legacycentral bbs

I noticed I had a small coolant leak a couple days ago, and today I tracked it down by accident.

I was tightening up various hoseclamps that had worked loose, and as I was doing the main raditor hose, this little one above it just sort of, fell off





So the question is, what now?

Do I need a new radiator? Can I glue the broken one back on?

Can I plug the hole and drive the car as it is?

You could try to weld it back on with a plastic welding gun. (harbor freight sells them cheap) or you could just plug and seal it...then drive on. Then you can replace the radiator when you have the funds. Just try not to forget about it.

How much pressure does that thing take?

Could I drill out the hole, rough up the plastic and epoxy on a new nipple/hose barb?

There is only pressure applied to that hole when the pressure in your cooling system reaches the PSI marked on your radiator cap.

If your cooling system is in good condition it shouldn't hardly ever open. Unless your radiator cap is on it's way out.

Well as you can see its pouring out steam

That was after a 6 minute drive.

subawhatsubawho, your desire to help is admirable, but I would suggest you limit your advice to those subjects which you are qualified to discuss.

Splinter, let me explain what this nipple is, and then you can make an educated decision about how to proceed.

This nipple is at the very top of the passenger side radiator end tank. It opens directly into the end tank and therefore is at full cooling system pressure at all times; this is somewhere around 13 psi when the engine is warm.

Normally, it is connected via a hose, a hard pipe, and another hose (all rising gently) to the small nipple on the back of the filler tank. Built into the nipple on the filler tank is a check valve that only allows flow into the tank and not out of it.

The purpose of this path is to help the radiator burp its excess air out to the radiator cap, which is where it can escape from the cooling system and then be replaced by coolant.

So you have three basic options:

1) Try to reattach (or replace) the nipple. I don't know if the plastic is thick enough to accept threads, or if it's sturdy enough to hold anything. You'll have to make this call yourself. Keep in mind that the plastic was brittle enough that you already broke it once

2) Plug the hole somehow (and also cap off the nipple on the filler tank). If you do this, air can potentially be caught in the very top of the radiator and have no good path out. This probably won't kill your engine, but there is a remote possibility that it could allow an air bubble to get to a critical part of the engine's cooling jackets where it could cause big trouble. It still may be possible to burp the air out, though; if the plug were removable you could remove it to let air out (approximating the "burp screw" on non-turbo models). On my car, after I removed the filler tank I actually connected a hose with a ball valve in it to this nipple, so I could open the valve to burp air out (and even pour cooling into the system through it).

3) You can replace the radiator or at least the end tank. This is The Right Thing to do.

on turbo cars that feeds the turbo cooling system. bite the bullet and buy a new radiator, it's time anyway. i tried the epoxy fix with a new nipple but the heat/pressure/water wreaks havok on it and within a week it deteriorates. i tried different epoxies too.

I honestly cannot buy a radiator. I do not have the capability. The money doesn't exist.

Not for a couple months anyway.

I think what Im going to do, the most logical thing to do, is try to reattach the hose, if that doesnt work, plug the hole until I can get a new rad and pray.

Doesn't anyone see a problem here?

There is a large amount of steam coming from this nipple for just 6 minutes of driving. If I had that much steam coming from any part of my car I would be freaking out.

Is this normal?? Is it because it is cold where ever he is and I just never notice? I have a huge hole in the overflow tank of my new legacy and I never notice it dripping anything before or after driving.

Whats the skinny on the steam oh wise ones....

Yes, of course there is a problem. The steam is coming from the broken fitting because it is broken!

Punch a hole in your radiator and tell me if steam comes out.

vrg3 wrote:The steam is coming from the broken fitting because it is broken

For some reason I crapped myself laughing at this line.



subawhat, this fitting doesnt go to the overflow tank, it goes to the main reservoir, the black one thats under pressure.

Ahhh....I guess I don't have this on my vehicle.

My bad. No need to get all up in my shit for making a mistake. Atleast I speak up and try to offer advice unlike the nine-thousand lurkers on here.

Give me some credit.

I gave you credit in my first post in this thread. I also offered you some advice.

If I'm looking at the engine bay correctly, Splinter has a turbo.

That's probably why neither you, subawhatsubawho, nor me, know exactly what that hose is for.

In my considerable experience with plastic radiator tanks, and with plastics in general, it appears that when one nipple cracks, all the glass-nylon parts have lost their heat stabilizer and will go very fast right down the crapper

If you grab the cracked part you could probably crumble the entire thing with your bare hand. Needless to say this is impossible when new or in good condition.

you could try to find a good, used one but most will be original and just about to do what yours just did, and may not survive the installation process. a used, newer one would work but hard to find.

If I were forced to try to fix it, I would get a nylon hose barb, NPT threads on the other end (maybe home depot, definitely mcmaster.com), and attempt to drill the opening smooth, use an NPT tap to make threads, and thread in the hose barb, along with liberal amounts of epoxy on the threads

there isn't much wall thickness to work with so this may not work at all, but its the best I can think of. You could probably get by for a while by plugging it but I'd use the same technique, so might as well try to fit a hose barb.

There is the offender.

Since the actual radiator itself is fine, can I just replace the plastic piece on the side?

In principle, yes, you can replace the end tank. Plastic end tanks are typically crimped onto the metal core, thuogh I haven't inspected our radiators close enough to know. I don't know where you could source a replacement end tank, though, or even whether or not you can...

you are SOL, mate.

Your pic is good enough to see that the nylon is shot. You'll be able to break it up in your hands, which means it is weak all over.

When they do that, they are gone. If you repair that spot, you'll not make it more than a month or so before some other area blows out.

nylon is a crappy material for radiators since nylon absorbs water, swells up and loses strength, and eventually runs out of heat stabilizers and completely falls apart.

Yes there is a O-ring inside the crimp, its not glued, which means theoretically the end tank can be replaced, but I'm unaware of this being done commonly.

A month may be long enough for me to get the funds for a radiator


Is it a pretty straightforward job, to replace the whole thing?

Yes, it's easy.

- Drain the coolant by undoing the draincock in the rear side of the lower passenger-side corner of the radiator (this can be loosened by hand)

- Disconnect each radiator fan's electrical connector.

- Use a 10mm wrench to loosen the hose clamps holding the upper and lower radiator hoses to the radiator. (Actually, it looks like in your case at least the upper hose has an aftermarket clamp which probably takes an 8mm or 5/16" wrench.)

- Use a 12mm wrench to loosen the two brackets at the top that hold the radiator to the core support. Make sure you keep the rubber cushions that they attach to.

- Pull the upper and lower hoses off the radiator, and pull the radiator up and out.

- Installation is the reverse of removal, pretty much. You'll probably have to transfer your fans over to the new one, and of course you'll have to fill and burp the cooling system.

I meant in terms of lining everything up

Standard bolt pattern on the rad and fans?

Oh awesome.

Turns out the radiator is far more fscked than I thought.

The attachment for the main hose on the top passenger side (right next to the one Im trying to fix) is also shattered. Its not leaking, but who knows how long its got.

Is that an intake or an outlet? Id hate a little piece of broken plastic to get caught somewhere in the cooling system

I don't know what you mean by "standard bolt pattern."

A replacement radiator for a 91-94 Legacy Turbo will have the same threaded holes for the radiator fans that your stock radiator has.

There really isn't anything to line up when installing the radiator.

Yeah, like professor said, all the plastic is gonna be brittle...

Technically that upper hose is primarily an outlet from the radiator into the block. I don't see why that matters with respect to plastic bits getting in the cooling system though.

Maybe you should look for a cheap used non-turbo radiator for the time being. With a little effort you can make it fit.

I sort of answered my own question while doing some research

Radiators are not at all universal, I need precisely the same thing.

Not having much luck finding one in the area.