Today I took out my radiator, its two hoses and the trans lines. I left all other hoses in cooling system intact. During my over heating issues I have not had leaks. Nothing under car after being driven. Well today I took it apart then a leak appeared. Note all places ABOVE the location of this leak are dry, no leaks from tstat, bypass hose or heater core hoses that i could see. All dry from up there so nothing is dripping down to the place you will see in these pics. Note the car has not been run in a few weeks.
No sooner then I wipe away the fluid it fills back up and leaks down the motor and off the oil filter housing. I wiped everything down to make sure i was having fluid coming from somewhere i was not seeing. Felt it all up and get nothing but a dry finger. You have the bolt to the left then a hiole of some type behind it. Appears there is a gasket there. Since I have all the hoses and rad out is this pushing this fluid out there? Is that a weep hole? There is a hole like it on the other side. I don't think I should put this all back together to I know what the leak is from.
Looking at your pics, the hoses are in bad shape, worm clams are over tightened and the fitting shows bad erosion from corrosion. The erosion can be mitigated by removing the corrosion (good brass wire wheel for aluminum, steel wheel for cast iron), then degrease and long cure JB weld and then file and sand to contour correctly with the "lip". For the hoses, the best clamps are the (correct) single wire clamps, second is "band" clamps like those used for Fuel Injection systems where the clamp has 360 degree contact with the hose. The worst clamps are worm clamps over tightened as they create a "wedge" near the screw that tends to be a point of leaking. Use paper towels wrapped and or taped to where the hose end is and see if coolant is "wicking" to the paper towel. That will help rule out or confirm the hose connection being a problem.
Agreed. That is a common spot for coolant to pool...don't assume hoses aren't leaking just because you aren't seeing it. A cooling system pressure test would help to accelerate the problem so you can possibly see the source a little better. I would definitely change those hoses and clamps, though.
Check the thermostat housing and bypass hose. If its clean there , then could be intake gasket or timing cover. Work your way down.
The tstat and bypass hose are dry. There is no fluid coming from above this place the rad fluid is pooling. This leak was not there prior to pulling the rad as I said. I would have noticed it under the car as it was dripping pretty good last night. Just seemed like it was coming from right there where that part is mated to the block, right in that area of that little hole you see in the pic. Sure baffles me how when there is no pressure on the system.
When I did the Tstat weeks ago I only removed the top part of bypass at the tstat. I am going to remove that and the heater core hoses and clean up everything and see what it does. I find it hard that the intake/timing chain cover would decide to start leaking once I pulled the radiator and the hoses attached to it. The water pump where the hose connected to it looks shabby in the pics but I have since cleaned off the build up on it. At Least that should seal fine. This sh*t drives me NUTZ not knowing why in this case a leak appears out of nowhere. I did take off the fan shroud and pushed it back into fan and prob the other hoses I left on, perhaps one of them got "disturbed" since they are old, clamps too tight, has made them leak ever so lightly even though I don't see it. I did go outside last night a hour or so later and the pool was there but it was no longer leaking down and off the oil filter housing.
It could be a timing cover gasket my 2002 ram 1500 with 5.9 gas (this happened to me back in 2013) had that happen just driving to town it only had 87,000 miles, it shot out coolant at the gasket. But check the simple stuff first. Do you have it back together yet? Maybe one of your hoses has a crack on the edge and when you pulled the radiator it was enough for it to seep
When I pulled the rad I just pushed the fan shroud fwrd into the motor to allow rad to pull out, maybe it was hitting on the bypass hose or the heater core hose near the alt bracket and I simple can not see the stream filling the area where it is pooling. I just don't get why at this point and time it decided to leak and why a few hours after then leak was found I go back out and the leak is stopped. If it is leaking from the timing chain cover that looks like job to do(fix). I am pulling the distrib, all of the stuff up there? This free car that I was told ran great is becoming a PIA. ha ha
I have not put it together yet. Getting a new bypass hose and heater core hoses and clean up all the hose connections and put back together and see what happens.
Often connections and mating surfaces have become compromised and the "crud" is all that prevents the leak, until it is "disturbed". And fluid can and will flow by capillary action and drive you crazy as the inclination is to look "up" from the evidence of the leak. I have seen more leaks (aircraft hydraulics) that flowed forward and up, then drip and travel along skin/panel gaps and the evidence of the leak far from a source. Sneaky little liquid molecules... And I agree, In your case, focus on all the plumbing and "easy stuff" first, and if you take anything apart, pay close attention the mating and contact surfaces, as those are almost always comprised after all these years.
well I am putting all new hoses on it and will clean up all connects that said hoses go on. Just seemed funny I could not see where the water is coming from but like you said it could be coming from a hose that I just can't see it 100 completely. Stupid question how is water coming from behind the timing cover?? There is water behind that? Those that have been reading up on my overheating issues in another thread. When I pulled the lower hose off the rad that was in the car there was a fair amount of CRUDE that came out before the rad fluid came out. Ganna say that rad was clogged.
The water jacket has passages at the top right and left corners of the block, and pass through the timing cover into the water pump.
I feel like the leak is coming from the bolt/gasket show in the pic right there at the pool of fluid. Just got that bad feeling. If that is leaking there I am taking out all the water pump and the thing (what is that called) it is attached to.
Timing chain cover. Curious. How is the car overall condition wise, and what kind of budget as well as plans do you have for the car? (pardon me if you covered that in other posts, I have not had time to look). The question is to help folks who want to answer and offer advice. My concern is if you have as much sludge in bottom of the block, unless you do a proper flush, you may find yourself with more trouble with overheating, plugged radiator/heater core and failing water pump(s). Just hate to see you get frustrated with the car.
The the part between the WP and the block is the timing chain cover, the distrib goes in it to the left of the tstat housing? Sorry I have not seen this type of set up before. The car over all is clean. CA car all it's life, rust free. Things fixed as they broke but not driven much through the years. No idea how long the rad fluid has been in the car. One family owned car till I got it. i have the money to fix things as they come, it may sit for a bit till I get to it if other things life take funds. I have all the hoses and the like for the car either at home now or on the way. How would a proper flush be done?
Yea that is what I am afraid of. I have it taken apart now. If is is the chain cover after I put it all back together i wont be happy.
Ahhh man I just watched a video on how to take off the wp/timing chain cover and all that good ****. That does not look fun. I don't have the tools (power tools) to make this job remotely easy. Plus I will be doing in it my driveway. I still am stuck on if that timing cover gasket is indeed leaking, why now when under ZERO system pressure where as of 2 weeks ago and times before that I ran it for a little bit and afterwards never saw any fluid on the ground that would have showed up if it would have leaked like it did last night.
