DLinkOZ
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- June 26, 2005
- Messages
- 113
- Reaction score
- 1
- City, State
- Frisco, TX
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2004 NBX
2004 4x4 - I have what appears to be the seemingly common leak between the end tank and the radiator core. My wife got home Saturday night, parked in the garage as normal. I went out a few hours later, and saw some liquid on the ground. It wasn't a huge amount, my first thought was "wow, the AC condensor is sweating like crazy today." Upon further inspection, it's coolant. She says there were no lights, everything was normal. In hindsight, the previous weekend at a family member's house I had the same "wow, that's a lot of moisture off the AC" thought and we've driven quite a bit since then. It's odd, so some details.
Background and additional information:
I had a thermostat stick closed on Christmas Eve, things got pretty hot for a very short time (minute max, just barely hit the top of the gauge). My guess is that pressure may have weakened the gasket on the tank. Strange thing is it didn't leak out that much Saturday night, and none the next day (or since) after driving it to Wal-Mart. During that 5 mile trip, the thermostat opened, the engine stayed cool, and as of right now there's not a single new drop on the floor (I parked to the side a little so I could be certain). But the fact is Saturday night it dumped probably 2-4 cups of coolant on the floor. When I filled it up, there was about 1/4 of the degas bottle empty. The leak was all above the inlet hose (but did not seem to be the hose itself), no further up than the lowest row of fins and seemed to puddle between the right plastic tank and the core in the cavity where the core clamps to the end tank.
I don't want to take chances, and plan to replace it. But the fact that it's no longer leaking, even after full cycling of the entire system (thermostat opening, etc), makes me scratch my head a bit. Is there anything else that could cause this odd behavior?
Background and additional information:
I had a thermostat stick closed on Christmas Eve, things got pretty hot for a very short time (minute max, just barely hit the top of the gauge). My guess is that pressure may have weakened the gasket on the tank. Strange thing is it didn't leak out that much Saturday night, and none the next day (or since) after driving it to Wal-Mart. During that 5 mile trip, the thermostat opened, the engine stayed cool, and as of right now there's not a single new drop on the floor (I parked to the side a little so I could be certain). But the fact is Saturday night it dumped probably 2-4 cups of coolant on the floor. When I filled it up, there was about 1/4 of the degas bottle empty. The leak was all above the inlet hose (but did not seem to be the hose itself), no further up than the lowest row of fins and seemed to puddle between the right plastic tank and the core in the cavity where the core clamps to the end tank.
I don't want to take chances, and plan to replace it. But the fact that it's no longer leaking, even after full cycling of the entire system (thermostat opening, etc), makes me scratch my head a bit. Is there anything else that could cause this odd behavior?
