plastic welding radiator tank.....

[lounge lizard]

so

I have a crack in the passenger side radiator tank. just like most others have gotten.
and I have wondered if this happens because of the body lift raising the radiator and the fluid wanting to be at level with the motor.

now I know you can lower the rad. some in the body on some model explorers.

but

I brought home a plastic welding from work and I was wondering if or what type of plastic is the tanks made out of?

I have some PVC rod which can be used to weld PVC and ABS plastic.

so
I figured I would try this and see if I can repair it. if not, I just have to get a new one and put it in.

planning on that anyway! but if I can do this and save some $$ why not?

any input on this project??

 

[colintrax]

Pretty sure the radiator is a thermoset plastic, which means you can't melt it. Feel free to give it a try and let us know what happens though

 

[lounge lizard]

welding tank a waste of time.....

well

after getting the radiator out of the truck. I found that there was no way to weld the tank.

the old radiator.

the hair line pressure crack is between the two middle ribs and ends at the two outer ribs.

new radiator.

 

[lounge lizard]

here is that tab on the passenger side that holds the condenser to the radiator.

the driver side condenser bracket did not want to come out. and with the temp outside at 20 - 25 degrees out it decided to break instead.

so I cut the top part of the mount that broke off. and I only used the lower part of the mount to hold the condenser from the bottom to the middle of the radiator.

 

[lounge lizard]

this just sucked

after an hour or more of just wrestling with the condenser and radiator to get them into place.
I finally had it very close to being ready to mount to the truck.

got the passenger side mounted up and all has to be done is hook up the upper hose.

made it all fit once again! then it was time for the final hook ups and the refill.

after 4 - 5 hours I had it all back together and filled up with antifreeze

 

[lounge lizard]

the lower radiator hose came out of the truck looking like this after being in the truck for almost a year after a body lift.

so I had to cut off about 2" of hose to give it some room.

something I will have to change out in the future to a flexible hose like I have on the upper hose.

 

[Torqueranger]

I just replaced my radiator to because of the same problem except my cracks where vertical but I had problems getting the tranny lines sealing and had to use Teflon tape...

 

[lounge lizard]

well
I got my radiator at pepboys. I know right!

but it had secondary fitting in it for the transmission lines, which made it so much easier to get them in place and to seal up.

my hard part was the condenser brackets.

there is just no room to move the radiator to the passenger side while moving the condenser to the driver side.

but after modifying the driver side condenser bracket, it was much easier then if that driver side bracket was completely in tact.

but I'm still wondering if doing the body lift had anything to do with the failure of the radiator?

I know mine was the original radiator from the factory, so it most likely needed to be replaced anyway.

 

[lounge lizard]

my old radiator is cracked vertical as well. you just can't see it in the picture.

it just runs through the ribs in the middle of the picture