Intermittent Coolant Loss?

[Arodrigues29]

Good day. Over the past year I occasionally open my hood to see dryed antifreeze spotted on my upper rad hose and valve cover. My temp has always been fine, I never really have to add antifreeze to the truck because it looks like the "leak" is more of a spray. Figured it was a bad/old hose looks like the area of loss is always at the horn into the motor. Took Genos Garage up on it's hose discount of April and ordered up new hoses and clamps, installed them, did a coolant flush and things have been fine. A few days ago I got out of my truck to walk into work and there was a puddle underneath, popped the hood and everything was soaked from the same area. I wire brushed that horn the hose connects too and went another 2 days with no mist or drops, and the truck just did it again. What am I missing?

Edited May 10, 2017 by Arodrigues29

[dripley]

Radiator cap getting weak and spraying? Is the over flow line still connected? 

[Arodrigues29]

3 minutes ago, dripley said:

Radiator cap getting weak and spraying? Is the over flow line still connected? 

Overflow line is still connected, and I put on a new lever lock cap just because I dig them. Spray is never from that area, it's always right where the hose and horn meet near the valve cover

[dripley]

How is the gasket on the t stat?

[Arodrigues29]

19 minutes ago, dripley said:

How is the gasket on the t stat?

Seems fine, it really only seems like the spray comes from the hose side of the thermostat housing, but the housing isn't that old. Thermostat, housing and radiator I put in maybe a year and half ago.

I know the easier answer is just put a new housing in because they are cheap enough but the intermittent-ness of the leak concerns me I guess. 

[Haggar]

Arod,

 

I had a similar issue.  It will only leak when the pressure gets above a certain PSI. 

In the first picture, the pressure is only 10psi. 

 

As I pumped up the system towards 15 psi, you can see the hose connection at the housing bubbling.

 

Find/borrow/buy/rent a radiator system presser tester.... they are handy for jobs like this.

 

Good Luck,

 

Hag

[Arodrigues29]

Excellent, I'll definitely pick one of those up. Hag, did you end up just replacing your housing?

[Haggar]

No,  I just cleaned it up and used 2 hose clamps and oriented them 180 degrees.....  

 

Worm clamps are the devils invention.  I will go back with good spring clamps or T-bolt type clamps.   Standard worm clamps put too much of the clamping force on one side, the force does not uniformly distribute itself well. 

 

Not exactly sure if it is a change in the "rubber" of the new hoses or what.   I have a friend with a chevy gasser truck and we have had to tighten his clamps every spring for the last couple years...  Very odd. 

 

Good luck   I hope it is that simple!

 

Hag

[Arodrigues29]

Thanks again for the advice guys

[Mopar1973Man]

As you seen in @Haggar post he was using worm gear clamps and most likely over tighten and deformed the hose. This way his leak showed up. I'm still using the OEM spring clamps. If and when the day come I do switch to worm gear clamps you have to make sure not to over tighten the clamp and not to deform the hose. 

 

As for the pressure tester make sure to do the testing on cold engine then the coolant leak will be visible. Like on my 1996 Dodge I could smell the coolant, see I was losing coolant but never make a puddle. On a cold engine pump up the system to 16 PSI and leave it stand. After a few minutes it was dripping on the floor and leaving a wet trail all the way back to the source of the leak. In my case the intake manifold gasket was shot and the coolant was leaking down the front of the block and drying up before it hit the floor. That slow of a leak.

Edited May 16, 2017 by Mopar1973Man