Health and safety aside, if the system is not run with a pressure cap, the coolant is likely to boil off and you could end up with a more serious problem than a leaking radiator. Pressurised cooling systems were introduced to allow engines to run at higher temperatures and therefore more efficiently, so without the pressure-induced increase in the boiling point of the coolant, it is like to boil and escape.
Putting anything in a coolant system can also block coolant passages in the engine block and cause long-term damage.
So unless it's a real emergency situation I would get a tow and repair the radiator properly. Damaged fins can be crimped / rolled shut.
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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.
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