Radiator Leak

The radiator in my 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 8L V10 4x4 is leaking. I’ve tried adding alumaseal; it helped a little but didn’t fix the problem. Yesterday, I tried a product called Seal Up from CarGo (part number 1116). The instructions are:

1. Flush the radiator.

2. Fill the radiator with plain water.

3. Idle until operating temperature is reached.

4. Add water to fill radiator and then add Seal Up.

5. Idle until leak stops. (I idled the truck for about 1 hr yesterday and the leak appeared to have stopped.)

6. Drain radiator and wait 12 hours.

7. Flush radiator with plain water.

8. Refill radiator with a 50/50 mix of coolant/water.



This morning I started step 7. I filled the radiator with plain water and let it idle to operating temperature. I just turned off the engine and noticed water bubbling from the same place there was a crack before. It looks like the Seal Up didn’t work.



I have a video of the problem at http://www…UoK9VxttkU







What now?

The video is kind of dark. However, it becomes very clear and bright in the last 5 seconds of the video.

It looks like the radiator is leaking where the plastic end cap is crimped to the metal radiator. No stop leak is going to work there, stop leak only works if you a hole in the metal tube of the radiator. You need to replace the radiator, it is 14 years old, they don.t last forever.

With nothing to loose you can try a patch job. JB weld or similar, prep with a light sanding and alcohol rubdown. I could not tell from the video so I’ll take old timers word for what he sees.

JB Weld will not help. This is just like ‘oldtimer11’ said. You need to replace the radiator. There is no patch for a leak at this crimp. Shop around. I recently found one for my Ford Explorer for $135, and it was a quick change out.

The radiator is so old, you need a new one anyway.

There’s a time to throw in the towel and get a new radiator and unless a leak is something like a pinhole on a brass radiator tank, they’re generally not worth the time and aggravation to keep them from leaking.

It’s quite possible (as my youngest son found out one time) to have a plastic radiator tank instantly split wide open like a watermelon hitting a concrete floor. Why push your luck.