help1 LT1 coolant leak, or overflow?

[adamschorr]

i just replaced two heater hoses and flushed the radiator and cooling system of my 1970 LT1. i drove the car (kinda hard in 75 degrees) for about 20 minutes and parked it. it started LEAKING COOLANT from an area close to the passenger side fire wall...after 15 minutes it stopped dripping.

did i overfill the system?

i believe there's no expansion tank on this car. i checked the clamps to see if something was loose. all appears okay.

what happened? how does and LT1 discharge coolant, and, from where?

thanks for your help!

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Even if you don't have an expansion tank, the cap will release pressure. This is likely the source of your coolant.

There should be a hose coming off of the top of the radiator right underneath the cap. When pressure builds in the radiator it releases (depending in the rated pressure of the cap) and coolant flows out the hose. Follow it to the end and see if that is where the coolant is coming from.

Two things. Check the cap making sure the pressure holding ability is ok, or depending on the price I would just replace it. Second, I would add a coolant expansion tank (this would likely come with a new cap). It will then blow the coolant into this tank rather than the ground. As long as you keep enough coolant in the tank it will suck coolant back into the radiator as the engine cools making sure you have the maximum amount of coolant in your system at any given time.

Bob

 

[adamschorr]

bobchad, thanks.
do you think the hoe coming off the radiator you spoke of would route all-the-way back to the area down below, near the passenger firewall?
adam

 

[Tom73]

The passanger side firewall make me think of the heater core or heater hose. You may want to take a close look at the heater hoses where they connect at the firewall.

tom...

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Agree with Tom. I didn't pick up on the fact that it was this close to the firewall and went off on your question on how a cooling system discharges coolant.

My heater hose has a vacuum shutoff as well as the two attachments to the heater core at the firewall that would need to be checked. Since you just replaced these two hoses they are most likely the cause.

Bob

 

[JohnZ]

How did you remove the old heater hoses from the two heater core pipes at the firewall? The best way is to loosen the clamps and slide them out of the way, then slice the hoses lengthwise for the length of the core pipe, then "peel" them off. If you just pull and twist on the hoses to get them off the core pipes, it's very easy to damage the thin copper core pipes and crack the solder joint where they connect to the core tank inside the heater box - hope that's not the problem.

 

[adamschorr]

johnz,
thanks. spoke w/the guy who did the work. he said he cut and peeled away the hoses...is aware of the nipples coming out of the core. hopefully, it's just a loose (original) tower clamp.
adam