Sealant for Radiator Hose?

[hwydave]

My upper radiator hose is leaking on both ends. The radiator is original and the thermostat housing is from Simmons Autosport's metal housing. The hose (Motorcraft) is about 3 years old and has 35k miles on it. The leak on the thermostat housing occured since I replaced the housing and the hose at the same time; the hose was new and the connection necks were clean. I plan to replace the hose as the leak is getting more than just seepage. Are there suggestion on type of sealant that I can use to help prevent future coolant seepage? I have tightened the hose clamp as far as I dear to go (don't want to crack the radiator's plastic neck) Thanks for the advise!

 

[Rick]

I can't think of any adhesive that would work well, but maybe that silicone repair tape would work. Wrap it around the outlet of the radiator and also on the thermostat housing end, then install the hose over the tape. I would think it should bond well once the clamp is tightened.

 

[07EddyB]

If you still have the original hose clamps I would put them back on. I assume you replaced them with worm clamps. If you dont have them then order them. Then the correct pressure will be applied automatically. You should not need a new hose. Do that first.

 

[hwydave]

The original spring clamp was replaced with the worm clamps by the dealer when the hose was replaced around 60k. Where can I order one? Can't seem to find it online, at least not the 2" OD.

 

[07EddyB]

I've looked and not found them either. The worm clamps are not necessarily bad - you just need to make sure you have good ones and tighten them sufficiently. As with any clamp, make sure it's in the right position also. The oem clamps get a bad rap because they are harder to deal with - but they work well compared to a cheap worm clamp not tightened sufficiently. Ive also read where the worm clamps don't apply even pressure around the hose. If your hose is leaking from the top and that's where the worm is then loosen it, turn it 90 degrees and retighten. See if the leak follows. Could simply be that the dealer put the wrong size clamp on. How soon after they did the work did it start leaking?

 

[hwydave]

The background story is that when dealer replace the faulty thermostat around 60k miles, they replaced the radiator hose and that is when dealer replaced the original spring clamp with the worm clamp; no leak was noticed at the time. The original thermostat housing fail soon after. A mechanic friend helped me replace the plastic housing with the metal type and we reuse the hose. The hose starts to leak after that. I have replaced with worm clamp with Gate constant tension worm clamp, under the impression that the constant tension clamp is the alternative to the original tension clamp. I realize that the worm clamp's pressure is not constant all around and so I putted on another worm clamp (double clamps) to deal with the "weak" pressure point. The leak usually occurs on the metal thermostat housing end. When weather change to very hot or cold, leak occurs. I usually tightening a bit and then the leak will stop for a while until weather condition change.

I starts to think that it could be because the hose were remove and reinstall a few times during the thermostat housing replacement process that the hose got cutted inside thus prevent a good seal...

 

[MotorCityFats13]

this is going to sound really fvcked up and stupid but clean both surfaces really good with a solvent that will remove all traces of coolant then go into the house and grab a can of the old ladys aerosol hairspray, spray down the neck and the inside of the hose really good and slip them together while they are still very wet and clamp it with a quality worm clamp and give it an hour to dry.... this is also a method of keeping intake pipes from slipping off on boosted applications of well over 50psi of boost..... that crap will dry and solve all of your problems!

 

[hwydave]

Thanks for all the advise. This is the update on what I did. A mechanic friend gave me some RTV and I applied on the metal thermostat housing neck, insert new upper radiator hose and clamp it down with Gate constant tension clamp. 2 weeks now and no leak.

Upon close exam of the old hose, I noticed that inner radiator, where it connect to the TS housing, has a lot of indentations. I suspect that the house was not able to have a "close seal" on the TS housing neck due to the neck's rough surface (just a guess). I guess RTV is necessary in this case. BTW, this is not a criticism of the Simmon's metal TS housing. I still think it is a great product, it is just that the original hose might have difficulty do a complete seal.