Coolant reservoir

So I busted the little nipple off of the top of my coolant reservoir today while "massaging" the inner fender well trying to remove the passenger side uca bolt. Called the dealer and they want $150 for the fan shroud/reservoir assembly. Plus it wouldn't be here until Wednesday. I need to find someway to get this fixed tomorrow or worst case Monday morning as I don't own another vehicle. Amazon has a bunch of universal ones, just wondering if anyone has had to do they same thing and which bottle worked or didn't work for them.

 

Too bad you aren’t in CA. I have my stock radiator shroud/res you could have for free. Not sure about a universal, as far as I could tell the overflow tank isn’t easily removed from the shroud.

 

It's not rocket science. An antifreeze jug, a 2 liter bottle, a milk jug, whatever, with a hole drilled in the cap and a hose going to the bottom will work. Ziptie something in there. You might need a longer hose to reach the bottom. Make sure air can escape out the top of the cap.

 

Epoxy

 

l second this ^^

 

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I am making way too much out of this. I found some plastic epoxy down in the basement so I will give that a shot tomorrow.

 

zip ties

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dorman-Coo...7110P020-603-441/371237851484?epid=1823207980

 

The epoxy I was going to use was no good. Took a walk over to Advance Auto to buy some tubing so I could jerry rig up something to at least get me through the week. They actually had a universal reservoir that was only $10 so obviously I jumped all over it. Looks a bit half assed, but it will work until I get the factory tank fixed, hopefully one evening this week.

 

The Dorman 603-441 shroud-reservoir assembly is $72 on Amazon, has good reviews, a removable reservoir, and get it delivered in two days, if a Prime member.

 

check out ROCKAUTO they got one for about $62 before shipping

 

This is my backup plan if I can't get the original one fixed.

 

So I had some time this morning and hopefully fixed the original reservoir. Took a 1/4" vacuum hose splice that I came across in the basement while looking for a hose clamp yesterday. Shaved the little nubs off of it to make it a hair thinner. Drilled out both pieces of the nipple, cleaned everything with rubbing alcohol and used silicone to glue it all together. Gonna give it the week to cure and hopefully next weekend I can hook it back up. Will also be pulling the plug int he bottom and flushing it out real good to remove any small plastic bits left over from drilling it out.

 

So my repair to the factory reservoir lasted for about 2 minutes and then came apart. Probably should have used epoxy instead of silicone. I ended up buying the Dorman replacement and got it in last weekend. It only took about an hour to do and was pretty simple. Only pain was actually getting my hands were they needed to be to get the fan nuts off. Also had to order a 1/4" to 5/16" hose splice since the Dorman bottle uses a smaller nipple than the factory. Overall it seems to be be made really well, fit just like the original and of course the reservoir on this one is replaceable if it ever gets busted again.

 

I would get a brass nipple that is the correct size for the water line, drill out that hole undersized, and screw the nipple into the reservoir with epoxy on the threads. You will have to let it sit for some time to let it cure.

 

There isn't enough material to drill out and still have anything left to screw into.