Hi all! Working on my new to me '64 Starfire with 394. Been running well however I think we have some old parts...

I was running yesterday and just as I was getting into the garage I believe the top bleed hose on the radiator broke. For the life of me I cannot find an overflow or anywhere where it may reconnect, and my service manuals don't come until next week but wanted to get her out this weekend. Any help on where this ends up would be great... did these have an overflow tank?

(also, not sure why pictures are improperly rotated...)

Where is anything in here?

Hose location

 

It does not go anywhere, its routed along side the radiator to spray the coolant to the ground. If the radiator is filled to the top there is no room for the coolant to expand when it gets hot and it will muscle past the cap. Leave approx. 1.5 inches of head space below the neck to prevent this from happening in the future.

 

Amazing, thank you. So do we think there was overheating? My temp light didn't go on, but the car was leaking heavily coolant and steaming. Possible other broken hoses or clamps?

 

You need to hook up a temporary/permanent temperature gauge and see exactly what the system is doing. Again if there is no room to expand the coolant will puke out the overflow hose. Double check all the clamps and make sure all the hoses are serviceable. Another cause could be a thermostat stuck closed, faulty water pump, or a weak radiator cap.

 

You'll need to review your images before you post them to ensure they're oriented in the correct orientation prior to clicking UPLOAD.

 

A rusted, cruddy old inoperative radiator cap might be the culprit - they're ~$7.00

 

You may want to see if you have a "pin hole size" leak if the steaming is coming from the radiator. If its the original radiator, it wouldn't be surprising.

 

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I plan on installing some extra gauges (battery, temp and oil) so that will definitely assist. I'll plan on a new radiator cap - and yes it is the original radiator.

 

FWIW, I experienced a similar issue w/ my '71 350 sbo last year after having purchased it the prior year (2018). I had already properly installed a new thermostat as the result of having changed the intake manifold gasket (which was leaking when I purchased the vehicle) so I was convinced my overheating issue wasn't the thermostat. I began driving it and the only time coolant would flow out of the overflow hose was when I turned the engine off in my garage. With the radiator cap off & engine running I could clearly see coolant vigorously flowing through the cores. I began to evaluate the radiator cap, and while I wasn't completely certain if it was the radiator cap, I elected to purchase a new one. Turns out it was the radiator cap. The valve was getting rusty and would not move up & down freely. In fact, it was getting to the point where it was hardly moving up & down at all. New radiator cap and I haven't had an issue.

 

so put a new radiator cap on and that was definitely part of the problem so a fix there. There remained leaking through small holes at the top of the radiator so poured in some repair mixture and ran for 15 minutes. Will try later tonight after repair mixture does it’s thing and see where we stand. Thanks all!

 

Glad the radiator cap partially addressed the issue. If the repair mixture is able to address your pinholes satisfactorily, perform a thorough flush of the coolant system once you've addressed your issues (if you haven't done so already).

 

Stop leak products are kinda a bandaid fix if this is a car that you plan on driving any distance from home. They may work or may not. It's usually a sign that things are not well in the cooling system in general. Most automotive parts stores will rent a pressure tester for nothing and this will help on the diagnosis of the health of your cooling system(water pump, radiator and hoses) while under operating pressure..... Just a thought.... Tedd

 

Thanks guys. So I have one spouting hole when the car gets going now. Thinking epoxy for the time being. To drive into town and back its around a 40 mile jaunt, so I want to make sure I can get things done in the long run. Planning to drive this car regularly... no show queen here.

 

As Tedd has already suggested, your fix will most likely result in nothing more than a band-aid. Either perform the pressure test yourself, or run it into a service station for a pressure diagnosis. In particular, if this will be your daily driver you want confidence this is addressed correctly. I would not wait for the inevitable issue finds you w/ your hood raised along the roadside. Address this issue ASAP. Yeah, it's a pain - get your head around it and make it happen.

 

I'll get some epoxy on there for the next couple days and then I'll get it to my shop. I figure I could do with a nice new shiny radiator anyways, and I'll hopefully have that as the only thing to address.

Thanks!

 

You may want to start looking for a good radiator shop. Find one that can re-core the radiator. It will cost more than an aluminum radiator, but when you get it back, no adapting brackets or lines...........just "plug n play".

 

Thanks for the advice. If there isn't a radiator shop worth traveling to nearby do you have any radiator replacement recommendations?

 

If you look, you may find one. You could also ship the radiator to a reliable shop. You may also want to pull the heater core and send it along, after all they are the same"age". Ask around (car club members, etc.), you may have someone close by. Good luck.

 

Plug N Play is the best path.