Toyota Repair: Radiator Cracking, radiator fluid, radiator shop

Question
Hi Ted,

I have a radiator problem with my 1995 Toyota Camry LE 4 cyl car.

The brass radiator has two fans mounted directly to the top and bottom of the radiator. Two of the mounts that are on the top of the radiator are on the outer edges while the other two are near the middle. Between the two middle mounts I see a line developing which looks like a crack. The line connects the tops of those two middle mounts together. This crack is spreading just a tiny bit from those two middle mounts outward towards the two outer mounts. There is a tiny amount of radiator fluid coming out of the crack that runs between the two middle mounts. There is also a tiny bit of fluid that comes out of the crack directly above the middle mount for the passenger side fan. The fan mount on the outside end of the radiator on the passenger side also has dampness around where the mount attaches to the brass on the radiator.

My guess is the vibration of the fans is working on the brass of radiator and will continue to work the radiator until it breaks. I was thinking about putting silver solder on that developing crack to reinforce the radiator. Will this plan work or make the problem worse? How can I repair that developing crack?

Many Thanks Ted!

Mike


Answer
Not sure if silver solder will work, have no experience with that, most of the time radiators are repaired using brass welding rod and a gas welding torch, I would remove the radiator and have a radiator shop weld the affected areas, at the same time have them check the radiator core for restrictions to see if it's even worth repairing. If the vibration from the fan is suspected then the fans should be checked for an out of balance condition.