aq125a strainer housing

[mlewis11]

Howdy men,
I have a hairline crack at the top of my strainer housing right below the lip where the cap seats (AQ125A). I gouged out the length of the crack on the inside with a dremel and used regular setting JB Weld to make a patch yesterday, let sit for about 20 hours, and ran it this a.m. and it didn't hold. Does anybody know what the housing material is? ABS or something similar? Next try will be a fiberglass resin patch I suppose.Just wondering if anybody has any ideas about what would bond best to the strainer housing material. Thanks!

 

[Grub54891]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

I'd never trust a patch job on anything below or above the waterline. The potential for it failing way out in a lake,or when un-attended at the dock isn't worth it!

 

[mlewis11]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

I dont disagree with that...but since its not under enormous pressure and its only a dribble of water gonna have to try and patch it vs. the 2 bills for the new strainer housing. Fiberglass patch on. fingers crossed.

 

[mlewis11]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

negative on fiberglass...wont adhere. ABS cement is last try before shelling out the 200 sheckles.

 

[Nickypoo]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

Can you give a better explanation of where this crack is?

JB Weld should have held in a non-stressed crack just fine. The fact that it failed in less than a day tells me that maybe that crack developed because it's a stressed portion of the drive. In that case nothing short of welding it will last.


Edit: Whoops, just realized you were talking about the heat exchanger. Isn't this a plastic part that you are referring to? A picture would be helpful.

You can look into a plastic welding kit from harbor freight. No kind of adhesive or epoxy will hold it together for very long at all, as you have found out. If you are skilled with a soldering iron you can try melting it closed without filler, but it's risky.

http://www.harborfreight.com/plastic-welding-kit-80-watt-iron-67102.html

Or you can just get these and use your own soldering iron.
http://www.harborfreight.com/50-piece-plastic-welding-rods-41602.html

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

Unless it can be welded,I think it's aluminum??
The JB Weld will never hold.
The metal expands and contracts with the heating and cooling.
It needs welding.Try an aluminum welding shop.
Profile? Loction? You might be close to someone who can help??
I used to have a link for about 20 salvage yards,got it from this site.
It got left in my old puter. Maybe some one can list them for you???

 

[mlewis11]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

Hey fellas, providing pictures is beyond my computer skills unfortunately. The top of the heat exchanger has a plastic(of some sort...not entirely sure exactly what it is composed of since JB weld didn't adhere nor did the glass resin) throat about 2in. in diam. and 31/2 to 4in. tall that the raw water is routed into from the impeller.It houses the strainer that keeps debris from plugging up the exchanger. It has a cap on it with a thick rubber gasket that is quite like a radiator cap with a couple of tabs inside the lip of the cap,so when you tighten it the tabs follow the outside of the lip and cinch it down when it hits its stopping point. The crack is at the stopping point on the one side where the tab puts that last little bit of oomph to compress the gasket.
My first failure with the JB weld after gouging out the crack was not putting the cap on while it set, to keep it "pre-stressed". But when I removed the JB it seemed to come off quite chunky like it really didn't bond very well anyway.
Second failure was the fiberglass and resin, was just the wrong material. Even though I let it set with the cap on, it appeared to bond less than the JB.
So the third attempt was ABS cement and,smartened up a little bit on this one(which remains to be seen). I was able to ever so gently open said crack while my Dad smooshed the cement into the crack from inside lip. I could see the cement had come through a tiny bit, so IF it will actually bond to the Swedish space age material, I might be in business. And I put the cap on to give it the stress it will be under normally.
Will try again tomorrow and see what happens. As far as the risky part of trying to melt it back together, really there's no risk in that, the suckers already broke, so the worst I can do is fail and still have to buy the new part! (for $200)
As I mentioned earlier it's just a dribble, but little leaks generally get worse so I might as well do battle now vs. later.Thanks for the input and I will keep you posted.

 

[Don S]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

Yes it's plastic, and not aluminum. It does have pressure and when it leaks it needs replaced. It's also old and expensive, but so is everything else for those 30 year old engines. Try ebay for a used part and use the PN and do an internet search for the best price.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

Sorry I was thinking of a the heat exchanger.

 

[dennis461]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

Start calling motorcyle repair shops in your area.
Ask if they do plastic welding.
If they ask what kind of motorcycle, say Honda (If you say boat they'll hang up on you!)
A lot of motorcycles have plastic windshield and side body panels that break when dropped.

When you find a shop that does it, take your part there. Good luck.

 

[Nickypoo]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

Start calling motorcyle repair shops in your area.
Ask if they do plastic welding.
If they ask what kind of motorcycle, say Honda (If you say boat they'll hang up on you!)
A lot of motorcycles have plastic windshield and side body panels that break when dropped.

When you find a shop that does it, take your part there. Good luck.

I thought about this later after I posted, you could try radiator shops or auto body shops too. I believe auto body shops use plastic welders for plastic body panels in the same manner as the motorcycle body panels in the example given by dennis. I wouldn't have thought of a motorcycle shop though, that's good to keep in mind.

 

[mlewis11]

Re: aq125a strainer housing

Sooo...ABS cement and this particular composition of plastic don't go together either. But what does go well with whatever kind of plastic it is, is heat from a soldering iron (Thank you Nicky). It flows really quite well when it reaches its melting point. Having gouged out the crack from earlier attempts left me needing a filler. The housing has 4 large tabs on the outside that were part of the molding process that with a little help from a pocketknife gave me all I needed for filler. Ran it in the yard for 15 or 20 minutes off and on. In a couple of weeks will get out on the water and do the real world test. Thanks for everybody's input and hopefully i saved a couple hundred! Mark