Help fix hole in oil cooler tubing

I would guess heliarc or tig would be the only "proper" way to do it. You don't want to mess with something that could come off such as an epoxy.

Darrell.

 

Hi jim, I had a similar problem several years ago in the A/C tubing to the condencer on my 928. A new condencer cost about 1/3 the value of the car. No one was willing to try and MIG or TIG such a thin walled small diameter tube. The guy who eventualy did, made a small hole bigger, as he warned would happen, but I had nothing to loose. Then I met a lady at the pub,(aint pubs wonderful) who claimed to be the Australian agent for Henrob Welding Systems. She further claimed she herself could fix the hole and would do so the next morning. Short story She fixed it in about 4 minutes and it was still fixed 5 years later when I sold the car before moving to HK. By the way, she never charged me, just asked that after a while, if all was well that I should write a testimonial the she could use in her advertising. I did and have been singing her praises ever since. good luck, Mike

 

A good welder should be able to Tig weld it no problem.

Brian

 

Find a shop that can tig weld and has the equipment for thin gauge.
Years ago we made air tight bellows by tig welding 5 tho monel washers together.

 

I have used a brand epoxy named "Devcon" they have an aluminum epoxy that is 90% aluminum and they have a steel epoxy that is 80% steel. I have used the aluminum on tranmission cases that were prototypes and the castings were improperly designed and holes cut thru the castings.
I repaired with Devcon and that particular Auto manufacturer was so impressed I had to go to the factory and instruct their tool room machinists on the process. I think it will hold just be sure to properly prepare the surounding surface.

 

Jim, I hear you with the epoxy on the crankcase story. Every time we ride the BAJA peninsula we've got it in our packs. Ya never know. With the cooler you've got 2 things going against you, heat and pressure. That really takes it's tool after time. I'd go with a weld for a good piece of mind.
Darrell.

 

If you can't see the area, I would consider two options that have not been discussed. The highlights of the ideas are as follows:
One option would be to rough-up the Alum tube near the hole with 80 or 120 grit sand paper and put JB weld on the tube and on a 3/4 inch or so wide strip of fine stainless steel mesh. Saturate the mesh with JB weld and wrap the mesh around the tube a couple of times. Wrap some polyethelene plastic bag material around all the screen and clamp the mess tight with some rubber hose clamps--the JB weld won't stick to the plastic bag (Zip-Lock style) material so after the JB drys and you take the hose clamps-off it should look pretty good. The strength would be in the SS mesh, and the seal would be in the JB Weld.
Another possibility would be to get some of those Alum brazing rods and form a patch with a piece of scrap Alum and braze it on.

Mark

 

Jim, you may have some luck with Jag guys. The Henrob lady claimed Jaguar used this system on thier ally skins. It's actually very cheap and simple. It's basicly an oxy/acetelyne torch but the flame is minute. So small that in skilled hands you get no distortion of the surrounding metal. It looks like brazing. As I recall, it cost about $3 or 400Aus. for a basic kit several years ago. Had I not just bought a MIG I would have snapped one up. Stick with it, It will work out. And don't worry, I've done ALL the bumb things. Mike

 

http://www.portableweldingtorch.com/index.html

 

From the standpoint of welding, I would be concerned about the remaining
J-B Weld on the part. The plastic causes a lot of problems in trying to weld over it and must be cleaned completely to be able to assure a good weld. The oil doesn't help much either, as in both cases, the contaminants cause a film that inhibits the metals to be joined.
There are a few out there that can weld pretty thin stuff.....
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Rinsing in solvent like acetone, then blowing it off with compressed air will clean the area to make for a proper weld. I should stress that one should be sure that all the solvent is gone from the piece as any left over, including fumes, would make for an explosive situation...

How thick is the oil cooler tube material where the hole is? For thin materials, I would use an industrial grade TIG welder machine, with at least a "pulse" function and if the cooler is made out of aluminum, a machine with A/C balance and frequency control also. This will allow to control the heat input into the metal. For home/light duty use, this is the machine I'd use:

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/dynasty_200_series/

Although, it would be expensive if you'd use it only this one time

 

http://www.permatex.com/products/automotive/specialized_maintenance_repair/exhaust_system_maintenance_repair/Permatex_Hi-Temp_Metal_Repair_Compound.htm

used this on my headers works great.

 

I enjoy doing my own welding, but when I've got an expensive pert, I leave it for the pros. I just purchased a $900 Ron Davis radiator, and could just picture myself burning a hole in it welding on th mounting brackets. $70 bucks was cheap for a weld and piece of mind.

Darrell.

 

Many of the two pack "liquid metals" claim great things but in my experience you cant beat good 'ole tig welding, and is it really worth chancing it on something so vital as an oil line?

 

I drove about 600 miles over two days, got to my folks house in santa barbara and got up the next day to let my dad drive the car. we went about 600 yards to the restaurant for breakfast, only top find a trail of oil leading up to where the car was parked - yup pin hole in ome of the cooler tubes.

Tried all day to find another new or used cooler or someone to fix it - anywhere within 200 miles of santabarbara - no luck

A local guy made a bypass pipe that got me home without a cooler. I only had to slow down a bit in the maountains to keep the temp under 230.

But to the point, I would strongly advise doing what ever it takes to do a pressure test of the fixed part to 150-175 psi.

Why did the part fail in the first place?? corrosion, bad karma, an evil voodoo curse.

I do not even want to think about runnning out of oil or an oily fire in the engine compartment, especially 600 miles from home.

hth.
chris

 

An excellent unit Peter.
I am still running the old SynchroWave 250 that I bought many years ago. Doesn't have the pulse module, and I haven't had enough time on a pulser to get used to one. I had to learn thin stuff without it, so that is what I got used to.
The level of quality of the equipment has a lot to do with the final weld, as a welder is limited with lesser tools, just like any trade. I would be curious to see a pic of the tube hole if possible, as the hole location has much to do with the difficulty or ease of repair.
BTW, the pic is of two razor knife blades welded together, sharp end to sharp end, using the 250.
Many TIG hands get a bit competetive in their craft, and welding pop cans is quite widely done. This is kinda "raising the bar". Heh Heh heh..

 

I hear ya, I've had to turn **** into gold many times before On a serious note, if you get the chance, try a pulsed machine. You'll be amazed. When I was at trade school about 9 years ago, they had a Miller Aerowave (unfortunately, NLA now, but was a machine you'd find in the aerospace industry). Holy smokes, was that a machine! You could run 300 amps no problem through 3/32 tungsten! All because of the total control of the arc (balance, frequency, upslope/downslope time, amperage levels in both the negative and positive sides of the A/C wave, etc...).

At work, we have a Lincoln Square Wave 255, which has a pulse function. I don't use it too often, but has come in handy when doing a corner weld on 16ga. aluminum. It isn't as sophisticated as the Aerowave, but still a nice machine.

For those who'd like to know more about this subject, here's a short article about aluminum TIG welding from the Miller site:

http://www.millerwelds.com/education/articles/articles15.html