Antifreeze problem

[taylorendicott]

I have had trouble with my cooling system latley, new radiator, waterpump, 4 thermostats, and now I have a leak under my driverside tire of antifreeze. It's 28 degrees out so it's kinda hard to look LOL does anyone have an idea of what it might be?

[taylorendicott]

Sorry I wrote this on my phone I meant passanter side, not driver.

[Lincolnmania]

could be the heater core, the heater hoses, the back of the intake leaking, a rotted out freeze plug....

[Brandon]

Sounds like it's the heater core. It's probabaly running down throgh the engine and dripping down at the passenger side tire.

[taylorendicott]

I had just put a new heater core in just a yr ago so I'll check the hoses I hope there easy to get too. Thank you guys.

[Brandon]

seems to me like if it was the heater hose it would be shooting out water when it's running. How bad is it leaking it out?

[gadget73]

The heater core is located inside the car, under the dash. If it blew, the carpet would be wet. It can't drain outside the car.

[taylorendicott]

It's the first day it's not 8degrees out, so I crawled under Elizabeth to see where she was leaking from I was trying to find the heater core hose but I can't find them. Are the hoses hard to locate of am I just blind?

[taylorendicott]

Also the puddle of antifreeze varies from big to sometimes nothing at all... There also appears to be not liquid in the cab.

[mrltd]

the heater core hoses are on top of the motor under the hood. Passenger side, and they run from the front of the motor t othe firewall, partially under the upper intake manifold.

[midwestLTD]

Like mrltd said they are on the top of the pass side. The hoses arent to bad to ge too. Just pop off the weather stripping for the hood & a plug.Mine went out in early Oct. it was not leaking just no heat.Was a fun day at the ranch..

[1987cp]

Just occurred to me, do you happen to have one of those garden-hose coolant flush connections spliced in to one of the heater hoses? If so, I imagine that would be a likely source for mysterious leaks.

[taylorendicott]

Good thanks I had the car jacked upand was looking from underneath. I didn't flush the system I had someone do it they used a graden hose to pump water throught the engine and then used a air tank to blow it clean. I'm thinking maybe that blew something lose. There seems to be some anti on the exhaust manifold. Should I maybe clean the motor and put some dye in it and check it that way?

[1987cp]

The dye idea is probably a good one ... I've never done it myself, but maybe someone else knows something about it. Thoroughly degreasing affected surfaces is definitely a good idea, though, as coolant on the exhaust log can indicate a leaky intake manifold gasket.

Another thought that came to mind is the factory coolant pipe your car is (was?) probably equipped with that would go across the top of the lower intake manifold, likely held in place with an intake bolt. If steel, these guys can rust through, and if aluminum, they can corrode through, probably via galvanic action - I know, since I own a '79 aluminum coolant tube that revealed multiple pinholes after sandblasting. Annoying, but easy to fix by running bulk hose straight to the heater core from the water pump.

Another thought, and this is entirely FREE to implement, is to go through and attempt to tighten every single clamp in your cooling system. Use a 5/16" wrench on ones you can't easily get to with a screwdriver. This will also help you take note of any hoses that may be in questionable condition and that should be replaced.

And of course, another question - you probably addressed it elsewhere, but why so many thermostat changes in a short time?

[taylorendicott]

2 thermostats were fail safes but I didn't fix the actual problem before I put them in so they overheated and locked. The 3rd one malfunctioned (bad spring) and the forth one is working fine.