I have just been to Bunnings, came out
and – oh look, Mum – a pool of coolant under the engine!!!!
Pin hole in a coolant pipe in the engine bay! Sprayed everywhere!!
Some years ago I bought a roll of NITTO butyl
rubber tape from Jaycar. This is primarily designed for making awkwardly
shaped electrical joints quite waterproof. When I put it into my small
electric parts drawer, it crossed my mind that it might be useful to deal with
a split coolant hose but I never followed up on the idea.
So, back into Bunning to make hopeful
enquiries – did they have anything like that for plumbing use?
They did!! It is called ‘Tommy Tape’ and it even comes
in different colours. This is a silicone tape but it works the same way.
After application, the tape amalgamates into a single body, not layers of tape.
It has a heat range of minus 60 to plus 200 degrees, so it is suitable for
engine bay use.
The main difference that I can see is
that where the NITTO tape is stretched by 80%, the Tommy Tape is stretched by
two to three times its length. It got me home and already looks like it
could stay there forever.
I would suggest that a roll or two of
Tommy would be a wise addition to everyone’s tool box. It sure
beats being stranded a couple of hundred k from anywhere with a split hose and
a thousand k from sourcing a genuine coolant hose.
Les