A good friend of mine is resealing a wingtank on his Cessna 182 and bought this $23 wifi endoscope to view the inside of the wingtank. Amazing clairity and it wifi transmits to your ipad
or iphone for easy viewing. I could have used this when I was searching for the leak on the side of my 2003 stype's leaking radiator side panel!
Bob


The endoscope on Amazon. Amazing price for Amazing technology

peeking at a quarter

The quarter as viewed by the camera



I chased the leak without being able to see this side of the radiator. I know, a mess!

 

I'm sorry but what the hell with the JB Weld ?

 

Hi rgaz,

I sincerely hope your friend is not attempting the same "repair" method on his Cessna wingtank!

The radiator leaks typically occur between the plastic end tank and aluminum core, and the coolant can find its way out at any point along the entire crimped aluminum joint, so I'm not surprised that your epoxy volcano didn't work. But that photo will sure give me a good chuckle everytime I think of it. I have to give you credit for effort!

Cheers,

Don

 

It all started with a very small leak in the passenger side of the radiator. The radiator has a central aluminum core and is capped on each side by plastic. J-B weld is good up to 500 degrees, so was a suitable way to stop a small leak and perhaps avoid the $2000 cost of replacing the entire radiator.. Trouble was, that little leak would show up in a new spot each time the previous leak was plugged. It was a very confined spot, so I was adding the J-B weld by feel as you can see by the mess as I chased it down the side. In the end, I decided to replace it since I knew I couldn't trust this patch. I am just getting ready to put the new one in now all by myself.
Wise Bob of Arizona

 

Don, the leak was in the center of the plastic side piece and kept showing up in a new spot. The repair worked for awhile and then would reappear. I decided I couldn't trust that approach, so I'm now installing a new radiator myself at home. So far, so good!
Volcano Bob...