Fixing a radiator leak?

[tommyj27]

Long story short; late last fall a buddy and I changed the coolant in the gf's Shadow. We were freezing and in a hurry and did it completely bass-ackwards. This spring I pulled out her bike and noticed that coolant was seeping from the bottom of the radiator. I originally thought it was seeping around a rubber mounting bushing that was all tore up, so I ordered a new bushing. I went to put it on yesterday and realized that the bushing just slips over an aluminum standoff on the bottom of the radiator. The radiator is slightly dented around the standoff and this dent is where the coolant is coming from. I'm guessing that we probably tweaked it wrong last fall and broke a weld, although I can't find a crack or anything.

I called up a buddy who is a welding wizard and he thought that we might be able to seal it back up. Besides a welder, anyone have any other thoughts on fixing this that doesn't include buying a $370 radiator?

[thatkid]

Buy some of that stuff that you pour into the radiator to stop leaks. I don't remember the name but it worked for a leak I had. Just figure out how much you need to pour in vs a car radiator. A bottle is about 8-10 bucks. You can send a check this way for 200 and still be under.

[tommyj27]

I've always heard that all the stop-wyx-leak products are a no-no. Not so?

[shredex]

on the myth busters, they put a poured a raw egg into the radiator and that stopped the leak...myth confirmed...

[reelrazor]

I'd stay away from the stop-leak if it were mine-or was gonna be attributed to me.

That's stuff is to keep the rotting hooptie on the road a lil bit longer.....

I would look for a sign around your town....or in the yellow book, for a radiator repair facility. It is probably soldered together. Start putting weld level heat into it and you are likely to make the solder run out of other joints.

[tkclow]

I agree, try to find a radiator repair shop, they can find the leak and also most of the time repair unless it is really bad. Plus they usually flush and clean it also. Not usually too expensive and for sure cheaper than a new one. Unless the Bars-leak is done correctly it will tend to just go to the bottom (if it makes it that far) and just turn into a clump and just plug the radiator. At least thats what it tended to do with the Subaru Headgasket Recall. We all just called it the radiator clogger.

[mossy1200]

I wouldnt put any product inthe radiator unless i was stuck on a tour and had no choice.
A radiator shop will pressurise the radiator,find the leak and braise it then flush it in under an hour if you take the radiator in to them.
Dont pay them to remove it.LOL

[tommyj27]

Dont pay them to remove it.LOL

No worries there. It's sitting in the back seat of the cage right now! I'm running out to my buddy's place tonight (I have to go out there anyways), we'll take a look and see if it's something he can handle. He's not the type to get in over his head, so he'll defer to the radiator gurus if it comes to that.