Question on using JB weld

[Richard]

Have a 2005 Toyota Camry. Has roughly 280,000 miles. Runs smooth as a watch. I travel over 13 counties for work so finally felt it's not worth the risk of me being 2-3 hours away and have something fail so I now have a new car.

This is TWO YEARS ago. The Camry gets driven "every now & then" but otherwise parked. I noticed it would get warm.....was losing coolant.

Today, decided to look into that as we're now going to sell it. Long story short, I found a hairline crack in/on the plastic UPPER water tank which is why it lost water so slowly.

What I'm wondering.... I found the crack. I put some JB weld on it and it's curing. It might crack again tomorrow when I start it. Dawned on me that I might be able to put another layer of JB weld to add to the first.

Just wondering what the general opinion might be of JB being able to hold when smeared on top of a hairline crack. Or should I just spend a couple hundred and buy a new radiator (just to turn around and sell the car)

Thoughts?

 

[5030]

If I was a perspective buyer and saw the goo on the rad, I'd pass. Buy a new rad and be done with it.

 

[ssgp2]

I've done that before. Works very well on aluminum but the plastic ones required good sanding to roughen up the area before it would hold. Also had to drill small holes at each end of the crack to stop the crack from continuing. All that said, I would put a new radiator in it. I wouldn't want someones wife/daughter to get left stranded somewhere.

 

[Richard]

Ahh... you guys.... keeping me on the straight & narrow!

I DO agree with everything, just for the record.

What I'm trying to do (which might change, now that I've looked and know the issue) was simply make it driveable and telling prospective buyer why I have 2-gallons of distilled and a gallon of coolant (not yet mixed) in the trunk.

If they want me to fix it, I'm happy to (but am more firm on price) if they want to fix it, then I'd knock roughly $500 off price of car. (seems you can buy these for 200/300'ish and do the work yourself) They may/may not be able to swap out themselves.

Now that I got it home, took apart (without water yet drained out) and found the problem, yeah.... might be easier to just put it back with new one nestled in there.

 

[Williy]

Just put JB weld on the whole top then sand it smooth
it should be just like new then and if its the top then the
whole top will be the same and I do; believe that you can
paint the JB weld

willy

 

[etpm]

My wife had a Camry and the top of the radiator cracked. Because it was plastic I bought some two part plastic adhesive. I cleaned the area very well, spread some of the adhesive, then laid a strip cloth on the adhesive, worked the adhesive into it, then applied some adhesive on top of the cloth, so that the cloth was completely saturated with the adhesive. I ordered a new radiator but even after it arrived I left the cracked one in the car for a while just to see if the repair would last. It did last a while but then I decided to not tempt fate and put the new radiator in. This was a few years ago and there now more options for plastic adhesives at the hardware store.
Eric

 

[WranglerX]

2005 TOYOTA CAMRY 3.3L V6 Radiator | RockAuto

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[fatjay]

Radiators are cheap and easy to replace. JB weld can get messy and doesn't always take. When I sell a car, people have to stop me from telling them what's wrong with it.

 

[mikester]

Use duct tape like a professional

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Kelly Blue book fair condition ($2K) vs good ($2.5K), fair needs mechanical work. It's a no-brainer...replace radiator if you're going to sell and it's a selling point. Most likely buyer would be a kid's first car.