Silver79

Recently I noticed that the radiator on my 82 developed a leak at the point where the plastic end tank meets the finned portion. The plastic tank does not appear to be cracked itself. I see that you can buy a tank and a gasket from 928 International, but it would seem that I just need the gasket. Does anybody know if I can buy just the gasket itself? Is the reason for them being sold together that upon disassembly the tanks crack?

Chris

Likely when you look at the end tank close you will see it is warped, thats how mine was.

Chris

mspiegle

mine started developing random leaks around the seals. I didn't want to deal with my 18yr old radiator, so i patched it up with jb-weld (works really good btw) and saved up for the devek aluminum radiator.

GUMBALL

If the core is leaking where it meets the tank, it usually means that your radiator is getting tired. One temporary solution is (as mspiegle said) is JB weld. The cheapest permanent solution - go to a good rad shop and get them to build you a new one ....for about $1000 less than a new one from Porsche, and about half the price of a "speed shop" radiator.....

Scott M.

A lot of times you can heat the tabs that pinch the end tank to the core and then crimp them down a bit more. I've had to do it about 5 times now.
Take it to a competant rad shop and have it pressure tested for leaks and corrosion, they will be able to crimp the tabs easily.

Scott

Silver79

Sorry it took so long to reply as to what happened. I ended up replacing the crossover gaskets that are on each head when one of the allen head bolts broke off in the head. After drilling and retapping the hole I finally reassembled everything. As for the radiator I tried Scott's method and recrimped the ends on the radiator. I pressure tested it and found one small leak, which was much better than the numerous leaks that I strarted with. The leak was so small I figured I would just put everything back together and if it leaked I would add some stop leak. So far I have driven it about 50 miles without having to add any stop leak and without any apparent signs of leakage.

SharkSkin

When I took my old radiator out I pulled the end tanks out since they were still good. One of the things clogging the core was... you guessed it... stop leak. The lower 4" of cores would not pass water. The middle section barely passed any water at all. YMMV.