I noticed today I have coolant leaking from/around my tstat housing. Dripping in two spots on the ground, one right under the housing and one off under the lower rad hose. Can't find a leak from the rad hose so it may just be running down from the tstat. It sprayed at quite a high velocity while driving an 1/8th of a mile from what I can see, but was only small drips when i shut it off to look. Engine was cold both times I noticed it.

Little history on my cooling system nightmare: Heater control valve was leaking slightly, and radiator cap went bad causing leaks at the hose connections coming from the tstat, the heater control valve, and the upper rad hose were all leaking but was fixed with a new cap.

I eliminated the heater control valve about a month ago, and just ran my lines strait into my heater core, and capped the vacuum line (which turned out to be badly cut right by the boot, fixed that too). It was running fine, not leaking a single drop when i was driving to class/work.

It looks like my parking spot at work only had 1 puddle, and that was right under the corner of the radiator, by the tire. Now the puddle here at home is right in the middle under the tstat housing, and a much smaller puddle under the corner of the rad.

What exciting problem might I be having now?

Thanks
Fsher21

 

sounds like your cap malfunctioning caused your cooling system to leek and you never finnished fixing it all. just putting a new cap on never fixes a leeking hose.

 

well the cap wasnt letting pressure out so it just oozed my coolant out of the weakest spot it could which was all the hose connections. If I tightened a connection up, it would leak more out of another one lol. So the cap fixed that a couple months ago, and wasnt having issues.

 

check weep hole in water pumps it likes to run down the hose and drip on the ground....

 

looks to be ok. Am I looking at a pressure issue again, or something new? The spray looks to be coming from closer to the area by the metal line connecting to the heater hose.

 

all those places that were leeking are now compromised because of what happened. get new hoses and a gasket for the t stat housing and anything else that was leeking. You can leave the heater control valve out the way you have it because it will leek if you dont have the entire system corrected. Replace the hoses and gaskets, use some rvt on the gaskets(just a little to keep them in place when you put the housing on) you may need to remove and replace the water pump because it may be leeking as well and you may not know it. start with what you know is leeking and go from there. You may have put a hole in the radiator. Is your rad a metal/plastic one because the seems tend to leek really easy.(especially when you put pressure in the system that has no where to get out.)

 

Looks to be plastic. Before I start throwing parts at it, I still need to know why I am having the problem. It was bone dry, no problems after the cap was fixed for many months. If the gasket on the tstat was compromised when my cap went bad, wouldn't the problem show up much sooner if there was not a new problem? If it is another pressure problem, surely it would leak out of the hoses in the same spots as before since that is the path of least resistance.

 

Sounds like your cooling system is turning into Swiss cheese. Regular cooling system maintenance is what prevents those "exciting problems". One can guess at/chase leaks (when replacing cooling system components one at a time) 'til blue in the face. It's best to set some time aside (when the parts stores are open) and git 'er done (maintenance) vs a major overheat when u least expect it (parts stores closed).

 

Just when I was confident my handy work was solid...lol. Air in my system wouldn't cause a problem like this without other symptoms too, correct?

Probably unrelated, but I notice my tstat opens up just before it hits 210, and knocks my temp all the way down to that middle notch, works its way back up and never comes close to sitting and staying at 210. This is the only vehicle I have ever driven really, so I don't know what my temp. is supposed to be doing. Is that normal or a sign that my tstat might be having troubles, thus maybe related???

 

Air in the cooling system causes a multitude of problems and if u have coolant on the ground, u know u have air in the system.....it's that simple.

 

Guess I should of tried the obvious first... used paper towel to find where the leak was coming from.

The upper rad hose was loose, it was trickling down the back side of the tstat, following a groove and dripping from the bottom point of the tstat housing. Got a nice spray when I wiggled the hose. the connection was bone dry, except that tiny spot in the back.

Sorry for the stupid mistake, I never thought to check a hose fitting when it looks like the housing was to blame!

 

It sounds like your water pump could be going, or just the seals. not the navy seals, but the t stat and water pump gaskets. easy to replace. just take off, new gaskets, ATK seal to help, and a tork spec

 

now go wheeling and post pics

 

I might take it down some trails later this week when im in that area, my poor DD can't break for real this time though! I dont really enjoy learning how to fix stuff when I have no choice in the matter lol.

 

If I had an ORV sticker Id go with you..