Coolant Leak on driver's side.

[Wakeboy1337]

I cannot pinpoint this leak. It's been going on for 3 months. Even with my last radiator. What happens is that the car leaves a puddle of coolant after a park it and I end up having to put in another half gallon every week. I looked at my radiator and it is not leaking where the side tank crimps to the core. My upper radiator hose is so tight I'm worried if i go any tighter its going break the radiator. I have the TB bypassed and I've checked the radiator drain aswell.

I have attached some high res pics to this post. Red dots show where it lands on the ground when the car is parked.





In this last one you can see it all over my horns and ATX cooling lines.


I tried stop leak, it didnt help. Spending money on coolant is adding up...

 

[Terrorizer]

Have you checked the lower radiator hose?

 

[rubydist]

(the lower radiator hose is on the passenger side of the car - not where the puddle happens)

this is kinda obvious, but are you sure the radiator drain c*ck is not leaking?

is the upper hose new? I had a hose with a pinhole a while back, that drove me crazy for a month until it leaked badly enough that I could actually find it.

 

[Wakeboy1337]

The drain plug is tight as **** and not leaking. Plus with the way it looks under there it looks like its coming from a higher point. The Upper hose is new and I checked it for pinholes. I think that is leak is why my abs light turns on some times.... Seeing as all the connectors are wet.

 

[hawkeye18]

The endtank leaks can be devilish to find. If one of the crimps on the front side in the middle is leaking, you might never see it with the radiator in the car. I hate to say it, but I think it's time to take the radiator out and fill it with water to see where it's coming from.

The 95's radiator leaked like a sieve for a while out the endtanks, but vise grips and a tube of RTV fixed that right up.

 

[klobbs]

Go to advance (not autozone) and rent their radiator pressure tester kit. It's universal, and works great. You should be able to pinpoint the leak within minutes. it's like $250, but you get that all back when you return it.

 

[Wakeboy1337]

Oh boy. The things coming out of your keyboards are not what I wanna read. This radiator is brand new and I just put it in a couple months ago. I really really dont wanna pull it back out

 

[hawkeye18]

Oh... you put a new radiator in and didn't re-crimp the endtanks first?

Now I'm not convinced it might be the endtanks; I know for a fact it's the endtanks. You should've seen all the people warning you to crimp your endtanks before you install a new radiator. They all leak like a sieve for reasons unknown. The radiator in my wife's 95 that was literally dribbling coolant out of the endtanks? Yup, brand new.

Better warm up the vise-grippin' hand. and get a big ol' tube of grey RTV. You'll be using it all. In fact, a caulk gun might not be a bad idea.

 

[Wakeboy1337]

Well at least it'll be a cheap fix I guess. So after I'm done crimping do I just slather the RTV on it or what?

 

[hawkeye18]

Well at least it'll be a cheap fix I guess. So after I'm done crimping do I just slather the RTV on it or what?

Yeah, the cost will be a tube of RTV (or caulk/caulk gun), and yet more coolant, although you should have such clean coolant by this point you could just recycle it.

Once you get the radiator out, you will see the little metal tabs surrounding the end tanks; there are about 8,500 of them. Get your vise grips, pick a tab, and set the tightness so that it clamps it pretty tight but not so tight it feels like you're going to break the plastic. You wanna get a nice 'n tight seal here. Then, just work your way around, locking the pliers on each tab. Some of them will be difficult/impossible to get because of stuff in the way. Don't worry about those.

Then, just lay a good, thick bead of RTV around the tabs and into the recesses between the tabs. This will require a good amount of spudging with a tool to push the RTV into the recesses. It will take a while and your hand will hate you, but after you let it cure for AT LEAST 3-4 hours you can reinstall. I would personally let it cure for a full 24 hours but that means you can't drive your car, so let it cure for as long as you can. Then, reinstall, refill, and fire 'er up. There should be no leaking.

 

[Wakeboy1337]

Looks like I'll go outside and begin teardown....

Thank you

 

[hawkeye18]

Looks like I'll go outside and begin teardown....

Thank you

Sucks that you had to find out the hard way. The problem is, if you only crimp the offending tabs, pressure will be reduced on all the other tabs... and leaks will spring up there. You have to get a uniform clamp all around the end tanks. This SHOULD be enough; the RTV is "I really don't f***ing want to have to do this again: insurance.

 

[lowc]

mine is leaking in the same spot right now and mine is the upper hose

 

[FastAndFurious]

Maybe your oil cooler coolant hose is cracked. That's what Happened to mine, and it was hard to find.

 

[Wakeboy1337]

Maybe your oil cooler coolant hose is cracked. That's what Happened to mine, and it was hard to find.

Nope it's all dry over there. I had checked it already.

 

[Wakeboy1337]

Okay I have car back together and my hands are sore. So var there is no leaking but I'm not out of the park yet... My temp gauge seems so get to the high "M" and then the fans fire up and the temp drops back down. It used to only get up to the "A" in normal. This was a light 10 minute drive (around the neighborhood)

 

[hawkeye18]

So.. you're complaining that the temp gauge gets right up to the middle of the word "NORMAL"? Do me a favor and define the word "normal" for me.

Nah, really, it's fine. The temp gauge is supposed to hang around between O and M. Really, the fans shouldn't be coming on 'til the gauge hits O, so either your fans are coming on early, the coolant temp sensor is off, or (most likely) the dummy gauge sensor (yes, it's a separate sensor) is off. It might just be corrosion at its single terminal lowering the reading. It's forward of the t-stat housing and has a single wire going to it. The "pin" is just a metal nub that the wire fits over. Try wiggling that around to break the bond and get fresh metal into contact. That might help.

 

[Wakeboy1337]

Figured out why it was getting so hot. I had to burp the cooling system. After that it worked normally. No leaks still. Too bad my A/C system exploded yesterday. I think I have a hole in the dryer now but I'm not sure yet. When I get the chance to get under the car I'll be sure to make a thread about it. :-/

 

[hawkeye18]

Figured out why it was getting so hot. I had to burp the cooling system. After that it worked normally. No leaks still. Too bad my A/C system exploded yesterday. I think I have a hole in the dryer now but I'm not sure yet. When I get the chance to get under the car I'll be sure to make a thread about it. :-/

Oh yeah, I probably shoulda mentioned you'd have to burp the system afterwards. Don't know why I didn't think of it myself. Sorry to hear about your A/C. That can be a ***** to fix. Far more so than the cooling system. At least that only goes up to 16 psi.

 

[digsj7]

I have the same leak on mine. Just started a couple weeks ago. about 4" from the top of drivers side entank I can see coolant on there. Looks like Im pulling the radiator. :-/