[DeTomaso] Antifreeze Leak

Sean Korb spkorb at gmail.com
Sat Dec 20 20:33:33 EST 2008


I fill both tanks with antifreeze.  Drive it around 200mi.  No leaks in the
>
> spring time, summer or fall time, but only in the winter, WHY ???  Myron
> the
> other guy in Cleveland.
>
>
This is a wild guess, but I had a leak similar to yours.  I had installed
the engine, hooked everything up and took it for a drive.  My drives got
longer and longer and a hundred miles later I took it to work.  When I came
back out to the car I had a clear puddle under the car and I had to top off
the system with a liter before I could drive home.  No problems getting home
and I checked for leaks with the car running.  No leaks!  It was a terrible
mystery, and the leak reappeared when I was getting gasoline the next
weekend.  Then the leak was pretty steady and I got home okay, but
nervously.

It turns out I never tightened the clamps for the hoses connected to the
long radiator pipes at the engine.  The hoses were so tight, it rarely
leaked until it was abused somewhat.  I tightened the clamps and the leak
went away.  It could be some rust scale or some other material in between a
hose and a pipe or just a loose clamp like mine has.  Steel gets a little
smaller when it's cold, so perhaps a gap is opening when the temperature
goes down.  I'd wait until it gets a little cold outside and check all your
clapmps to see that they are tight.  It's a good time to inspect your hoses
too to see if any have aged too much.  On a 35 year old car, even if you
remember the last time you replaced the hoses, that still might be a long
time ago.  My old Cougar is on its third master cylinder in 15 years which
seems a bit excessive, but it's strange to catch yourself saying "I just
fixed that" when you actually just fixed it 10 years ago.

sean

-- 
Sean Korb spkorb at spkorb.org http://www.spkorb.org
'65, '68 Mustangs, '68 Cougar, '78 R100/7, '60 Metro, '59 A35, '71 Pantera
#1382
"The more you drive, the less intelligent you get" --Miller
"Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers." -P. Picasso



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