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Annoying antifreeze leak

gabosifat

Member III
Hi All,

I'm afraid I'm still plagued with an annoying antifreeze leak. I have a Universal M35A which is about 8 or 9 years old (1200 hrs). I have this leak which seems to appear on the starboard side of the engine & I can't for the life of me figure out where it's coming from. I've replaced every hose on the engine now, checked the block drain plug, replaced the thermostat & it's gasket as well as the thermostat bleed fitting. What I find really strange is that I can motor for one and a half hours & see no leak. Then if I check the next morning, there can be almost 1/4 cup of fluid sitting there. I've felt all around & can't feel anything with antifreeze on it. I've wrapped toilet paper around all my hoses & fittings & motored for an hour - everything stays dry.

I've removed my heat exchanger, cleaned it & made new rubber gaskets for the ends, replaced the HE zinc fitting. I'm starting to think frost plugs but I'm not sure if these engines have them???

Any ideas of where to look next would be most helpful.

Many thanks,
Steve Gabbott
E35/3 Silent Dancer
Vancouver
 

Cory B

Sustaining Member
Bleed Valves

You've probably already done this, but double check any bleed valves for the antifreeze. I saw a few mystery drops of antifreeze on my block after redoing the whole cooling system. I only would find them after the engine sat over night. Turns out the bleed valve while seeming entirely closed, was not, and the drip(s) did not appear on it, but somehow collected a little ways away. I was able to take about a 16th of a turn with gentle pressure with a wrench and the the drops went away.

Cory Bolton
 
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BrianP

Member II
When all else fails get some uv dye for coolant from your local parts store
and put it in the system run for atleast 1 hr then check with proper glasses and black lite. You can buy the whole leak detection kit from acme
 

newgringo

Member III
Well I don't know where your leak is originating but I have fought many leaks on car and boat engines. I have observed when an engine is hot the coolant mixture sometimes will evaporate as fast as it leaks and is difficult to find. Your best chance to find this buggar is when the engine is first started and is warming and building internal coolant pressure. I like the coolant dye idea. Never done it but let us know.
 

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
Antifreeze leak detection

Steve and Jerry, Anothr trick for finding any liquid is to apply talc to the suspect area and then some beyond. One of those shaker cans of talc for baby rash, etc. might be just the tciket for getting it onto vertical surfaces. So shake the stuff on, run the engine and come back the next day to see if a leak path is evident. Good luck, Glyn E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA
 

BrianP

Member II
leaks

I am an auto tech for a dealership and have used many different ways of finding all types of leaks. Baby powder does work good with a coolant psi tester to hold psi in system when powder is put on. The dye works very well for those leaks where evaporation takes place because the dye stays by the affected area. I would suggest to try the powder first its the cheapest then the dye of corse. I have a leak detection kit that has all the bells but its $$$$ 356.00 I used it to find the water leak on my e-27 has dye to put in water, nontoxic and is bright blue with a black lite. I hope that this helps and let us know what you find.
 
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