Coolant catastrophe! What do you suppose let go?

[Huntervf]

Wife gets home yesterday, says "I smell coolant pretty bad". Pop the hood and WHOA, it's real wet on the driver side in the area between the throttle body to the airbox and back to the firewall.

My initial thought was simply a popped hose, but an inspection (albeit in the dark with a flashlight) found the main hoses (heater, upper rad) to be 100% dry and seemingly break-free.

I have her start the car so I can check for leaks, don't see anything but that upper radiator hose collapses completely. Hmmmmm.

Inside the car the heat is still hot and there's no coolant smell from the vents.

Apparently, whatever happened to the car did so yesterday while she was on her way to work, because she said the low coolant light came on then. She said the temp never got hot, but that on her trip home the needle was a little higher in the normal range than it usually is. When I popped the radiator cap, nothing but air came out so if there's still any coolant in the car there isn't much.

Now, I have had leaking end-tank and heater core problems... I ran Bars HD stopleak through the coolant system last winter and that completely took care of the heater core, I haven't smelled anything inside the car since then. Last July I had one of the end-tanks resealed on the radiator, and since then I've still had a very slow leak... coolant light comes on approximately once a month. I ran another batch of stop leak (this time Bars aluminum, only about 1/2 the bottle), filled the overflow (the radiator was still pretty full) and immediatey drove the car about 100 miles, so the stop-leak was circulated well. Not sure if there's any connection or not because I just did this last Saturday. I've run stop-leak in the past without any issues, and in fact it did exactly what it was supposed to.

I'll be looking into it more tomorrow, and I'm expecting to find a break in a hose somewhere, but I thought I'd post the story here and see if others have some ideas on where to look. I'm particularly intrigued with the upper radiator hose collapsing... I always thought that, if there was a hole in a hose somewhere that it wouldn't collape like that, even if the system is nearly devoid of coolant.

 

[Mr95Gl]

Check the coolant lines under and around the TB. Also I thought that using those stop-leaks were a bad idea? Of course I could be mistaken.

 

[TimboSHO]

Also I thought that using those stop-leaks were a bad idea? Of course I could be mistaken.

The stop leaks are more of a band-aid. They're not real great to have circulating in your cooling system for any amount of time. I would say take the t-stat off and see if that's plugged up with stop leak. This could be the cause of your collapsing hose? It could be leaking from the t-stat gasket as well.

 

[Huntervf]

The problems I've heard with stop-leak have generally been from people who don't use it properly, like dumping in in the rad and not filling the cooling system up to normal, or not running the car thoroughly after you put it in. Like I said, I've used it for years now without issue

Wherever the leak is, it was spraying pretty good. Coolant was all over that side of the engine bay, even laying on top of the bell housing. But all the hoses were dry

 

[FREAK_SHO]

Crossover tube?

 

[93rev2sev]

There is stop leak in the radiator from the factory. Pellets are added to the radiator during assembly. This is pretty standard operating procedure. The pellets help to ensure a sealed coolant system from the factory.

It sounds to me like your thermostat Housing gasket is laughing at you.

 

[Shoaz]

That whole coolant distribution thingie around the t-stat is a bit of a nightmare. I'd carefully check all of the hoses and fittings around that as well as the assembly itself (as much as you can).

If the top hose collapsed I'd think about replacing it regardless.

Check around the small hoses for the TB bypass, as well as the heater hoses that poke under the intake on that side.

 

[SHOZ123]

Look carefully at the short 1.5" hose going to the heater pipe.

 

[TYSHO]

Make sure your upper hose doesn't have a little slit. I had the same thing happen and the upper hose stayed dry, the coolant would just squirt out and spray everything else. It was a very small slit that you can only catch if looking for. Also make sure your clamps are tightened down good and not leaking from there. Other than that, you have the cross over hose, TB hoses, and the rear block hose.

 

[Huntervf]

I already have a new upper hose that will be going on regardless

I'm not too concerned... with all the coolant under the hood I'm sure the problem will present itself with some in-depth examination. I was just surprised that I couldn't track down the leak last night, and I was a little confused with the upper hose collapsed.

Of course, now that I said that I'm going to find something major

 

[SASHO91]

why not just pressurize the system? Im not too sure if AZ rents them out.... but im sure you could pick one up for cheap though. its always a good tool to have handy....

i'd suspect the small section of hose that runs from the T-stat to the righ bank, as stated allready.

 

[Yamaha V6]

Check the metal to rubber interface at the heater hoses Chris. Also check the sensor bung area. Look at the clamps closely, you might have a tear right at the clamp area too.

Mine's weeping under my upper hose only when hot / pressurized, gotta get in there & reseal.

 

[DEMONICSHO]

any radiator shop around you will do a free pressure check to tell you whare the leak is coming from, i worked at a radiator shop for years and had to rod out many a radiator because of bars leak etc.,you got to understand that bars leak isnt smart enough to go right to the leak, it settles and rests in the tubes greatly reducing your cooling capacity.

 

[DEMONICSHO]

pellets in the radiator?!, im curious to know what company does this, as ive never heard of this. if that were the case people doing rebuilds on radiators would have pellets handy too. bottom line, bars leak, stop leak ........NO!

 

[SHOZ123]

I agree about not using stop leak. And the aluminum powder is a great way to ruin the heater core.

 

[dmbturbo69]

I havent heard of anyone carmakers using the pellets since some caddilacs in the early 80's there were tsb's where gm tech would put in pellets to seal the system.
If you read the directions it will do what it says and stop your leak as long as its not a hole. BUT it leaves a nasty coating of shit everywhere your coolant goes, so there is no turning back. As hot as my ATX sho runs in summer I wouldnt dare use this stuff your cooling system wont be able to dissipate heat as it should

 

[inverse1216]

i agree i wouldnt dare use stop leak or any of that sorts in my car it breaks down and just sludges up in your cooling system. all it is a cheap temporary fix. people wonder why there cars dont run as healthy as they should be.

 

[Huntervf]

Easy fix just as I'd hoped

The rearmost TB coolant line, the one that goes down, then bends 90 degrees back to the block, had a 1/2 inch gash in it. The gash was back near the engine block, so I couldn't see it Thursday night, but today with daylight and the air intake tube out of the way it was plain as day. $1.00 and 45 minutes later I'm back on the road.

While I was at it I also installed my new upper radiator hose, as the old one was just ****** up. No gashes but it was pretty sucked in. It was an original hose so hey, it was due.

As for the stop leak, I've run a bottle of the HD bars pellets (dissolved in boiling water before dumping into the radiator) and 1.5 bottles of bars liquid aluminum stop leak in the last year and a half... it helped my end tank leaks (for awhile anyway, as people have said) but more importantly it's completely taken care of my heater core issues. I wasn't gettting any fog, but I was getting a coolant smell through the vents about this time last year. The HD pellets took care of the end tank, and the liquid aluminum took care of the heater core. I haven't had the slightest hint of coolant smell in the car since then, and the 93 runs as cool as ever.

I agree that stop leak can be harmful, and won't work on bigger problems. But, it's been my experience that, if you follow the directions, stick to the liquid-based materials and run the car to operating temp immediately after using it, it can help out with smaller issues.

I also used a bottle of HD pellets (once again, dissolved in boiling water before pouring into the radiator) last winter on my 91, which was leaking from the end tanks enough to require a refill of the overflow bottle every couple weeks. 1 year and 20,000 miles later, the tanks are dry and my overflow bottle is still halfway full... I haven't needed any coolant since I ran the stop leak.

 

[LOUDSHO92]

Well for a quick fix you can use an Egg. Just crack an egg into the radiator and run it. This would only be a quick temporary fix.

The Mythbusters did an episode on it and they put a hole into a radiator and then put in egg in. Sure enough the leak went away. Dont know how long it will last though.

Just food for though or leaks.

 

[DEMONICSHO]

you can also use pepper, but once again in dire emergencies.