Upper Radiator hose leakage - help! This is driving me crazy!

[tbrumm]

Well, the hose still leaked again today, but not as bad. The seam along the top tank had coolant pooled up in it, but it wasn't running down the sides like it has been. Tonight when I got home, I drained and flushed all the old coolant out and refilled with just water. I am going to run a couple of days on just water and see what it does. This weekend I will put the Fleetcharge in. The Gates hose I purchased seems really soft and thin compared to the Motorcraft hose I replaced. Granted, the OEM hose was 18 years old , but still seemed better. I wonder if there are any "heavier" brands of hoses out there. Thanks again for all the replies and I will keep you posted. Todd

 

[firehawk]

You should do a pressure test and find the leak.

 

[sassyrel]

I like a thin coating of RTV on the inner part of the hose where it contacts the rad inlet (or block for that matter). Slide on the hose and clamp it down good and tight. Leave it dry for a day and then fill. Not always...... but it usually keeps a great seal.

Heath

beat me to it...

 

[riotwarrior]

I personally have never ever seen a hose leak if properly clamped to the hose bib/barb be it heater or rad hose. Not one single hose ever.

measure how far the raised lip is from the rad on the outlet, (MEASURE on the rad side of the lip)...try pulling the hose say 1/4-5/15" maybe a little more 3/8" back away from rad, this will leave a good visible gap between hose and rad. Next clamp the hose so that the clamp is 1/8-3/16 inch away from that raised seal lip on the outlet. This should create a situation where you can see if the outlet is leaking on the seam or if indeed it is coming out past the hose.

Fire truck up..place blanket or cardboard in front of rad...get truck warm and watch where leak develops. OR GET PRESSURE TESTER AND DO IT MANUALLY!

2nd option double clamp hose...but I would investigate to determine problem before throwing things at it as a hap hazard fix myself...

3rd option...heat gun on outlet..NOT FLAME/torch and see if warming it up causes any minute cracks to be visible or you can feel....

just a few thoughts I had about this...

Have you got some calipers? maybe that tube is out of round? check it...maybe its undersized I don't know...I'll try to get tailpipe expander in my dead rad today see what happens..

 

[tbrumm]

Thanks, Riotwarrior. I have never seen a hose leak like this either. Never had a problem one. The inlet looks okay and doesn't look out of round. I will reposition the hose a little bit away from the inlet though and see if there is any seepange from the neck. I can see a bead of water very slowly form out the end of the hose though. I like the tailpipe expander idea though! Let me know how that works out. Thanks! Todd

 

[riotwarrior]

Thanks, Riotwarrior. I have never seen a hose leak like this either. Never had a problem one. The inlet looks okay and doesn't look out of round. I will reposition the hose a little bit away from the inlet though and see if there is any seepange from the neck. I can see a bead of water very slowly form out the end of the hose though. I like the tailpipe expander idea though! Let me know how that works out. Thanks! Todd

This is the LOWER hose not the UPPER one correct?...I'll be attempting video of this procedure too..

NO VIDEO

Tail pipe expander did indeed increase the diameter but only a little bit, and it's a real difficult thing to do as the expander goes tapered because it's not fully inserted into the brass fitting or you would be trying to move the tank too...

So here are some pictures to understand exactly what I mean...ugh...I tried. I got about 1/16" increase in diameter


start with neck dimensions depth and then OD

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marking the max depth on tool

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tool at correct depth...

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flat spots created by the gaps of the expander are now starting to show in the stretched metal

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marked the current spot same place as above...notice the taper to the wedges on the tool that force tube outward, this is due to a lack of insertion depth and the tool is leveraging outward at an angle instead of parallel as it's supposed to

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relocated differently from marks and snugged up and I just turned it a bit more to round it out

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Looking down it's basically round from what I can see....

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After five minutes, I wasn't trying to move this alot...just proof of concept...gained about 1/16"
10-17104838.jpg[/IMG]

I really don't know if this would prove beneficial or not. I guess to reform a damaged fitting or just slightly expand it it would/does work as seen here, just go slow, check your calipers frequently and MOST OF ALL BE CAREFULL

DO AT OWN RISK...I assume no responsibilty as I did this on a buggered rad that was going for scrap...

Al

 

[tbrumm]

Riotwarrior - I appreciate your experimentation effort and photo documentation. I will heed your warnings if I try this. Again, I think the inlet looked pretty round, but it probably doesn't take much of a "flat" to cause a leak. I am going to repositon the hose a bit away from the inlet, but it sure looks like it is leaking past the hose. I switched out my expensive constant tension clamp for a standard worm drive clamp, and the leak has nearly stopped. The constant tension clamp is wider than the worm drive, and smoother inside and doesn't bite the hose, but it has an important difference (in a bad way). The part holding the tension screw is "raised" up a small amount from the actual band. (hard to describe). Anyway, this creates two small "pockets" (for lack of a better term) on either side of screw (where the band is not) which aren't under direct tension like the rest of the band. While this probably is oaky for 99% of the situations, it may have contributed to the leak problem I already had. As it is now, it would seem like a little sealant under the hose and she might be dry! Worm drives have this same situation, only the part that hold the screw "blends" into the band much better than this constant tension clamp does. I had not even noticed this difference, until I really started looking at everything. It just shows that it is sometimes the really small stuff that can get ya! There, thats my take on hose clamp engineering I guess. Anyway, I'll let you how it goes after I put the coolant back inthe weekend. Thanks again! Todd

 

[icanfixall]

Some time back I installed a top radiater hose and it leaked. The reason it leaked is because the maker put a hole in it that was part of the way they hang them in the parts rack... I didn't even think about that when I removed the hanger tie that was placed thru the hose... Lucky for me it was right near the end of the hose and I could cut off the hole and seal the hose with a clamp.. Just another crappy way some factorys do things...

 

[tbrumm]

I appreciate all the helpful suggestions and insight from everybody on this hose problem. I think I finally have her sealed up! Drained out the water and flushed again this last weekend. Then I took some Ultra black RTV and put a thin, smooth coating on the radiator inlet. Put the hose on and tightend it up really well. Let it sit overnight with no coolant. Put the Fleetcharge in the next day. So far, so good! (fingers crossed). Again, I really appreciate all the input, guys. Little stuff like this never ending hose leak, although minor compared to other problems, can be frustrating.