said they've had no problems since using Radweld. So I'm going off their experience.

There is a thermal cut out on the genny.

Edited by jenevers
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54 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Six months without antifreeze will be fine: it's the inhibitor you need right now. Those raw water cooled engines you cite have a very different cooling system. You already have issues with your system which are not going to improve by running it without inhibitor and you're gonna have to add antifreeze for the winter at some point, so why not do the job right and do it now?

Radweld contains anti corrosion protection. I didn't want the " searching" antifreeze to be combating the Radweld  until it had done its job. I'm giving it a couple of months then I'll drain and add the antifreeze.

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19 hours ago, Neil Smith said:

Sounds like the pipe has hardened over time and could be liable to more cracking in the future, probably should have replaced at the same time as the pump but hind sight is a fine thing.

 Neil

No it's a metal tube but the O-ring is where it was leaking. Not any more.

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