Any suggestions on this radiator leak fix? It appears to be a very small hole at the very bottom of the radiator copper coil. I have access to it without taking the whole thing out. Any common way to patch this that has worked? It appears be be on the point of curvature on one of these copper tubes.
First Question how old of a radiator/vehicle are you asking about?
Hard to see much in the photo. Is this on your 580LE or John Deere 410D ?? Looks more like an oil cooler ??
Yes, sorry john deere 410D 1996. I believe this is cooling the reverser fluid. It is part of the radiator though, in front.
if facing the front of the tractor, bottom right hand corner of radiator.
Fixing it in the chassis is near impossible. Pull the radiator and take it to a shop and have it repaired. They will boil it out, clean it, repair any holes and return it. You may end up needing a new core as that one is too far gone.
I suspect the actual leak is above that point and dripping down to the tube you photographed. That loop looks more like an oil cooler or maybe a AC condenser.
It looks like the schematic you posted is of the hydraulic and trans cooler circuits which contain oil rather then coolant. As stated above fliuds tend to drip down and blow in direction of air movement from fan. So i would be looking forward and up of where the coolant is accumulating.
If there is any confusion, your .pdf image showing the oil cooler is not part of the radiator. Your first photo shows coolant dripping off of the dual function oil cooler. It cools the torque convertor oil and hydraulic oil. Probably need to remove the oil cooler so that the radiator can be R&R. IMHO of course.
I'm just here for home-made cookies.......I hope!
Is the oil cooler separate from the radiator? I guess i thought it was one big unit.
Need to follow that drip all the way north to where it starts, can be deceiving. May get lucky with loose clamp or fitting.
Is it oil or coolant dripping out of there? it could be either based on the red color, one way to tell is to wet your hand and drop some in your palm, oil will stay separate, coolant will dissolve in the water and spread out. Or use a piece of oily paper.
I could give my suggestion for a test, but it would leave a bad taste in your mouth!
It is the oil cooler and it is 100% leaking from that seam at the start of the point of curvature in that photo. The only oil in the system i know of that is red is the reverser oil, or possible the transaxle oil. Any fixes in place? i tried a few things, epoxy puddy, stretch wrap... otherwise ill have to pull it out.
The LH side of the image I posted shows exactly which oils go thru the cooler. Replacing the cooler is a better option than repairing it because of the pressure in it when the tractor is running.. IMHO of course !
No, there is really no magic trick or treat that is going to fix that in place. Without taking out and cleaning, I would expect that even if it leaking from where you say it is, as soon as you hit that with a torch for soldering all kinds of bad stuff will happen. You could try a piece of split rubber hose with a clamp, it may help, but I expect it may deteriorate more.
Is this cooler necessary for light use of the machine. Could it be bypassed?
Yes, it can be bypassed if the machine's torque converter is never used for more than a very brief period. A working transmission oil temperature gauge would be critical, not just a high temp warning light. OR, a smaller cooler could be swapped in with the same close eye on the trans oil temp gauge. From the looks of it, removing that rust will cause a couple more spots to leak. But it might not be as bad as it looks. If it can be cleaned up, then JBweld might hold with a second layer reinforced with fiberglass wrapping. Or maybe the bad tube could be cut back and welded/brazed/soldered, assuming this has several parallel paths.
JB weld seems to have worked. Ran it for a good half hr with no leaks. I'm lucky on the location of the leak, i was able to coat the entire area. I let it cure for a 24 hrs before i tested it.
Keep a CLOSE watch on it and good luck
Now take it to the auction . . .
Thanks for reporting back.