I am looking for a stop leak product for steel core radiator on Cat 943 rear engine track loader. From all the time spent on this site, there seems to be more repair knowledge and fix-it tricks from mechancis than any school or books could begin to teach! The leak just started and appears to be from rust on a core tube, enough to blow bubbles with soap and water. Cat dosent have any radiators in supply, so recore price is $1400 and 5 days down time . I appreacite any thoughts and ideas till I can get past this rain. Thanks Divedigger
In my experience none of the products (Barr's Stop Leaks was one IIRC) you have in mind work long-term. However they might work in the short term if you're planning on doing a proper radiator core repair or replacement further down the line when the weather improves it might just work.
I wouldn't use any product sold as stop leak (mostly from what I've read on here). If you can get at the leak (and don't mind draining the coolant) you should be able to seal it up for a while. Weld, solder, JB weld, or thin two part epoxy even. If you use epoxy or JB, clean it as well as you can, put a vacuum on the cooling system and put some acid on the rust hole, when dry put the epoxy on and disconnect the vacuum after a couple minutes, then re-spread the epoxy in case you sucked a hole in it.
If the radiator is leaking in the middle of one of the tubes, as opposed to leaking at a joint, I have had success using a dab of silicon and a pop rivet. You say yours "appears to be from rust on a core tube" so it may be a good candidate to try that on if you have nothing to lose, so to speak. A lot depends on the actual integrity of the metal. Choose an appropriate sized rivet and drill an appropriate sized hole to insert the rivet in, smear silicon on the rivet and hole and pop it in. That is if you can get to the leaky part, of course. My fix lasted several years, but that could be because the tube was punctured and not rusted out. Also, you generally have the option of blocking off the bad tube. But keep in mind rust never sleeps, and it certainly never sleeps alone...
black pepper!! don't laugh to hard it works for a temp fix if you cant get to it to repair properly. if its in the middle of the tube just block it off if you can get in there to get it clean & sealed.
I have had good luck using Alumaseal. For a machine that size, I would try 2 tubes, then add another if needed. It is not a permanant fix, but will get you by. I have a D-6R with a leaky radiator, and for several years now when it strts to leak we throw a couple of tubes in it and it is usually good for several months. One day I will fix it right, but it is only used intermittenly, and hard to justify the $$ when a few buck worth of Alumaseal get it through another job/
Dont use any stop leak! Ill share my $20k stop leak story. It all started like the divediggers. Stop leak sedimented up along the back liner and created a hot spot, scored piston. Fixed the engine. Got the leak fixed (core to headerplate soldered) Took out the waterpump impeller, thermostat, plugged rad core with solder peices that were floating in the tanks from a expensive lazy repair shop. So after destroying my engine with $6 worth of stop leak and a "buy me some time" radiator repair. Spend the $1500 and take the machine down or spin the cap loose and keep filling it with water. I also learned A LOT about radiator construction, materials and whats good/bad. A horizontal fin will be the strongest. Thick header plates and tubes. They can also reinforce the corners on the header plates. You definitely get what you pay for here.
I second this reccomendation,from personal experience it does work,sometimes.Will not 'gum up' the cooling system like the regular stop leaks.I have also heard of putting an egg or two in the radiator....no joke.Never tried that one,though.
I understood that it was egg whites, leave the "yokes" out. :beatsme
I'll second doylex's comment, spend the money, deal with the downtime and fix it right.
You may be right,like I said, I never tried it.
K seal is good and has worked for me http://www.kseal.com/uk/radiator/?gclid=CO_J78fI8LYCFbMQtAodrSMAMQ&repeat=w3tc
i used seal-well on our hitachi ZX870-3LCH excavator it lasted for months.A very good product for a quick fix.
Funny you should mention Black Pepper. My son in law is in his 4th year of medical school and told me that the best thing to stop blood loss on a person is black pepper,, imagine that. My wife had had a mole removed from her face and early evening that thing started bleeding like a savage. We tried everything to stop the bleeding. Direct pressure, Vaseline, to no relief. As a final resort, we turn to the black pepper and it stopped immediately. So I can totally believe that pepper could stop a radiator leak.