Serious Glue required

[Floatingpreferably]

Hi Guys, I have a ten year old Perkins Sabre 225Ti and it has a leak around one of the small pipes feeding into the top of the plastic Header Tank at the rear. It is not possible to hold the inner part of the connection from inside the tank in an effort to tighten the joint. The 'official fix' is to replace the header tank at £120+. ( I am told they are not an easy changeover, but will happily bow to someone with experience on these engines. )That £120 goes right against my normal thinking, for heavens sake it is a slowly leaking pipe fitting. I was able to remove the pipe, drain the coolant until it was below the joint, I dried it all off then managed to run some two pack Araldite around the joint, this worked up to a point, but that particular glue apparently does not adhere well to plastics of any sort, so whilst it sort of filled the gap, there is still a weeping.
Question: can anybody suggest a suitable glue that will really stick to hardish plastic, retain some flexibility, and withstand 0-90C?
Yours with hope!

 

[davidej]

With a bit of care, you can weld up a crack in plastic using a soldering iron.

Make sure it is dry before you start.

 

[JimC]

http://www.screwfix.com/p/sticks-like-sh-t-290ml-white/22070

 

[Zorro]

Years ago a ski shop gave me some plastic welding sticks and I used them over the years with a blowtorch to repair many things including a smashed plastic car bumper,I never had anything ever leak or come apart.
If you can find where to get them now they are quite easy to use but make sure that you practice on some scrap first and use a very gentle flame.

 

[Floatingpreferably]

Davide, thanks for the suggestion, access too restricted to consider 'soldering/welding'.

 

[Floatingpreferably]

Jim C, thanks for the suggestion, I may give that a try. I have some PVC Solvent and may try making up a paste.

 

[Floatingpreferably]

Hi Zorro, yes I have used that molton plastic for fixing skis years back, but Will not be able to drip it in the required place, it will have to be poured on the top of the joint and be spread by me rotating the union. OK I now have some ideas to work with.
Thanks everybody.

 

[Ardenfour]

If it's ABS you can use some plumbing plastic pipe solvent, thicken it by dissolving some ABS shavings in it to form a paste and build up around the repair. You'd need to test the solvent on your bits to check it actually melts it

 

[VicS]

Id not think it would be ABS. Possibly polypropylene, but that is almost as difficult to glue as polythene. It heat welds though.

the request for a serious glue prompts the answer Evo-Stik Serious Stuff

No idea how that compares with "Sticks like Sh*t"

I suspect the only satisfactry long term solutions are either heat welding, if you can find someone who can do it, or a new tank.
£120 surely is peanuts compared to the value of the boat or its running costs.

 

[Beadle]

"You'd need to test the solvent on your bits to check it actually melts it"

I really don't like the sound of that!

 

[WilliamUK]

Years ago a ski shop gave me some plastic welding sticks and I used them over the years with a blowtorch to repair many things including a smashed plastic car bumper,I never had anything ever leak or come apart.
If you can find where to get them now they are quite easy to use but make sure that you practice on some scrap first and use a very gentle flame.

I could be mistaken but that sounds like P-Tex.

 

[VicS]

"You'd need to test the solvent on your bits to check it actually melts it"

I really don't like the sound of that!

It wont melt it ( Mpt of ABS is about 105°C) but MEK will dissolve ABS.

 

[Easticks28]

I would leave it to the experts - there are plastic welding and repair companies all over the UK - there must be one in your locality.

 

[Floatingpreferably]

Hi Vic, thank you for the suggestion. Yes the latter solution for sure would fix it, but when the manufacturer does not make the parts reasonably servicable, and the problem is a fairly basic mechanical sealing problem I object to being forced into a 'throw it away solution. If it had been made to a better standard, the inside part could be removed and replaced. If the access to the inside was not so poor it would be a few minutes job to repace the defective parts and the cost would be less than a fiver.

 

[TQA]

5200 ? seems to stick to almost everything.

Worth a try.

 

[BERT T]

Loose pipe fitting

What is the inside diameter of the fitting?

 

[monkfish24]

Wouldn't it be easier to find a vehicle with the same size hose diameter as the header tank and go to a scrappy's, probably about a tenner.

The header tank does not have to be the same Cubic size as it just allows for expansion in the fluid and do hold a reserve of pressure to prevent the coolant boiling. However, I wouldn't go drastically smaller.

 

[Ross D]

Can you not remove the pipe fitting and replace with a metal mechanical pipe fitting which tightens on the tank. We did this with a water tank failed boss.

 

[lenseman]

Hot Glue Gun. It is better than a soldering iron as it is designed for exactly this type of job, with the correct plastic 'stick'.

This is possibly a way forward to repair the leak. I am sure they are available from Halfords and Screwfix ad other such outlets like B & Q?

http://www.techsil.co.uk/Products/HotMeltAdhesivesandGlueGuns/tabid/394/Default.aspx


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060830153028AA0uG66

http://www.ellsworth.com/3m/jet-melt/

http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/glueplas1.htm
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[All The Gear No Idea]

Sounds like a proper tank weld is what is required.

You might try Hypalon 2 part contact adhesive and a smal patch of rubber (bicycle inner tube type stuff). They use that glue to stick the inflatable tubes onto RIBs, so it's supe strong. I was recommended it to stick the outer diapragm on for my Saildrive.

Not too sure about the 90c bit though, so I'd check the spec for the glue.