my coolant is leaking

all I can see is it dripping out of the center bottom of the tray that supports the radiator.

I haven't disassembled the fan, fan shroud, etc. in order to try to identify where it's coming from but as near as I can tell the fins aren't shooting out anything....

in any case my question is...

How the heck do you put stop leak in a radiator with no cap?

should I put it in the expansion tank and wait for a year for it to circulate?


Jack

'86 245, 240,007 mi. (still excited about my working odometer!)

The bad part about Stop Leak in Volvo radiators is that it usually clogs the hose that goes from the expansion tank to the radiator.

That is a very bad situation, since the radiator leaks fluid out, but the expansion tank remains full (due to blockage of it's feed hose), leading one to believe the radiator is full when it is not. Worse yet, it's hard to notice an empty radiator until the temp gauge pegs into the red zone.
--
1992 940 wagon, 77k
as well as others.

that's what I figured ...

maybe Volvo didn't want stop leak in there radiators!

oh well ...

guess it's time to do it right

thanks for answering the question

I am not the walrus koo-koo ka choo..

Some car makers use stop leak from inception...

I have used stop leak on E-merr-gen-cie OOH-kay-shuns.....

BUTT in the long run - if your rad is orginal, get a new un'

The walrus was Paul.....or George was right....

--
www.fidalgo.net/~brook4

I'm not sure if it's the original radiator but from initial inspection all the fins look good and there's no sign of corrosion...

looks like it's got a lot of life left in it but I guess I better take it out and have a closer look...

I'm not sure if any shops around here even do radiator repair anymore.

Is there anyway to identify a non-original radiator?

Are the end tanks plastic or brass?

plastic=original/oem and not repairable
brass=repairable - check the yella pages
--
www.fidalgo.net/~brook4

Try throwing half a can of pepper in the expansion tank. It works as a temporary measure, and is biodegrable, unlike that StopLeak crap.

mike

plastic, guess I'll be buying another one somewhere for $100

hard to believe that radiator has 240,000 miles on it ...

maybe the previous owner bought Volvo parts.

No, you shouldn't use stop leak. You should find the leak and fix it.

--
Matt L. -- Cary, NC -- '91 740 wagon

Here's a radiator that might be of interest to you:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1855157572
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

I would make a suggestion to you:
Drain the system. Take the radiator out and take it to a known good radiator
shop. Get them to test it for you (if you haven't found the leak visually
already). If their estimate for repair is too high, get a better radiator
from a "recycling yard" (auto salvage) or a new one from RPR or other source.
"Stop Leak" is not your friend. It only obcures problems that need to be
solved and makes real repair more difficult.
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma