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small hole in radiator

ROCKYFiestta

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Colorado Springs
#1
so after smelling coolant for 2 weeks now took a good luck it was very hard to spot but i saw a tiny bit of pink coolant along the top fins. i would take a pic but you really cant see it that way, only when you are looking directly above. the level of coolant has not gone down or at least anything noticeable. being there is a no real radiator cap i am a little hesitant to use one of those stop leak products with the pellets in it. Unless somebody here has done this before. i just didnt want to dump pellets into the coolant tank unless i heard otherwise from a pro. if anybody else tried something or a product they can recommend, would be much appreciated.
 


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Location
Buffalo, NY
#2
Do NOT i repeat DO NOT use a stop leak.
Replace the part thats leaking.
Adding stop leak to the system could easily damage the turbo along with causing more harm than good.
 


OP
ROCKYFiestta

ROCKYFiestta

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Thread Starter #3
haha thank you sir i knew there was a reason to my hesitation. ill save the stop leak for my s10 truck instead lol. guess i have no choice but to replace it thank goodness the whoosh radiator is available probably cheaper than a oem one at this point.
 


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Location
London, ON, Canada
#4
Before you go and replace the radiator, can you say for certain where the coolant is coming from? eg. is it coming from the top radiator intake hose, or the overflow tank hose? Hoses, clamps are more likely to be the cause of a leak, cause spray, than the radiator.
Rock auto has a Denso rad for $81.
 


OP
ROCKYFiestta

ROCKYFiestta

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Colorado Springs
Thread Starter #5
its definitely coming from the radiator you can see a tiny pink blob formed about 2 inches from the top of where the fins are there is no dripping or anything else underneath im not sure if there is a coolant hose anywhere near that side to put the location of the hole it is to the driver side about a foot from the ford oval. i will try and do a picture but it is virtually impossible to as you have a tiny gap to and can only see the pink while you are scanning through the gap kinda like trying to see what a room is like through a keyhole
 


OP
ROCKYFiestta

ROCKYFiestta

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Thread Starter #8
there it is, the hose and clamp are bone dry nothing but dry dust when i touched under it. but you can see the spot of pink goo now i used a stick to move the foam that was blocking the view.
 


OP
ROCKYFiestta

ROCKYFiestta

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Colorado Springs
Thread Starter #9
not sure if this is repairable externally or worse case i will have to change radiator which i really need since the car overheats in the summer when i blast the ac and i run the e30 tune.
 


OP
ROCKYFiestta

ROCKYFiestta

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Thread Starter #10
one last thing are you guys able to move your radiator back and forth a little bit i do have about an half inch of play and in the bottom left of the picture you can see the gap between the radiator and fan shroud is a small gap but on my car it gets larger to like 1 inch wide the more you go to the passenger side, not sure if i am missing a clamp or clip or something that holds the radiator in more firmly??
 


OP
ROCKYFiestta

ROCKYFiestta

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Thread Starter #11
to throw it out there my car was one of the recall ones and i did have the recall done with the new coolant bottle and all that. although the dealer did an absolute shit job on it.
 


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Location
London, ON, Canada
#12
I can't really determine much from that picture. If you're not positive where the coolant is coming from, I would consider cleaning the area with water and seeing if the pool forms again. I would also consider sliding the hose clamp back and thoroughly examining the hose too.
 


OP
ROCKYFiestta

ROCKYFiestta

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Thread Starter #13
great idea i will try cleaning it up with a toothbrush and see if that spot comes back. it is very hard to see and get a good photo of it. the hose was super dry and had dust all around it i am fairly confident that is not the source. im guessing either its a direct hole or the seam right above the pink spot is what comes to mind.
 


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