I installed new radiator, OEM thermostat and top and bottom rad hoses about one month ago. Everything seemed fine and the car ran great, all I did today was jack my car up from the rear while I worked on it. I drove around a during the day and drove it again at night and smelled the familiar sweet smell of leaking coolant, I then popped the hood and found coolant right below the top hose right where it connects to radiator and there was also some coolant on right side of radiator.

My temp gauge has been right below the half-way point this whole time as well, matter of fact even when the radiator blew the first time the temp gauge never went past normal operating temp. What could it be?

 

anyone?

 

It could be that there is some left over coolant somewhere in the engine bay. Are all your other hoses in good shape? One time I had a tiny hose (next to the intake manifold) that had a tiny leak and I couldn't find it until it burst. Just check ALL of your hoses and clean off any excess coolant that might have been left over. Wait a day or two and if it still smells, reinspect to isolate the leak.

 

I completed the install about a month ago and completely inspected and cleaned up any stray coolant. I also checked all other hoses for leaks and didn't find a thing.

 

Water pump maybe? The pump develops a small leak as a sign that it's getting bad.

 

Not the water pump either, had that done with my timing belt at the 90k maintenance interval.

 

are you using oem hoses? check all the hose fitting points and make sure that its tightly fit cuz non oem hoses may not fit as snugly and even with the clamp leave it leakin a little under pressure.

 

Nope, the upper hose is from Kragen and the lower from Pep Boys. The thing is I'm still using the OEM clamps and they seem snug as hell. If they are alittle loose why would it take month for them to leak though?

 

well actually i get a little leakin from where my upper hose connects to my motor because mine doesnt fit 100% perfectly, so i'm kinda speakin from experience.. but not enough to worrie about.. just every time a drive really really hard i'll find a small drip on that part and find my coolant just a little tiny bit lower. But nothing thats got me shittin in my pants ya kno? And my hose was from kragens too. But as for the hose clamps.. i replaced mine with the kind with the screw in it, cuz i didnt trust the old clamps to be used again. **** my car is nearly 10 years old.

 

That's exactly what I did today, I got on the throttle real good, more than I have in a long while. So what you're saying is if you get on it real hard and if you have less than perfect fitting hoses and clamps, you can get some coolant leak?

I don't like that though, but it would be a pain in the *** to have to remove the OEM clamps and put on the screw type. Shiiit, there will be coolnat all over the damn place again. Thanx for the info.

 

Did you "bleed" all the air out? You could of had some air in their that could have created excessive pressure. Just a thought...

 

Yeah I did bleed all the air out. After topping out with coolant I turned on the heat to full and ran the car for about 10 minutes or so. Funny thing is my fans never turned on, but I've heard as long as your running at normal operating temp. that the fans don't kick on. They doesn't seem right though. I know the cooling fan is working because when I turn on the ac I see it spinning, but I never hear or see working just by itself.

 

Heck. If you want to be lazy, you can probably cut the tabs off of the OEM clip with tin snips, pry open the clip and slip it off. If the clip material is too thick, you might be able to go at it with a hacksaw.

I'd definitely replace that top clamp though.

Just drain some coolant from the bottom of your radiator before you remove the top hose (and from the block if you want). That'll minimize spillage.

 

Use two screw clamps. I had the same problem. The first clamp will stop most of the leaking and the second will pick up the rest. Your OEM clamp is probably bent out of shape and is not sealing your hose correctly. The kind of leakage you are talking about is not enough to make a difference in the effectiveness of the cooling system unless it goes unchecked for a long period of time.

 

did you check the cap?

check the overflow?

 

I forgot to mention I have a new rad cap too. The overflow is filled properly as well. I'll probably have to take off the original clamps and put on the screw type. Thanx for all you guys.

 

Here we go again....the next day

I drove the car for the first time today and popped the hood when I got back home and noticed some coolant right below the top hose where it connects to radiator. There are no cracks or visible damage so it looks like it is seeping out. The only thing I'm worried about is when I first looked at the top hose after I popped the hood it looked like it was going to burst almost.


[Modified by hitop, 5:08 AM 2/17/2003]

 

Well, you can alway get a new hose since they are cheap.

 

That's cool, I wish the hose would have lasted longer than a month though.

 

are you sure you let all the air out of the system before putting the cap on?

 

As far as I know I did. Like I said before I topped off the radiator and filled the reservoir and ran the car with the heater on full balst for about 15-20 minutes. Is that not right? Plus, I have new thermo. and cap too.

 

I've noticed today that there is white smoke coiming out of exhaust, is this bad headgasket time?

 

Does it smell like antifreeze?? That would be a bad sign.
Its cold out. The water vapor in the exhaust will probably make some steam, even without a headgasket leak.

 

Well, it was cold out today, but here in southern cali., it doesn't get that cold. That's a good point you bring up though. After reading up more on bad head gaskets it seems that you would see really thick white smoke. I did see white smoke coming out but it could have passed for steam as well.

 

Well, it IS steam, either way. Combustion makes water vapor. A leaky head gasket just adds more to it.

If its a small headgasket leak I suppose it would still smell like antifreeze? Is any antifreeze leaking into your oil? Oil into your antifreeze?