Got to the lift today with the car. Stopped on the way to get some more Coolant just in case something happened on the way.

Took a look and it wasn't obvious whether it was the hose or the radiator which was leaking so we drained it. Pulled the hose off and let it bleed (after cooling down of course). And it still wasn't obvious.

It looks like there were a few scrapes on the radiator nozzle from prior attempts to fit/remove hoses...like scrapes from the corner of a screwdriver. One of them was pretty deep, but this hose hadnt been removed since the engine was put back in. Why this would have caused a leak now doesn't make sense. I also don't believe we'd ever use a screwdriver type device to remove the hose so I'm thinking these were there from prior installations (original radiator we think).

On the hose end of things, there were a little bit of marks from the prior clamp but nothing that looked like it was damaging the hose in any way.

What we did was cut 1/4" off the end of the hose. We also sandpapered down the gouges in the radiator nozzle to see if they had penetrated through and cracked it. But after a bit of this, it seems that the radiator nozzle is not cracked at all.

We put things back together, and filled her up, put on two clamps, one larger and newer, the old one back on as well, and it doesn't leak. We ran the car until it got up to temperature while filling and such to bleed the air out and it still didn't leak. I drove the ~17 miles home and there are no signs of any leaks from the radiator.

I honestly don't know what was wrong. There was a point where the clamp didn't want to turn, as if its threads were stripped, so maybe it just wasn't doing its job squeezing the hose enough. I have no answers. But I also have no leak.

I'll put a picture of the new clamp up tomorrow and take a look under for an leaks that may have developed overnight.

Thanks for all the help - especially on the bleeding part.

Here's the final picture of the clamp:

http://www.theexitwound.com/944/coolantleak4.jpg

The leak has not reappeared today.

Don'tcha just love these phantom problems? They seem to disappear as magically as they appeared, immediately following just the slightest bit of attention! :eek:

Now, if only that PS pump would heal itself! ;)

Randy

Heheh yeah that's next :)

Looks good, nice to see you got it done pretty much pain free. I just replaced the radiator on my '88, it was nasty with most of the cooling fins rotted or gone. The rubber mounts on the bottom corner of the radiator were shot too.

I did notice that the rubber mount atop the radiator left was crunched a little and not doing its job well. Ill have to keep an eye on that.

interesting post - would like to know how the radiator/hose is doing now?

this is also a problem I have. first time, I put two identical hose clamps on. No leak for many months. Leak appeared again recently. Radiator is perhaps 10 years old, hose was new at first problem - URO brand.

... might I use the Gillette philosophy and keep adding hose clamps? or could a 10-years-new radiator really be cracking?