I have a small leak somewhere near the bottom drivers side in my radiator. Radiator shop wants $50 to clean, pressure test, epoxy and pressure test again...is it worth it or do they just use some epoxy I can pick up myself?

 

I had a leak on the top of my radiator right on the top of one of the columns on the side, really small crack that seeped coolant, tried a universal plastic epoxy which held for a week, then got Permatex radiator epoxy, looks like a tube of toothpaste and looks like grey clay, and that has held great, no issues for almost a year, and if they are cleaning it, more than likely they will use a radiator flush with pressure, which will mess up your radiator. I would do it yourself, pull the radiator, find the leak, epoxy, run water from the hose through it, flush your system with water also, replace with peak universal and test it. It could be time consuming though and $50 seems cheap because if they are doing it right, they need to pull the radiator, but I can't imagine the shop could do a better job. I personally hate paying for anything service related and am scared of shops. This is long winded and from your number of posts you have I imagine I am telling you a bunch of stuff you already know, but I always prefer responses where I dont have to ask a bunch more questions...

 

for $50 your joking right, let them fix it and frame the bill. it could quite possibly be the lowest repair bill in LR history.

 

$50 is for me pulling the radiator out and bringing it to their shop.

DiscoBenjamin, where did you pick up the Permatex radiator epoxy?

 

If it is an original radiator, don't waste your time, buy a new one from British Parts of Utah for around $270 cause your's is too old, can't be cleaned out properly and the plastic tanks are way to brittle.

 

From advance auto, I misremembered though, it did not come in a tube, this is it,
Permatex Gas Tank & Radiator Repair - 80884

 

On a 12 year old radiator, you would put a bandaid and then loose the engine one day when it fails again from old age, bad roll of the dice.

 

Mike's right, any formula of epoxy like material, or plastic welding or melting zip ties on it may close things up for the moment, but the plastic tanks are ready to crack in a bunch more places with age and vibration. Spot patch for when you drill a hole accidentally, not when the Rover-Rot decides to open one up for you. And be glad you don't need a D1 radiator....

 

It is not worth going through the trouble of draining the cooling system, taking the radiator out, making the trip to the radiator shop, picking up the radiator from the shop, reinstalling the radiator, pouring new coolant and bleeding the system even though it is only $50. For $250 more you can have a brand new radiator that will hopefully last another 12 years. Besides that radiator is on borrowed time, it could very well spring a leak somewhere else at any time. The plastic is very brittle from so many years of being exposed to heat.

 

The radiator for a D1 cost $600-$800 that is crazy.