Not to shoot down Ward's suggestion, but I've had the
pin-hole leak in the radiator, which I was able to fix
with some epoxy puddy (the hole was facing outward
where I could press epoxy puddy onto it and let it
cure).
The problem was that a few weeks later, when about 5
miles from home, I came back to the car sitting in the
parking lot to see a 4' puddle of green fluid under
the car.
The epoxy patch had held, but when the car was
running, several other larger leaks were now blowing
coolant all over the place.
I was able to fill it enough to get it home, but then
I had to ask someone on the list to sell me a radiator
to replace the one I had. After waiting for shipment
and install, I had lost several weeks of good summer
driving weather.
My preference would be to get a re-core. Not only
should you be more confident in not getting another
leak in the near future, but they can probably install
a more functional core which should operate much
better at keeping the car cool.
Obviously, they may be able to weld and pressure test
it to make sure it isn't going to blow-out again
anytime soon, but then you might as well have them
hot-tank it to clean out any debris. If rust has
started to eat away at the core (causing the first pin
hole), it's probably a matter of time before another
portion flakes inside to reduce flow or just blows out
another pin hole or worse.
And I suppose you should check with the shop and see
what they charge for each service and what is
included. Balance what you're willing to pay with what
you feel confident in getting done for peace of mind.
Fix it right the first time, and move on to the other
issues you're bound to encounter down the road. That
would be my preference.
Since you can buy new radiators for modern cars at
around $200, I would be surprised if a shop would
charge you more than that to do a recore.
-Terry
/// spitfires@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|