The most common cause of boiling and overheating of a car engine is an insufficient amount of antifreeze - coolant. The reason for this may be a hole formed in the radiator. If you find that the radiator is depressurized, it should certainly be replaced. However, to temporarily fix the problem, you can use more affordable and cheaper methods, such as soldering a radiator.
Thanks to such welding, you can not only safely drive home by car (if it happened on the way), but also drive for some time with topped-up antifreeze further down the road.
So, let's look at how car radiators are soldered.
Determining the skip location
It often happens that a leak can form not a hole (hole) in the device at all, but various microcracks, which gradually expand with heating of the metal and form an ever largerand a big hole. Under normal conditions, it is almost impossible to find a gap on such a radiator, therefore, in this case, it is necessary to remove the part and muffle all outputs (except one). Attach a compressor to the latter (for example, which is used to inflate tires) and, as shown in the photo below, lower the element into a bath of water.
The compressor will pump air, and it will subsequently exit through microcracks in the metal, forming small bubbles. Most often this happens in the place where the radiator bank is crimped with the tube block. Also, a coolant leak can be observed due to mechanical damage to these parts. Visually, such places are very clearly visible, they can be identified with the naked eye.
How is copper heatsink soldered?
If this element is made of copper, then it can be soldered very quickly. Soldering is a process of performing work with low-melting solders, which takes place at a temperature of 300 to 550 degrees Celsius. The main tool for this is a special copper soldering iron with a power of 250 watts or more. It is worth noting that those analogues that are used in everyday life do not have the necessary power to eliminate holes in car radiators.
Often, a special copper soldering iron has a copper tip with a high heat capacity that can be heated with a blowtorch. Using household analogues, it is almost impossible to repair a radiator, because the quality of the connections will not be very reliable.
As withusing a 250W soldering iron, you can repair the radiator at home
First you will need to pick up materials. In addition to a powerful soldering iron, you will need tin, soldering acid (crushed rosin, for example), sandpaper and a metal brush. With this simple set of tools, the radiator is soldered at home.
All work to restore the tightness of the element can be divided into several stages:
- First, the damaged area of the radiator is cleaned with a metal brush and sandpaper.
- Further repair of radiators is accompanied by the application of several milliliters of acid to the surface.
- With the help of a soldering iron, the crack is heated and filled with tin.
That's it, in a few seconds the hole in the radiator will be successfully repaired. The copper on the radiator is perfectly soldered, so you should not have any difficulties with welding.
It is worth noting that if the place where the coolant passed was found in the tubes, then the most reasonable solution to this problem would be to clamp the element to the place of the leak with its further sealing. Thus, the flow of antifreeze is completely eliminated. At the same time, do not forget that this tube will be impassable, and this will be displayed on the heat dissipation by the radiator. Radiator soldering in this place is used only for elements of small diameter, as well as for parts that do not carry any mechanical loads.
Where should soldering not be used?
This repair methodwill not solve the problem with a leak if the gap was found in the fittings, as well as the massive power parts of the device. Such soldering of the radiator will be simply powerless. In this case, the only solution would be to buy and install a new copper device. However, there is a way by which you can restore the factory parameters (tightness) of the fitting by applying a layer of copper to its surface.
Brazing is an alternative to buying new radiators
Professional service stations provide motorists with a service such as brazing radiator repair. This method of soldering involves the use of special copper carbide solders on specialized equipment. The repair process is carried out at a temperature of 500 to 1000 degrees Celsius. As for reliability, the quality of the connections here practically does not differ from the factory ones.
Brazing is performed by applying copper solder to the damaged area in the borax environment. The last element protects the metal from oxidation, which guarantees a high-quality and tight connection of parts.
How is aluminum heatsink soldered?
If a hole was found in the tube of the device, then in this case only soldering can restore the tightness of the part. Working with aluminum parts is best done with specialized solders (such as those used to repair refrigeration units).
Cold Weld Repair
If plastic is present in your radiator, then when repairing it, you simply cannotdo without cold welding. The essence of this process is to restore the tightness of the device using a two-component epoxy-based adhesive. How to use cold welding correctly? First of all, you need to treat the damaged area with alcohol or gasoline to degrease it. Then you can not wait until the radiator cools down (if the engine is hot), but immediately start welding.
In the course of work, it is important to observe the correct technology for applying glue. Unlike previous cases, the radiator after such a repair cannot be immediately operated. The instruction says that after applying cold welding, it is necessary to wait until the material has completely dried and hardened. This repair technology is not used very often, and all because this type of welding gives only temporary results, that is, after a few weeks the car will again drive antifreeze. Although on the road this method helps out very well.
Argon welding
Such soldering of car radiators allows you to repair only tanks on the radiator with a rather thick layer of walls. And if your honeycomb is broken, then it will be almost impossible to brew it with argon. As a result, an arc will break through it, and the hole will only expand slightly under the influence of high temperatures. Aluminum welding takes place at a temperature of about 1000 degrees Celsius or more in a protective gas environment - argon (that's why its name is argon welding).
Why is this method not widely usedmotorists? The whole point is not even that argon welding only repairs holes surrounded by thick aluminum walls, but that working with argon requires high experience and skill. This gives reason to classify such repairs as professional.
So, we found out how to solder a radiator with our own hands, and what welding methods are best used.
