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cost to replace radiator?

15K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  BIGp 
#1 ·
hello all.
I have a 02 elantra gls ....no warranty..........
I have a small crack on the top plastic part of the radiator.will the entire radiator have to be replaced? i think it will.
what can i expect to pay for parts and labor for this job?
thanks.........bigp
 
#3 · (Edited)
I dunno about how well the hyundai radiator would hold up and how big of a crack it is, but I had two 1 inch-long cracks on the plastic top of my old 89 Civic radiator which I repaired and had it last 5 years until I sold the car.
I drained the fluid a bit, widened the crack a bit with an Xacto knife, taped off about a 1/2" section surrounding the crack, sanded the section, degreased and cleaned it. Then I used steel epoxy (I forget which kind but not the JB weld stuff cuz glycol eats through it) to fill the widened crack and coat the sanded section. I laid a piece of fiberglass cloth that was about a 1/4" surrounding the crack in size over the crack into the still wet steel epoxy and added a bit more epoxy to saturate the cloth. I let that dry, sanded it smooth, cleaned and degreased and then put another layer of steel epoxy to cover the whole 1/2" surrounding area, laying as smooth a top layer as humanly possible.
 
#4 · (Edited)
yes, it is leaking coolant.
the crack is about 1/4" going top to bottom.(pretty small)
i can see it seeping out when the coolant is warm.
it's on the front middle section of the plactic, near the cap.
i was also thinking aboutsome kind of bonding material.
it seem like a pain in the butt to do it myself.
should i get an oem radiator?
 
#7 ·
You didn't read my 1st post. Don't use JB weld cuz antifreeze eats it. There's another brand of steel epoxy... I just forget the name... if I remember it, I'll post it up.
You also have to reinforce it with something like fiberglass.
 
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