'96 850 radiator leak problem

FluffyWaffle · Post by **FluffyWaffle** » 30 Jul 2017, 10:00

Hey y'all, new user here

I've discovered a fairly steady leak in my radiator. It appears to drip from a seam on the passenger's side of the radiator (see picture attachment). I wanted to ask if there were any temporary fixes for this problem until I could get a replacement as money is tight for me. I've heard of Bar's sealant but never used it, same for epoxies. I'm worried if Bar's would wreck the system, and even then I wouldn't know which one to try.

Some information that may help:

The leak is a steady drip. It will begin to drip before the car has reached normal operating temperature. Leak continues after car shuts off until engine cools down. In the attached picture, I noticed bubbles forming directly above the large drip where the picture doesn't show.

I'm going to clean the area and run the car again. This should highlight exactly where the leak is coming from. It seems driving has painted a lot of areas green that may not be related to the leak.

Post by **matthew1** » 30 Jul 2017, 10:16

Welcome to MVS. I too was wary of an internal, system-wide sealant when my '97 began its hissing leak from the top of the radiator.

So I did the external epoxy thing for months. It was just whatever O'Reilly sold at the counter for radiator leaks. Re-application was necessary every 2-3 weeks. There's no getting around it: it's safer, but very kludgey and very temporary.

I kept water and coolant in the trunk.

Post by **kahl** » 30 Jul 2017, 10:45

Where in Ohio are you? I may be able to direct you to a serviceable used radiator.

FluffyWaffle · Post by **FluffyWaffle** » 30 Jul 2017, 13:14

Update:

I cleaned it off, filled the coolant up and drove it around. Pretty hot day today. When I finished my ~20 minute drive I discovered a hissing noise from near the TOP of the radiator! Discovered bubbling on the same side as the original dripping.

Got JB Water Weld. I'm going to let the engine cool and apply it later today, and see where we go from there.

Post by **abscate** » 30 Jul 2017, 13:41

If you pull the radiator off its pretty easy to take off the end caps and seal them with epoxy.

I've got a 4 year old one which I opened up if you want to try it on a new kit.

Post by **Clemens** » 30 Jul 2017, 14:38

Stay away from internal sealants like bars leaks. They work, but also kill your heater core and might lead to oberheating later on.
The job itself is not that hard if you know how to turn a wrench. Just takes some time. I did my second radiator last week and I'm glad I didn't have to deal with the sealant/epoxy as I had originally planned to do.

FluffyWaffle · Post by **FluffyWaffle** » 30 Jul 2017, 16:25

Okay, so I tried applying a fair amount of JB Water Weld stuff to the leak point on the top of the radiator. I'll let it cure for an hour or two before giving the car a test run to see if the leak's fixed or at least subsided.

Post by **Chuck W** » 30 Jul 2017, 19:56

Looks like it's time for a new radiator.

Too bad it's a turbo. I just put a new radiator in my 96 NA 5spd a couple months ago, but I can't use it in the new 97 T5, as it only for a manual non-turbo car which has the radiator fittings for the trans cooler, and not the oil cooler. (Didn't think it would matter at the time...)