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I hope everyone is having a good day. Got a minor problem I believe, but not sure what to do to fix it.
I have a 1970 Cutlass Supreme. I just turned the car off and all of a sudden a massive pool of coolant accumulated under the car. I was perplexed to why. The hoses oddly were completely dry on inspection. Well, following the trail of green. I noticed this..
I am very sure there is supposed to be something in that hole lol....although I have no idea what it is that is supposed to be there. I went to ... ***pause for dramatic effect*** Auto Zone and they told me i needed to replace the entire radiator....THE ENTIRE RADIATOR ...FOR THAT!!!!
As you can see, I am here now as I can not accept that as a viable answer or solution, and since I can not identify the part that belongs there, I hope you guys can help me out and let me know either what goes there, or if the auto zone guy was telling the truth, what I might be able to do to Jerry rig it.
Yes, there's a short nipple that has a hose attached to it. This would go to an overflow tank if you have one, otherwise the hose would just run down toward the ground. Not sure that just this would cause your large quantity of antifreeze on the ground. Here's a couple photos of what should be there.
Welcome to the site. There needs to be a small tube that the overflow hose is hooked to in the hole, as stated above. It can be repaired but it needs to be soldered in. A radiator shop can do this for you. The main reason there is coolant coming out of the hole is that your radiator is overfilled. There needs to be a headspace that's usually about an inch or so below the filler neck covering the trans cooler. If you don't mind the occasional mess when you overfill the radiator, do nothing as most of the time no coolant will come out.
I would check the cap for the proper pressure... Excessive pressure could have caused the coolant to flow out the bypass... You might also consider adding an overflow bottle...
First, as noted, there is supposed to be a nipple soldered into that hole. The overflow tube attaches to the nipple. There is no way to buy just the nipple, so unless you have the old part, or unless you have a good local radiator shop who may have one, you are stuck replacing the whole radiator.
Second, the missing nipple is NOT the cause of the overflow. The original overflow tube simply dumped on the ground. As others have pointed out, there are several possible causes for the overflow. There is a mark embossed on the side of the stock radiator tank below the filler neck that will indicate MAX FILL. A weak radiator cap will also let the coolant out at less than the designed 15 PSI. If both of those items are good, there may be an overheating problem or a head gasket leak that is pressurizing the system.
Keep in mind that the radiator gets hotter for a short while after shutting off the engine, due to the lack of cooling fan airflow.
He can't add an overflow bottle without a nipple to attach the hose to.
- Eric
You are correct... I'm embarrassed to say I forgot the step by step... Repair the nipple, then add an overflow bottle... More so, there would appear to be a pressure issue in the system which should be addressed as well...
You are correct... I'm embarrassed to say I forgot the step by step... Repair the nipple, then add an overflow bottle... More so, there would appear to be a pressure issue in the system which should be addressed as well...
Yes, but the pressure issue could be a low pressure issue, as in the spring in the cap is weak and is letting coolant boil out at a lower pressure than it should, rather than a high pressure issue.
Also, as noted before, people have a habit of filling these radiators past the place where it says FILL LINE, which will cause this problem every time.
Probably the first forum ever to reply this much to a post...I believe since this is the first time it has ever happened, I check my coolant the other day and filled it up to the rim, so I now understand why this has happened.
I have had the car for a year and not once has it done that. and has been without this overflow tank since purchase. I now know to NOT fill the radiator to the rim and be more observant of a fill line. other than that I have never had any over heating problems so I believe we are good for now.
we are not all that wealthy
good used radiator is a good solution.
If you care to fabricate I suggest this
Copper tubing
Flare the end with your flaring tool. Flip the tubing in the tool, so that the flare is against the side of the tool with no tapered sides. Tap the flare out to a tiny 90 degree flare. It may crack, who cares? grind to a small OD just larger than the hole you have in the radiator neck. Insert from inside so that flare ends up inside, against the wall. With everything clean, apply epoxy glue to secure this in place. The pressure here is essentially zero.
An overflow container does not have to be a $$$ repro item. Any aftermaket generic, or boneyard other-car "will do". Some folks use coolant jugs or 10c bottles. Standards vary.
An overflow container does not have to be a $$$ repro item. Any aftermaket generic, or boneyard other-car "will do". Some folks use coolant jugs or 10c bottles. Standards vary.
You might want to replace the radiator anyway. Check and see if scale is building up and it is getting clogged. Might be a good time to get a new or re core the old one.
February 20th, 2016, 04:19 PM
You are correct... I'm embarrassed to say I forgot the step by step... Repair the nipple, then add an overflow bottle...
