Behr top radiator leak 1981 240D

[sun tortise]

My 81 240D was hit by a deer which pushed in the frame where the hood latches a little and now the radiator leaks, apparently from the seam between the plastic top tank and the lower portion, as it will not leak when the fluid gets down to the actual radiator. Cannot find the actual source of the leak. No obvious damage to the neck or any detectable looseness. How to fix, and where would one find the gasket that goes between the 2 sections?

[Marcan82]

Hi there! Saw Kent Bergsma on YouTube re-criming the top tank using appropriate vice-grip pliers with using adequate tension on the pliers. Try that.

[Diesel911]

Originally Posted by sun tortise

My 81 240D was hit by a deer which pushed in the frame where the hood latches a little and now the radiator leaks, apparently from the seam between the plastic top tank and the lower portion, as it will not leak when the fluid gets down to the actual radiator. Cannot find the actual source of the leak. No obvious damage to the neck or any detectable looseness. How to fix, and where would one find the gasket that goes between the 2 sections?

Seems obvious you need to find the source of the leak. The old school way is to pressurize the system. See the attached picture.
It could be that someplace like Autozone has a free rental on that tool.

You might find that the radiator shroud is covering up the view of a leak.

[sun tortise]

I could not find the Bergsma video on crimping the sections tighter. Also wondering if anyone knows where to find the gasket that goes between the plastic top section and the radiator core in case i wind up removing that top tank altogether.

Thanks!

[KCM]

I'm afraid gaskets will be very hard if not impossible to find. Had a leak between the bottom tank and core on my 300 non-turbo last year and was told by several radiator shops that gaskets were not available. In fact, nobody could get a radiator for the non-turbo 300. Maybe the 240 radiator is still available, as I know the 300 turbo still is. Ended up taking it to a radiator shop who uncrimped, cleaned, and crimped the tanks. He would not guarantee it would work but it did.

Another option is to put a 300 turbo radiator in, but that will require a different fan shroud plus adding the plastic remote fill tank as the turbo does not have a radiator cap on the radiator.

[Marcan82]

Originally Posted by sun tortise

I could not find the Bergsma video on crimping the sections tighter. Also wondering if anyone knows where to find the gasket that goes between the plastic top section and the radiator core in case i wind up removing that top tank altogether.

Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CesVTvgg-Vk&pp=ygUlT2xkIE1lcmNlZGVzIDMwMEQgRW5naW5lIFJlcG9ydGVkIERlYQ%3D%3D

[sun tortise]

I watched the video, and see that the seam leak is a fairly common problem, and i am fairly sure that the deer impact loosened those crimps enough to where that is likely the source of my leak.

I will give crimping a try.

[GregMN]

I have removed the entire top tank to clean out the "stop leak" that was clogging the tubes. After assembly, it never leaked. ( And I will never use stop leak. )

If you find that the top tank has a crack, you should be able to repair it with epoxy or JB Weld.

[Diesel911]

Comments on radiator tank repair. This is not on a plastic tank. I had a leaky top seam on a dodge radiator. I re-soldered it just as I had seen my neighbored in the past. Note that I had overhauled the engine. I drove it about a week with no issues and then I was in the number 2 lane on a 4-lane freeway and I suddenly over heated. By the time I got it safely off of the freeway I could hear the rods knocking. My engine was toast.

So now we are speaking of a cracked plastic radiator tank. Deciding to repair it or not is not up to me. However, below is a thread I did on another forum on plastic welding and repair.

I am no expert and the tool in thread is crude. I have fixed more things than shown in the thread, but they were non stressed things like clothing hampers and plastic storage containers.

In the thread JB Weld makes a plastic repair epoxy. However, I don't know what type of heat it can take.

One of the videos about fixing plastic bumpers which could come in handy on newer cars.


https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/threads/plastic-repair-plastic-welding.357229/

[sun tortise]

Plastic tank is fine. It turns out that there is a series of small oval tubes below the crimp area that lead to the core of the radiator. About 4 or 5 of these are sheared off, and that is where the leak is.

The plan is to stuff these openings with JB weld, supposedly their strongest, steel reinforced etc., that can supposedly handle 5020 p.s.i.

I am thinking i will lose that portion of the radiator for cooling, (< 5%) but hopefully stop the leak. This should hopefully make the car driveable locally until hot weather returns.

Also, the small electric fan in front of the radiator broke in the deer collision. I am hoping to get away w/o this also till hot weather returns.

Whaddaya folks think?

[Sugar Bear]

It will probably be ok. Watch the temp gauge and turn on the heater if it's running a little warm. May want to run a lower pressure rad cap.

[paul roberts]

Originally Posted by sun tortise

Plastic tank is fine. It turns out that there is a series of small oval tubes below the crimp area that lead to the core of the radiator. About 4 or 5 of these are sheared off, and that is where the leak is.

The plan is to stuff these openings with JB weld, supposedly their strongest, steel reinforced etc., that can supposedly handle 5020 p.s.i.

I am thinking i will lose that portion of the radiator for cooling, (< 5%) but hopefully stop the leak. This should hopefully make the car driveable locally until hot weather returns.

Also, the small electric fan in front of the radiator broke in the deer collision. I am hoping to get away w/o this also till hot weather returns.

Whaddaya folks think?

You can still get plenty of radiators for this for $165 to $300. We don't get many of these old 123s in anymore, but I installed a Mahle this past summer for a customer that was a perfect fit. Some of my suppliers still have the Behr brand still available. The small aux fan doesn't play much of a role in cooling these old 240s.

[sun tortise]

Leak just as bad or worse. Anyone have any luck with the radiator from Rock Auto?