My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application. Thanks for your help

jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application. Thanks for your help

If it is like any of the underhood black plastic I have seen, forget it.
Nothing will bond to it permanently. It isn't just hot and greasy, it is
constantly moving. You may be able to patch it with a metal gusset and
pop rivets, but it probably won't be leakproof. Dealer price will be
outrageous, so you may want to start calling around to junkyards.

--
aem sends...

On Jan 24, 8:34*pm, jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application. Thanks for your help

My radiator has a plastic top, JB weld has worked for 4 years stopping
a leak, but in the cold it can take many days to cure, the colder it
is, the longer it takes and JB tech support has no info on cold temp
curing, Laquer thinner is used to clean the plastic. There are
silicone auto adhesive sealants by maybe 3m, go to an auto store and
see what they have.

On Jan 24, 10:00*pm, ransley wrote:
On Jan 24, 8:34*pm, jb wrote:

My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application. Thanks for your help

My radiator has a plastic top, JB weld has worked for 4 years stopping
a leak, but in the cold it can take many days to cure, the colder it
is, the longer it takes and JB tech support has no info on cold temp
curing, Laquer thinner is used to clean the plastic. There are
silicone auto adhesive sealants by maybe 3m, go to an auto store and
see what they have.

Naptha to clean the area, let air dry for an hour, then JB Weld. If
you are in the north where it is below 50 F, you could speed up the
curing by heating the general area with a hair dryer on low heat every
few minutes for about 30 minutes. Then allow another several hours
for it to really set up.

"jb" wrote in message
g.com...
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off. It's
a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot under the
hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I need to clean
it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do you recommend
for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best glue for this
application. Thanks for your help



JB Weld. NOT the 5 minute one because it is half as strong as the 24 hour
one. Warm the tubes of epoxy first with a hair dryer, it will come out of
tube easier and blend better. I use it on most anything. WW

On Jan 25, 12:49*am, "WW" wrote:
"jb" wrote in message

g.com...

My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off. It's
a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot under the
hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I need to clean
it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do you recommend
for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best glue for this
application. Thanks for your help

JB Weld. NOT the 5 minute one because it is half as strong as the 24 hour
one. Warm the tubes of epoxy first with a hair dryer, it will come out of
tube easier and blend better. I use it on most anything. WW

JB weld worked great to repair my wife's Jeep windshield washer
reservoir but would stick worth anything when I tried to use it on her
fan shroud.

Jimmie

On Jan 24, 10:54*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
On Jan 24, 10:00*pm, ransley wrote:

On Jan 24, 8:34*pm, jb wrote:

My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application. Thanks for your help

My radiator has a plastic top, JB weld has worked for 4 years stopping
a leak, but in the cold it can take many days to cure, the colder it
is, the longer it takes and JB tech support has no info on cold temp
curing, Laquer thinner is used to clean the plastic. There are
silicone auto adhesive sealants by maybe 3m, go to an auto store and
see what they have.

Naptha to clean the area, let air dry for an hour, then JB Weld. *If
you are in the north where it is below 50 F, you could speed up the
curing by heating the general area with a hair dryer on low heat every
few minutes for about 30 minutes. *Then allow another several hours
for it to really set up.

Forget the "Hours" time, its days for JB at 20f, I waited because my
radiator in under 12 psi and knowing how antifreeze is greasy I knew
if I got a leak it would mean complete removal , I have no leak years
later. Napha? Does JB say naptha is ok, Alcohol is a no no because of
oil in denatured alcohol, the surface must have no residue , laquer
thinner is a stronger solvent.

In article , ransley wrote:

Forget the "Hours" time, its days for JB at 20f, I waited because my
radiator in under 12 psi and knowing how antifreeze is greasy I knew
if I got a leak it would mean complete removal , I have no leak years
later. Napha? Does JB say naptha is ok, Alcohol is a no no because of
oil in denatured alcohol, the surface must have no residue , laquer
thinner is a stronger solvent.

Utter nonsense, there's no oil in denatured alcohol.

jb wrote in
g.com:

My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application. Thanks for your help

clean with acetone first.
try construction adhesive,like Liquid Nails.
You may have to put it on pretty thick,covering the seam with a bead of
adhesive.It will not look pretty.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

(Doug Miller) wrote in
:

In article
,
ransley wrote:

Forget the "Hours" time, its days for JB at 20f, I waited because my
radiator in under 12 psi and knowing how antifreeze is greasy I knew
if I got a leak it would mean complete removal , I have no leak years
later. Napha? Does JB say naptha is ok, Alcohol is a no no because of
oil in denatured alcohol, the surface must have no residue , laquer
thinner is a stronger solvent.

Utter nonsense, there's no oil in denatured alcohol.


I use denatured alcohol all the time for cleaning.No oil,either.
Or you can use 90% isopropyl alcohol,available at CVS pharmacies.

alcohol is a solvent for uncured epoxy.

epoxy cures slower the colder it gets,you need at least 60degF for a decent
cure.I like to use a lamp to provide extra heat,it cures faster,which makes
it stronger.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

On Jan 25, 7:27*am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , ransley wrote:

Forget the "Hours" time, its days for JB at 20f, I waited because my
radiator in under 12 psi and knowing how antifreeze is greasy I knew
if I got a leak it would mean complete removal , I have no leak years
later. Napha? Does JB say naptha is ok, Alcohol is a no no because of
oil in denatured alcohol, the surface must have no residue , laquer
thinner is a stronger solvent.

Utter nonsense, there's no oil in denatured alcohol.

Yes there is its a contaminent in the poison so you cant consume it,
JB states to Not use denatured alcohol, but you of course know more
than JB weld on how their product performs. Call JB and learn some
sense

In article , ransley wrote:
On Jan 25, 7:27=A0am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article =
..com, ransley wrote:

Forget the "Hours" time, its days for JB at 20f, I waited because my
radiator in under 12 psi and knowing how antifreeze is greasy I knew
if I got a leak it would mean complete removal , I have no leak years
later. Napha? Does JB say naptha is ok, Alcohol is a no no because of
oil in denatured alcohol, the surface must have no residue , laquer
thinner is a stronger solvent.

Utter nonsense, there's no oil in denatured alcohol.

Yes there is

No, there isn't. You are clueless as usual.

its a contaminent in the poison so you cant consume it,

That contaminant is (usually) methanol, not oil. Look it up.

JB states to Not use denatured alcohol,

Quit making stuff up. I just looked at the package in my workshop. It says
"for best results use lacquer thinner or acetone" but says NOTHING about
denatured alcohol.

but you of course know more
than JB weld on how their product performs. Call JB and learn some
sense

Pay attention, fool. I didn't say ANYTHING about what should or shouldn't
be used to prep for JB Weld. I said there's no oil in denatured alcohol. There
isn't. Look it up.

If you would actually take the trouble to read what you're replying to, and
not make up stuff when you have no idea what you're talking about, then you
wouldn't look like quite such a fool.

Or maybe not.

On Jan 24, 8:34*pm, jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application. Thanks for your help

Replace with a K & N filter assembly complete. Prices are reasonable,
some filters are serviceable, and the gas mileage and performance will
improve on your car. Check at Autozone, NAPA, Manny, Moe, and Jack,
Carquest, others.

Joe

jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application.

Epoxy is not good for this, and rarely is super glue (cyanoacrylate).

The best glue varies with the plastic. PVC, ABS, CPVC, and
polycarbonate should be repaired with solvent weld, such as lacquer
thinner, acetone, MEK, xylene, CPVC cement, or acrylic (plexiglass)
cement. Plastics that don't dissolve, such as nylon, polyethylene,
and polypropylene (your air cleaner is probably made of the latter)
are best repaired through welding (melt groove with soldering iron or
wood burning tool, fill groove with identical plastic), but epoxy can
often make an adequate mechanical bond if the plastic is roughed up
with #60-80 sandpaper and the epoxy reinforced with cloth or gauze
(fiberglass, polyester, even wire mesh).

wrote:

jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application.

Epoxy is not good for this, and rarely is super glue (cyanoacrylate).

The best glue varies with the plastic. PVC, ABS, CPVC, and
polycarbonate should be repaired with solvent weld, such as lacquer
thinner, acetone, MEK, xylene, CPVC cement, or acrylic (plexiglass)
cement. Plastics that don't dissolve, such as nylon, polyethylene,
and polypropylene (your air cleaner is probably made of the latter)
are best repaired through welding (melt groove with soldering iron or
wood burning tool, fill groove with identical plastic), but epoxy can
often make an adequate mechanical bond if the plastic is roughed up
with #60-80 sandpaper and the epoxy reinforced with cloth or gauze
(fiberglass, polyester, even wire mesh).

Or just pop-rivet a hunk of flashing over it until he can find a
replacement part at a price he can stand. While JB Weld, epoxy, etc, may
work for parts that don't get flexed, the air cleaner/snorkel/scoop is
always moving, since the engine flexes on the mounts. Hard to say
without seeing it. OP may want to ask over on rec.autos.tech, where they
are used to McGyvering solutions to problems like this.

--
aem sends...

Van Chocstraw wrote:
On 01/24/2010 09:34 PM, jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application. Thanks for your help

Better get a new one. This may affect your mass airflow sensor and screw
up your gas mileage.How did you break it again?
On the 1999 MB E55 the air cleaner assembly virtually covers the entire
top of the engine. Is is in two parts. The rear part holds the 2 air
cleaner elements and the 2 air intake snorkels. The part I broke is the
shroud that attaches to the air cleaner and covers the front part of
the engine. It has no real functionality but just pretties up the
compartment and says "AMG" in big letters. The underside has a single
plastic post with a spring clip. I pushed a little too hard down on the
front edge and that post cracked off clean. After 11 years that plastic
has gotten brittle in the heat. It was stupid. I should have been more
careful. Anything with a "AMG" logo will cost a fortune and forget the
junk yards.
It sounds like many of you had good success with JB Weld and I checked
AUTOZONE and they carry it.

On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:22:12 -0800 (PST), wrote:


jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application.

Epoxy is not good for this, and rarely is super glue (cyanoacrylate).

Epoxy is really a filler. put duct tape on the outside of the shrowd.
Fill hole with piece and epoxy. Put duct tape on other side and let
it cure. The epoxy will hopefully wrap around the plastic and hold it.

Super glue is useless for all applications except bonding skin.
For everything else, it is too brittle.

wrote:

jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application.

Epoxy is not good for this, and rarely is super glue (cyanoacrylate).

The best glue varies with the plastic. PVC, ABS, CPVC, and
polycarbonate should be repaired with solvent weld, such as lacquer
thinner, acetone, MEK, xylene, CPVC cement, or acrylic (plexiglass)
cement. Plastics that don't dissolve, such as nylon, polyethylene,
and polypropylene (your air cleaner is probably made of the latter)
are best repaired through welding (melt groove with soldering iron or
wood burning tool, fill groove with identical plastic), but epoxy can
often make an adequate mechanical bond if the plastic is roughed up
with #60-80 sandpaper and the epoxy reinforced with cloth or gauze
(fiberglass, polyester, even wire mesh).

I was going to suggest the same thing. I once read that knitting
needles are great plastic to add to the joint, like a filler rod in
welding. Of course this does depend on the original plastic.

jb wrote in
ng.com:

Van Chocstraw wrote:
On 01/24/2010 09:34 PM, jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke
off. It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get
hot under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little
grimy. I need to clean it very well and then use the best quality
epoxy. What do you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area.
Also, what is the best glue for this application. Thanks for your
help

Better get a new one. This may affect your mass airflow sensor and
screw up your gas mileage.How did you break it again?
On the 1999 MB E55 the air cleaner assembly virtually covers the
entire top of the engine. Is is in two parts. The rear part holds the
2 air cleaner elements and the 2 air intake snorkels. The part I broke
is the
shroud that attaches to the air cleaner and covers the front part
of
the engine. It has no real functionality but just pretties up the
compartment and says "AMG" in big letters. The underside has a single
plastic post with a spring clip. I pushed a little too hard down on
the front edge and that post cracked off clean.

so,you ought to be able to make a good thick bead on the backside of it.
rough up the plastic before epoxying it.Maybe wind some bare copper wire
around the post before epoxying it,as reinforcement.
That post,having a spring clip on it,will have some stress on it.
You may have to build up more than one batch of JB to make it strong
enough.Be sure to give it enugh time to fully cure.

one thing about epoxy;it takes a few -weeks- for it to reach FULL strength.
(despite what it says on the package...)
you will also find that JB Weld will seem thick,but in curing tends to
run(spread out) a bit.Heat makes it cure faster,a good thing for epoxy.
I like to use a incandscent lamp to add extra heat,or in summer,just put
the workpiece in the car trunk to cure;it gets over 140degF in there,just
right for curing epoxy.

I use JB a lot,but I also use a good boat-building thin epoxy(RAKA)along
with fillers and glass cloth.Nice thing about the thin epoxy;you can tailor
it with the fillers and glass to fit your application.JB is an epoxy
already having fillers.But you -can- add more,like chopped fibers,for more
strength.


After 11 years that
plastic has gotten brittle in the heat.

that is one major beef I have about the use of plastic in autos.

I have the same problem with the interior maplight assembly in my 2003
Nissan Sentra.An inside piece that held a spring clip crumbled,and now the
assembly doesn't snap into place,it keeps falling down.

It was stupid. I should have
been more careful. Anything with a "AMG" logo will cost a fortune and
forget the junk yards.
It sounds like many of you had good success with JB Weld and I checked
AUTOZONE and they carry it.

So does WalMart,Home Depot,Lowes,Ace Hardware,and lots of other places.
Even supermarkets.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:22:12 -0800 (PST),
wrote:



jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application.

Epoxy is not good for this, and rarely is super glue (cyanoacrylate).

The best glue varies with the plastic. PVC, ABS, CPVC, and
polycarbonate should be repaired with solvent weld, such as lacquer
thinner, acetone, MEK, xylene, CPVC cement, or acrylic (plexiglass)
cement. Plastics that don't dissolve, such as nylon, polyethylene,
and polypropylene (your air cleaner is probably made of the latter)
are best repaired through welding (melt groove with soldering iron or
wood burning tool, ...

When I was looking into a similar problem, I found a long thread in
sci.chem about gluing PE/PP plastic. Search on "plastic welding", I
think. Short version: it's hard to do. Someone said that Loctite has a
product, "Plastix", consisting of "a surface activator and compatible
cyanoacrylate adhesive," which claims to be suitable "even for PE/PP."

I did the soldering iron thing, to fix an inner fender and air intake
ducting on a Cavalier. It's been holding for a couple of years.

G

jb wrote:
My car's air cleaner shroud is made of plastic and a piece broke off.
It's a clean break and I should be able to glue it. It will get hot
under the hood and the area adjacent to the break is a little grimy. I
need to clean it very well and then use the best quality epoxy. What do
you recommend for cleaning and prepping the area. Also, what is the best
glue for this application. Thanks for your help

Here's a handy link:

http://www.thistothat.com/

TDD

On Jan 25, 9:30*am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , ransley wrote:

On Jan 25, 7:27=A0am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article =
..com, ransley wrote:

Forget the "Hours" time, its days for JB at 20f, I waited because my
radiator in under 12 psi and knowing how antifreeze is greasy I knew
if I got a leak it would mean complete removal , I have no leak years
later. Napha? Does JB say naptha is ok, Alcohol is a no no because of
oil in denatured alcohol, the surface must have no residue , laquer
thinner is a stronger solvent.

Utter nonsense, there's no oil in denatured alcohol.

Yes there is

No, there isn't. You are clueless as usual.

its a contaminent in the poison so you cant consume it,

That contaminant is (usually) methanol, not oil. Look it up.

JB states to Not use denatured alcohol,

Quit making stuff up. I just looked at the package in my workshop. It says
"for best results use lacquer thinner or acetone" but says NOTHING about
denatured alcohol.

but you of course know more
than JB weld on how their product performs. Call JB and learn some
sense

Pay attention, fool. I didn't say ANYTHING about what should or shouldn't
be used to prep for JB Weld. I said there's no oil in denatured alcohol. There
isn't. Look it up.

If you would actually take the trouble to read what you're replying to, and
not make up stuff when you have no idea what you're talking about, then you
wouldn't look like quite such a fool.

Or maybe not.

Fool? Petroleum Oil, or Naptha is a common ingrediant, there is a
reason JB says dont use it as any contaminent will shorten bond life.
Brand formulations vary since its a formulation, not a pure solvent,
since it varies its not recommended, but you should still use it, I
will feel better.

In article , ransley wrote:
On Jan 25, 9:30=A0am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article =
..com, ransley wrote:

On Jan 25, 7:27=3DA0am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article =
ups=3D
..com, ransley wrote:

Forget the "Hours" time, its days for JB at 20f, I waited because my
radiator in under 12 psi and knowing how antifreeze is greasy I knew
if I got a leak it would mean complete removal , I have no leak years
later. Napha? Does JB say naptha is ok, Alcohol is a no no because of
oil in denatured alcohol, the surface must have no residue , laquer
thinner is a stronger solvent.

Utter nonsense, there's no oil in denatured alcohol.

Yes there is

No, there isn't. You are clueless as usual.

its a contaminent in the poison so you cant consume it,

That contaminant is (usually) methanol, not oil. Look it up.

JB states to Not use denatured alcohol,

Quit making stuff up. I just looked at the package in my workshop. It say=
s
"for best results use lacquer thinner or acetone" but says NOTHING about
denatured alcohol.

but you of course know more
than JB weld on how their product performs. Call JB and learn some
sense

Pay attention, fool. I didn't say ANYTHING about what should or shouldn't
be used to prep for JB Weld. I said there's no oil in denatured alcohol. =
There
isn't. Look it up.

If you would actually take the trouble to read what you're replying to, a=
nd
not make up stuff when you have no idea what you're talking about, then y=
ou
wouldn't look like quite such a fool.

Or maybe not.

Fool?

Yes, fool. You. Fool. You should take this saying to heart: "Better to be
silent, and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt."

Petroleum Oil, or Naptha is a common ingrediant,

Petroleum oil and naphtha [the correct spelling] are not the same thing. And
neither one is a "common ingredient" in denatured alcohol. Here, learn
something:

http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat2/MSDS.htm
(links to the MSDSs for seven common brands of denatured alcohol)

None of them contains petroleum oil, and only one contains any napththa
(eight-tenths of one percent).

What *do* you see there as the most common contaminant? Methanol (methyl
alcohol), just like I said.

there is a
reason JB says dont use it

Show me where JB says don't use denatured alcohol. You can't. It doesn't.

as any contaminent will shorten bond life.
Brand formulations vary since its a formulation, not a pure solvent,
since it varies its not recommended, but you should still use it, I
will feel better.

Like I said, Ransley, quit making crap up when you don't know, and you won't
look like such a fool.