It just had to happen once it got cool. Found a small bit of antifreeze under the truck, and got looking around. Seems the inlet side of the radiator tank is seeping just a little bit. Checked the mounts, not too snug... and it's flowing water to it doesn't appear to be an obstruction in the radiator itself.

Has anyone ever seen one just start seeping like this? I almost suspect that the o ring is leaking. I couldn't find any evidence that the mount had taken a hard hit, and the shock mount rubber seemed to still have some give to it. The weather has cooled down suddenly lately, and maybe the cooling off finally let the ring go.....??

Rather than screw around I'll probably just pop it out and take it down to get repaired or exhanged. Those tabs are a PITA to begin with and without being able to pressure test it's sort of a crap shoot as to whether the tank is crimped well. I just don't have the desire to bend out and then bend back about 50 tabs on a maybe... LOL

Well on the bright side.... I was about due to flush and change the coolant anyway. Yea... that makes me feel better...

 

Never heard of it leaking from there, but I guess it quite possibly could.

I have a radiator for a 4.9 sitting in the garage that I pulled out when I swapped to the 351 (302/351 have inlets on opposite side). If you got a sixer and are interested I'd take $35 + UPS shipping to get it out of my way.

 

Spaceman,

Thanks for the offer, but it's a V8. I think all the later V8 radiators are the same, guess I'll find out soon. I know on the newer trucks the heavy duty cooling package has a different radiator.

Freezing rain here.... great weather to be working on the truck. Maybe the dancing bannana will make me feel better about it...........

 

Yup the v-8's are all the same (302/351/460) just the sixers are different.

Maybe you can crimp the tabs a little tighter?

 

Same exact thing happened on my buddies flareside. He took the radiator out, crimped the tabs down a little more, and it has been leak free for over a year.
Good luck

 

Mine has been leaking from the tank for over a year, just enough to smell it after long trips. I add maybe 1 cup of water every 4th oil change.

Things that we've tried on Saturns to stop coolant leaks; Black Pepper (1/4cup), 3 ginger root tablets (saturn parts has them, its a factory part ), parts store stop leaks stuff.

All seem to work somewhat if leaks are very small(as in weeping very slowly). Nothing works as well as replacing a failed part. But I'm gonna try crimping it first.


<---------my first fruit

 

Update time.......

Took the radiator out friday and took it down to the shop. Other than the lower cooler line being a hassle it came out without a problem. I considered playing with the crimps but it had to be out regardless, and in short I just don't have time to play with it on a maybe. They do it fairly cheap and pressure test them, so I'll only have to put it back in and fill it once.

Since I took the shroud and fan off I had the engine easy to get at and did plenty of cleaning and checking things out. Made sure everything was well lubed, clean and in proper order. Took the airbox off and checked the filter out while I was at it to.

Right now I'm getting ready to put the platinum plugs back in. The plats did seem to bring the truck up to temp quicker when I had them in so with cool weather coming I figured I would put them back in. This time I brought the gap down some.... last time I was doing some experimenting with monster gaps and seeing how much the plats and the Jacobs ignition could handle. Still didn't get any indexing washers, guess it's trial and error time again.


Should get the rad back tomorrow, and I'll flush the system well and put it back in. If nothing else it got me doing some things on the truck again for a change. Hell I might even change the tranny fluid while I'm at it.

 

I would stay away from the factory part. Redline makes an excellent synthetic ginger root that doesn't break down nearly as quick. LOL


Any tips for stopping a power steering pump leak on a Saturn? My wifes car gets a small seep which I THINK is power steering fluid. It's so tight that even after a good cleaning I can't see for sure where it's coming from. It works its way down to the belt tensioner and flings on the firewall, not to mention getting on the belt.

I picked up a new belt, but I've been holding off trying to nail down the leak first. It would be nice if they gave you more than a 1/2" to get at the tensioner bolt to! Saw a tensioner tool at the parts place the other day, but for $38 I'll bust some knuckle instead, since this is likely the last belt we will ever put on it.