Any ideas? Or is this a Complete Waste of Time?


I just last month welded shut a large hole in the radiator overflow tank
of my SIL's Neon.

I cleaned and sanded the patch and the area around the hole with 80-grit
paper. Then I preheated both the patch and the tank area until both were
tacky and transparent (and beginning to sag), and applied the patch with
pressure until it cooled just enough to handle (used a stick and a wad of
paper towels down through the filler neck to apply pressure from the
inside, as well). Last, I "filleted" the edges of the patch to full-melt
down onto the tank body with a spreader tip on a big Weller soldering
gun, taking care not to cut into the tank material.

It is holding up fine so far, and it's under the abuse of hot fluids and
hot engine compartment. We examined the patch a few times with a
flashlight, and can't see any evidence of antifreeze leaking between
patch and tank wall.

Since your can isn't subject to pressure or extreme heat, I'd think just
an "overlay" of (say) 1/8" poly would do the trick; applied basically the
same way.

LLoyd