Coming out of work yesterday I noticed a tiny puddle of liquid under my radiator. I said "huh?", bent down and touched the liquid and then put it up to my nose. Sure enough - antifreeze. So...I drove home and realistically thought of how old this car was (15 years), and was more or less resigned to accepting the fact that I'd need to buy a new rad.
Today as I was leaving work sure enough it was the same thing - a tiny puddle of antifreeze. As soon as I got home, I put the car in the garage and began trying to pinpoint where on the "radiator" the leak was originating. In less than a minute I traced the leak all the way up to where the top hose connects to the radiator. Wanting to examine the possibility of a cracked inlet at the radiator, I drained a significant amount of fluid, removed the hose and found the inlet and hose in good shape. Having been satisfied, I reassembled everything and made the clamp tension a little tighter. Put the fluid back in, and dried the surrounding area. Ran the car to temp, and parked it.
I went to check on it a few hours later and - voila! - no more leaks. So... it turns out that in the end it was a clamp that needed to be tightened down a cinch or two.
It also occured to me that perhaps, many years of diligent coolant maintenance has contributed to an as yet original cooling system, except for a thermostat and upper rad hose being relpaced over time.
I do believe that maintenance does pay off in the long run!
Today as I was leaving work sure enough it was the same thing - a tiny puddle of antifreeze. As soon as I got home, I put the car in the garage and began trying to pinpoint where on the "radiator" the leak was originating. In less than a minute I traced the leak all the way up to where the top hose connects to the radiator. Wanting to examine the possibility of a cracked inlet at the radiator, I drained a significant amount of fluid, removed the hose and found the inlet and hose in good shape. Having been satisfied, I reassembled everything and made the clamp tension a little tighter. Put the fluid back in, and dried the surrounding area. Ran the car to temp, and parked it.
I went to check on it a few hours later and - voila! - no more leaks. So... it turns out that in the end it was a clamp that needed to be tightened down a cinch or two.
It also occured to me that perhaps, many years of diligent coolant maintenance has contributed to an as yet original cooling system, except for a thermostat and upper rad hose being relpaced over time.
I do believe that maintenance does pay off in the long run!
