so i go down to the old junk yard today and get a replacement coolant reservoir. but like an idiot i didn't check to make sure it had the low coolant sensor in it. well wadya know it didn't. so i pop out the one i got but i damaged it. i epoxied it back together and after 12 hours id like to fill it up and drive.
usually in these situations i can convince myself that im not dealing with a worst case scenario but not this time. hot ass coolant getting repeatedly dumped in there is a pretty extreme edge case. kind of humorously so.
its just the cheap harbor freight generic epoxy. will it hold?
to be honest ive got no idea if it would be illegal here. whats illegal is the car dropping too much fluid and if you dont stop it doing that with coolant youve got bigger problems anyway, and the cops arent likely to know about it unless they specifically look under the hood in which case... well id be asking why you were getting roadworthied in the first place (where i am youd have to be driving a borderline wreck or something clearly dangerous or loud for cops to be digging around under the hood) so a soft drink bottle overflow replacement isnt something theyre going to know about. you would not present a car for a roadworthy inspection for rego with that coke bottle mind you, then youll have a problem.
usually the first you know about these things is when your car suddenly overheats in the middle of nowhere on a hot day, in which case, trucks just gave you the bush mechanics go to, soft drink bottle, and cable ties. will do the job until you fix it properly, and you dont have to worry about failing epoxy.
honestly on a commodore thats like a $30 part from the wreckers you can replace yourself in about half an hour so its 6 of one half a dozen of the other in this case :P but i dont know what youre driving.
and this is all entirely pointless because i just re read your post and youre talking about the sensor... whoops. that being said if there is water or coolant in that overflow bottle then you know that you have plenty of water in the cooling system. the overflow sucks water in when the car is hot and spits it back out again as it cools down, so as long as the bottle has more water than the engine needs youre fine. pretty sure if i dick around with the dashboard on the car i have now it shows coolant levels.... not sure about my last car (which had a coke bottle reservoir)
worst thing that will happen is it gives a false reading and the engine overheats or some of it comes off and tears apart the inside of the engine. .. but i really don't wanna do it twice.
On plastic you may get better adhesion by sanding then applying high temp silicone sealer. I cannot picture your particular part so this is just a generalization about repairing broken plastic coolant tanks.
[ + ] i_scream_trucks
[ - ] i_scream_trucks 1 point 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 02:30:32 ago (+1/-0)
empty coke bottle and a couple of cable ties works just fine.
but then again a holden commodore isnt some finicky high end bmw...
[ + ] Crusade
[ - ] Crusade 1 point 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 02:27:52 ago (+1/-0)
$5 J-B Weld 50139 Plastic Bonder Body Panel Adhesive and Gap Filler Syringe„ the white is fine too
[ + ] deleted
[ - ] deleted 0 points 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 02:29:52 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] deleted
[ - ] deleted 0 points 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 03:00:41 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Crusade
[ - ] Crusade 0 points 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 03:02:46 ago (+0/-0)
Yes, i suppose you could make an autoseer that way. Still would be illegal.
[ + ] i_scream_trucks
[ - ] i_scream_trucks 1 point 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 06:40:51 ago (+1/-0)*
usually the first you know about these things is when your car suddenly overheats in the middle of nowhere on a hot day, in which case, trucks just gave you the bush mechanics go to, soft drink bottle, and cable ties. will do the job until you fix it properly, and you dont have to worry about failing epoxy.
honestly on a commodore thats like a $30 part from the wreckers you can replace yourself in about half an hour so its 6 of one half a dozen of the other in this case :P but i dont know what youre driving.
and this is all entirely pointless because i just re read your post and youre talking about the sensor... whoops. that being said if there is water or coolant in that overflow bottle then you know that you have plenty of water in the cooling system. the overflow sucks water in when the car is hot and spits it back out again as it cools down, so as long as the bottle has more water than the engine needs youre fine. pretty sure if i dick around with the dashboard on the car i have now it shows coolant levels.... not sure about my last car (which had a coke bottle reservoir)
[ + ] Crusade
[ - ] Crusade 0 points 2.8 yearsJul 10, 2021 01:10:30 ago (+0/-0)
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[ - ] account deleted by user 1 point 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 02:12:37 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] Rayden
[ - ] Rayden [op] -1 points 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 02:26:55 ago (+0/-1)
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[ - ] account deleted by user 0 points 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 13:06:30 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] spasswerk
[ - ] spasswerk 0 points 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 13:12:52 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] beece
[ - ] beece 0 points 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 08:37:23 ago (+0/-0)
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[ - ] deleted 0 points 2.8 yearsJul 9, 2021 02:30:16 ago (+0/-0)