Been refilling the overflow bottle every couple of days, now I know why. When I stopped today I heat a good hissing sound and well the leak finally revealed itself, near the upper hose connection (pic). Larger than before, for sure!
Anybody have a prognosis for me? Somewhere in between JB Weld and total replacement, inclusive? I guess first I have to figure out how to get in there.

 

Radiators are relatively cheap nowadays. Just replace it.

 

Gotta love aluminum core and plastic tanks....guess where they leak 98% of the time.....the gasket used between the two.
Tom is correct (as usual)...replacement radiators are not very expensive, check RockAuto. I have one from them sitting on the garage floor waiting for me to install it. Guess where the leak is at on mine?

About half-way down on the left side.

Most difficult part of the radiator swap is getting the transmission and oil cooler lines out...and not losing those blasted clips. Job is messy due to draining the radiator which of course means coolant goes about everywhere except where the bucket is!

I have been putting this off....113°F yesterday....garage is not really where I want to be at.

 

If not for the fluids involved, replacing a radiator would be an easy job.

 

I can't even get the radiator hose off. Taking it to the shop.

 

Before you take it to the shop, spray all the connections, Especially the trans connections and the oil cooler connections that LannyL mentioned. The guys at the shop will appreciate you did that , esp. in the S.W. heat wave. Are those Indy shops air conditioned ? I don't think so. Remember they charge by the hour ! I recommend P.B. Blaster.

 

The shop was more expensive than I expected. $425 to replace the broken part, clean out 20 years of black crud in the radiator, flush the system and refill with green fluid. I think I was the only customer. Still, it feels good knowing the problem is solved.

 

Was the $425 for everything or was that just labor?

 

Everything. Nice and clean in there.he even flushed out the overflow bottle and I know he does pressure testing so I probably got that done.

 

Not terrible price for everything; all is good now!