Ok, my radiator is leaking like mad. I have no idea why. It's not the hoses, it's the radiator itself. As soon as I shut the car off (when the coolant pressure is highest), i can see a big drop about every 2 seconds comin down from what looks like around the weld where the lower hose nipple is.

What causes a radiator to spring a leak like this? I'm more curious than anything, I'm not gonna go n try to fix it, I'll take it to a shop or replace it. But yea, anyone know what makes a metal core leak? Thanks

 

the green stuff tends to be corrosive if not changed on a regular basis. also you tend to get an anode type corrosion from flow of liquid over a metal surface...i suppose grounding the metal core would keep alot of this from happening, but still the green is corrosive. the orange isnt from what ive understood, and you can run it 100% instead of having to water down glycol antifreeze do to its corrosiveness


just my .02 anyone got anything else?

 

All anti-freeze (that I know of) has corrosion inhibitors. They wear out over time. So it's not just the green stuff. Dissimilar metals is what makes corrosion, and they haven't figured out how to make engines, radiators, waterpumps, & everything else out of EXACTLY the same alloy. So you need corrosion inhibitors, but they get used up.

Just about all antifreeze is ethene glycol, but the corrosion inhibitors are all different. Some combinations are bad news. Like if you put orange dexcool in, than later add some green Prestone, or even genuine Honda, it gets worse. So if you aren't sure what's in there now, dump it all & rinse several times.

Different carmakers have different mixes, based on the particular combinations of wetted metal alloys. So what's best for a VW (G-48) or a M-B (G-05) might not be best for a Honda. Corrosion can be a very complicated & detailed thing...

I wouldn't run any of them 100%, unless it's already diluted in the bottle. Which makes it the same as using 50/50 (read the label). Plain water is a better coolant than antifreeze, but that doesn't give you ANY corrosion protection.

I've heard stories about orange DexCool attacking some plastic materials, but that's only after a couple years. If you change it every 2 years or less, its OK. Just don't belive the bottle where it says 'lifetime'...

 

leak could be from corosion or from several things, hose or clamp rubbing bottom nipple, stress crack, or could be leaking from the plastic end cap, there good for leaking since they are bonding with metal core, could be several but corosion is most likely

 

So basically, the nature of the radiator just doing what it does is what causes the corrosion and hence the leak. Hmmm...ya learn something new every day.

Has anyone ever studied those sacrificial anodes that you can buy that attach to the radiator cap? I saw a few ads for em, they're just little cylinders of some conductive metal that are designed to direct all the electrolytic properties to that one anode. Anyone know if they work? Might be a good investment.

 

Just sounds like a zinc plug like they use on boats. Electrolitic corrosion attacks the easiest metal it can, which is usually the radiator, although zinc is much easier for it to attack, so that's where the sacrificial nature of it comes into play.

 

Do you have air conditioning? Alot of people confuse it with that.. A/C will drip after the car is off.

 

heh...don't worry man, I know the difference between my radiator and my A/C system. Besides...I have enough cylinder head warpage and other nastiness to prove that it was in fact the radiator that ran dry

 

yah i had to explain the a/c drip to my girlfriend a few days ago since it just started raining here in az and it finally got kinda muggy the first day this year. normally our dry heat doesnt cause a/c drip

 

Well how old is the radiator? If they are old its usually a reason why they fail for, but other than that not really much makes a radiator fail cept time and age.