Small coolant leak from somewhere

[abracadabra]

Oh boy, another cooling question! In my case the cooling system is working fine but I've been losing very small amounts of coolant over time. Lets say every 1000k or so I have to put a little fluid in. I never noticed any leaks under the van and the van has never ever overheated. Also the van's exhaust was checked and there are no head gasket issues here.

So anyway recently we had to top off again, I didn't think much of it, but today I came out of the Post Office and there was actually a small puddle of coolant under the van.

I couldn't quite see where the source was, but, it was certainly at the bottom corner of the radiator, passenger side. I could just see some white plastic thingy sticking out an it had coolant on it, but I couldn't get in to a position to see what the source was.

My FSM only shows a diagram of the 2WD cooling system, is it set up the same way?

I'm not sure what the culprit could be here, I'm gonna go out right now and have a better look see.

I can say this, that the coolant level is still above L, and that the other errands I ran resulted in no puddles just a drip or two.

Also, we just started using heat for the 1st time in ages, in fact I have a sticky lever and I have to reach under the dash and manually move the heat control by hand, and I just did this last week. Before that I never ever saw a puddle under the van, just the infrequent topping off every 1000k give or take.

Any help would be awesome, I really depend on this van and it has been good to me and I have been good to it.

Thanks!

mark

[timsrv]

Wow! it really goes 1000k before using any antifreeze.......that's like a million miles.......right? Assuming you mean every 1,000 miles, that's not too abnormal for an older vehicle, but it still shouldn't do that. When the leak is that small usually it's hard to find, but when you can start to see green it's worth investigating. I would pull it up on ramps and look at things good from underneath with a flashlight. If that doesn't expose the leak then I would pull the passenger seat and access panel off and give it a thorough inspection. If it has those stainless hose clamps (the ones you tighten with a screw-driver), make sure they are all tight.

With this type of leak it's not uncommon to leak when the van is 1st warming up, but then stop when normal operating temp is reached. This is due to pressure rising when the rubber hoses are still cold and hard, but then as they heat up they conform better and seal up. So I would recommend checking this while the van is cold, then watching all the fittings and hoses closely as it warms up. Good luck. Tim

[abracadabra]

Oops, yeah 1k not 1000k, that would be awesome!

Well I just got under the van with my work gear and it looked like there was a hint of coolant from the upper hose...this hose is at the top of the radiator passenger side, and where I saw the drips today (it was dripping off the drain cock area) is directly below this.


So I thought well I better check that hose clamp.....of course its in just the spot where I can't get to it through the main engine compartment access.....so I had to take off the passenger seat and get in that way, only to fine I couldn't turn the clamp one bit, it was tight as can be!


All that work for nothing. I'll check again tomorrow if I see an active leak again, at this point its not leaking and everything that did leak has evaporated already.


mark

[abracadabra]

Two things I wondered about, can the drain cock leak? That seems to be around the area of leakage.

And I also read somewhere of someone who had a leak after using the heat for the 1st time after a long break, he mentioned something about fluid filling the heater core etc, could this be something that came in to play here?

mark

[timsrv]

Anything can leak. The drain cock has an o-ring in it that can start leaking, but IMO this is one of the least likely things. It might be that upper hose clamp is bottomed out and/or needs to be replaced or it could be a cracked solder joint between the radiator nipple and the radiator tank. It could also be that smaller nipple right next to that upper radiator hose that's leaking. Did you check the small clamp on that? If you can't duplicate the leak you might need to purchase a radiator pressure test kit or take it to a place that has one. That way the cooling system can be pressurized cold and the leak might show up then. Or.........you could always just keep adding a cup or 2 of coolant every 1k miles or so. Good luck. Tim

[abracadabra]

Today I wore my work coveralls to run some errands in the van, prepared to hop under and find the source of the leak right when it happened.


No leak, nothing. Not even one drop. I drove around Philly for an hour and parked 4 different times. No leak.


At this point I'm thinking that 2 things might have happened to contribute to the puddle I found:
1)we used the heater for the 1st time in 6 months this weekend
2)the radiator light went on right after my wife started using the heater, she topped it off but when I pressed her for how much coolant she added she revealed that she added enough to put the res. at L or maybe a little over. I've noticed mine likes to run about 1/2 way in between L and H and maybe the heater combined with over filling made a leak happen.


I don't know!


mark