Steve:
Full history:
The FIRST RD radiator, I hard mounted the radiator; the upper right corner tube (very top) developed a leak within a couple of months. I took it to a shop that "said" they could repair it; they could not fix it and made it worse.
I purchased a 2nd radiator (the current one) and tried to isolate it from the chassis a bit. Well after 6 months or so, I began to see a drop of
antifreeze.... a few months later, more dripping. The leak was in the same location - upper right! But the radiator had been touching the aluminum for the forward nose cowl (to keep air from bleeding off the sides) and this grounded the radiator. I sent this radiator back to RD and they said they saw signs of electrolysis but they would go ahead and repair it. Well that lasted only a few months and again, I was getting the leaks., despite totally isolating the radiator from any metal that could ground it and that was also when the
Zinc Anode went in.
My guess is, they repaired it, but maybe I had a marginal tube next to it that was on the cusp of leaking so they never saw it.
So for the last two years, I've simply let it leak as it only happens under heavy acceleration (thus the spotty engine bay) and when things cool down. But this winter I figured I'd get it taken care of. I plan on simply closing the offending holes rather than repair the tube. Not sure but I would venture a good epoxy (I have some Permatex Radiator repair epoxy) should do it. I don't need that much cooling as most of my trips, my
oil barely gets to 180 much less 150F. If I get rid of the top row completely, I would bet it would make no difference at all. I will be doing a pressure leak test to see if I've developed any other holes since it'll be out of the car.