Rotor

Radweld and any other miricle cure is only a "get you home" fix , not permanente , if the rad is leaking visualy buy a new one or you will damage the cylinder head/ gasket , if the water is "just disapearing" the the head gasket has probabley already gone , driving the car like this will destroy the engine in a very short time.

Bigger Jim

You can get them repaired or recored which is particularily useful if you have an obscure make of car, in any case they should normally be cheaper than a new one.

Jim

Rotor

Not if it has plastic header tanks and most modern cars have.

Bigger Jim

Because I've never had a car with a radiator with a plastic tank I Googled away and found loads of dealers who would repair, replace and/or rebuild, There were also articles on DIY repairs which called for a measure of skill. Obviously can't comment but would certainly make some enquiries as to whether or not there were garages in my area that could make the appropriate repair.

Must be I'm a cheap old git.

Jim

Rotor

Guess you may be

Im in the trade and have never known any garage or mechanic to mess around with a plastic header tank as its not worth it , if it fails you can destroy an engine in around 3 minutesa new rad would only be 20 to 30 euro more if you could buy the core on its own, I`d hazard a guess that 95% of cars today use plastic headers , these crack as well as core failure.

Bigger Jim

Just looked in Yellow Pages and there they were offering Radiator Repairs, rebuilds, core replacements etc. Googled replacement rads and found that there was some difficulty in provisioning some makes of new car rads but they could again repair same.

Honda rads were the only ones I saw advertised as non repairable.

This was nowhere near an exhaustive search on my part and I'm certainly not saying you are wrong but are they all wrong.

JIm

Rotor

I speak from first hand experience not " I read on the internet"

Bigger Jim

Always used to teach my techs always check never assume if there is ever any doubt.

Jim

Rotor

This is getting a bit boring but I can tell you when I owned a factors in the UK garages never ever asked for a rad core , just for a rad as its not viable to mess around repairing them and still have problems, the only cores that are viable to change are generally with brass headers found on larger vehicles such as trucks and heavy plant , plastic headers often fail before the core , now do you get it?

Bigger Jim

Now I understand. A lot of people don't like using the internet its a sort of phobia. But many thanks anyway for your forebearance.

Jim

Casa Santo Estevo

Over heating could be down to the fan not working. If so it may be due to a faulty switch, fan motor, fuse blown or a poor electrical connection.
Second hand parts are always available at a breakers yard (Desguaces).

lunacrout

Hi all - thanks for all that - just read it all out to OH.

It is a Honda as it happens - a CRV - and there is a leak, but not sure just where it's coming from, I suppose it needs to go up on ramps. He's just put in some stuff he got from a petrol station called 'Tapa Fugas Radiador' - but I suppose if it's a hose leaking it won't have much effect.

We got home from a motorway drive last night & could see steam rising from the bonnet - there was also a very strong smell of curry - which is a bit of a mystery

Fredbargate

Honda built in India?

lunacrout

Possibly - all I know is it gave me a craving for a chicken madras & wished they did home delivery out to the campo

.

Rotor

Whilst we are on this subject its worth noting many guiris think because we dont get frosts on the costas you dont need anti freeze in your car and tap water will do, wrong, tap water causes headgasket failure, core plugs to rot and also blocks up the rad with limescale!