Leaks, leaks everywhere, help!!!

[1996BLKBauer]

OK, so this past week has been not so good for me, on Monday the seems on my Radiator separated, after leaking for a weeks. I had to go to a shop to get it replaced because the weather around here was 7 degrees Fahrenheit, I got it back and all seemed great, no leaks, I am happy. Well yesterday after work, I noticed a wet spot under the truck, I looked and it was F*&$#ing OIL!!!!! I had pride because this was my first EVER vehicle to never leak so much as a drop of oil.... I also noticed a very tiny spot of antifreeze. So I drive it home, and place a piece of cardboard under the truck over night to see if it was going to leak again, sure enough it did. :fire: I took a look up and found many things I was not happy about, but luckily, I am not going to describe, I took pictures instead.

A few things, the coolant is VERY green becuase I put UV dye in it to try and find the leak, BEFORE the rad was replace... also I have no idea what this thing is in front of the radiator. I am thinking possibly a oil cooler, but I am not sure.

Specs on my Truck:

1996 Eddie Bauer
V8 AWD
4R70W Transmission
163,5XX Miles

Pictures:

This is the Oil Cooler Thing I am talking about.

The underside of it.

It may be leaking from here? IDK.

Where the lines go...It doesn't look good to me.

I am simply pissed off about this, you think the guys who replaced it would clean this stuff up a little bit.

This is where the coolant has been showing up at FOR WEEKS, this is looking strait up to where the puddle forms.

Any input what so ever would be a good help to me, I am way too pissed off to even think about this anymore. but please throw around some ideas or opinions.

Thanks, Harold.

 

[JimMadsen]

I am leaking from about the same area. Mine appears so far to be from the water pump. Maybe the gasket, maybe a hose. I also had to deal with the frigid temps this am, but mine has no heat as well!

I put some stop leak in to try and get to warmer times and it went from a big leak to a very minor one (judging by the drops on the ground) I already have the new pump, but I want to wait to diagnose the heater problem and maybe be able to do some proactive replacement around the water pump area.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Had my truck in the shop today, and looked over it for a good 3 hours, I cleaned up all the so called leaks, and ran the truck for 30 minutes, to find that there is no coolant leak, they simply where extremely messy and did not clean up. The plastic cover under the radiator was filled with coolant, and transmission fluid. Cleaned that up, which made me happy. but what I did find sent me over the edge.

There is a bracket that attached to the underside of the radiator, that hold the transmission cooler lines, which was not reinstalled, or seen when it was taken out, so they pulled on the lines, and made them leak. I pushed the hoses back up the steel parts of the line, and re tightened the hose clamps, and no more leaks. I also had to find another bolt to hold the bracket in place.

So good news, I was crying for no real reason at all, other then I let some dumbasses work on my truck, and THIS IS WHY I AM THE ONLY PERSON TO WORK ON MY VEHICLE!!!

 

[1996BLKBauer]

I am leaking from about the same area. Mine appears so far to be from the water pump. Maybe the gasket, maybe a hose. I also had to deal with the frigid temps this am, but mine has no heat as well!

I put some stop leak in to try and get to warmer times and it went from a big leak to a very minor one (judging by the drops on the ground) I already have the new pump, but I want to wait to diagnose the heater problem and maybe be able to do some proactive replacement around the water pump area.

I was freaking out when I read this yesterday. but when I had it up on the lift, I saw no UV dye coolant anywhere around hoses, or the pump thank god. So that made me happy. What is your coolant level? if it is low enough that would cause no heat. but it could also be the blend door motor. That would stink to have 2 problems at once. good luck with your issues.

 

[JimMadsen]

My blend door is having issues, but there is nothing getting to the heater core. Both hoses are cold. Stop leak in mine fixed it but I am getting the pump replaced tonight and the tstat while it is drained. The tstat was done recently but a stuck open one can cause no heat. It only cost me 12 bucks for one and the gasket so might as well try. If the core is bad, thats a spring project. I know the core is not heating up because of the hole I put in the compartment to check the blend door!

 

[xpolice-explorer]

My blend door is having issues, but there is nothing getting to the heater core. Both hoses are cold. Stop leak in mine fixed it but I am getting the pump replaced tonight and the tstat while it is drained. The tstat was done recently but a stuck open one can cause no heat. It only cost me 12 bucks for one and the gasket so might as well try. If the core is bad, thats a spring project. I know the core is not heating up because of the hole I put in the compartment to check the blend door!

Not to high-jack this thread but I can tell you from lots of past experience with clients cars, stop leak has a very strong tendency to completely block up a heater core, even more so if not keeping the up with flushing your system once a year. Once the crud gets built-up the stop leak just finishes it off. Also it can cause the T stat to stick and plug water jackets as well. I would replace T stat,H C, and W P(if you already have it) and flush the entire system really well.

 

[JimMadsen]

The heat was the first thing that went. A 1/4 bottle of stop leak went in when fluid started dripping really fast out of the wp area. That and thermostat are being replaced tonight along with a coolant change. The stop leak was to keep it running while I got the parts and lined up the repairs. The heater hoses seem to have not been getting hot coolant for several weeks now. Next step would be a HC change if needed. A local tech high school is looking for cars they can do HVAC work on, this would qualify. Not sure yet if they would do it since they have a 10 year old cut-off.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

The heat was the first thing that went. A 1/4 bottle of stop leak went in when fluid started dripping really fast out of the wp area. That and thermostat are being replaced tonight along with a coolant change. The stop leak was to keep it running while I got the parts and lined up the repairs. The heater hoses seem to have not been getting hot coolant for several weeks now. Next step would be a HC change if needed. A local tech high school is looking for cars they can do HVAC work on, this would qualify. Not sure yet if they would do it since they have a 10 year old cut-off.

Good luck on your repairs. I just found out tonight that my leak has come back. but I STILL can not find out where in the world it is coming from. I hate hunting down leaks, and I really hate dealing with cooling system problems, they are the worst in my book. Also it wouldn't hurt to drain and flush your engine block as well.