After my last post Andrew replied that he has justifiably great faith in Bars Leaks as it’s held the leaks at bay on his Brush since 1992 which is not a bad recommendation. So I gave it a try although I lacked the intestinal fortitude to go for 5 bottles as suggested. After pouring it in and waiting for 20 minutes the water was still showing no abatement so I cut my losses and emptied the radiator into a bucket for later and moved onto plan B.

This radiator has a fair bit of plan B already in situ so I felt a little more would not hurt. Plan B is epoxy putty, I have previously used it on the side of the road as a “get me home” repair after the fan and the radiator had a spat and although not yet lasting 20 years it’s showing no signs of failure.

Luckily this is all happening on the back of the radiator so maybe I will do an upgrade and paint the putty black just in case a purist looks under the bonnet. Although as the product used is in French I can only assume it’s OEM Darracq.

I’m glad the Darracq has only oil and water to leak as it seems I have plugged the former only to uncork the latter.
This morning being the second Sunday of the month was the local club’s coffee morning and as it was white with frost the perfect time for taking an open car for a spin. Apart from a touch of exposure the trip to Warragul went well with no oil leaks although in the past it needed something more than 12 km to really show.

The real problem appeared on arrival back home and on inspection the radiator had sprung another leak.  This is the third leak the first being when the fan pedestal broke and pitched the fan into the radiator, fixed with epoxy chewing gum, the second on the same day as the first but from natural causes fixed with stop leak in a bottle and now this one, it may be time for a new core. Not sure how to finance this one as I’ve already sold the children.