AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze leak!

[jaybird]

At least I found one, there could be more. At the base of my heater control valve. I'm heading to buy a new hose and see if I can snag a new valve around here somewhere!

 

[dklawson]

For future reference, some of the auto parts stores (and Eastwood online) carry UV dyes you can add to your oil and anti-freeze. You wash the engine off to remove oil and/or coolant as appropriate, add the dye, and run the engine for a while. At dusk or dark you use a blacklight to illuminate the suspect areas and the leak will "glow". You don't need the fancy and expensive blacklights sold in the parts stores, a simple blacklight from the home center will work just as well. The dye helped me quickly locate some leaks a couple of years back and was money well spent.

 

[jaybird]

Ahh, Doug, I have a bottle of it here on the kitchen counter. Just haven't gotten around to running it through. I'm still going to use it, but I'll start here first. Next week is 'work on cars all week' week!

 

[KLUTZ]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

And I am sure Janel will have no problem finding the black light, I am sure she still has some of those velvet posters from the 70's on her wall. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

My favorite was the bull fighter one !!

Paul

 

[jaybird]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

 

[DrEntropy]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

T'ain't likely the hose...unless you're one of those "born lucky" folks. The valve is most likely leaking internally from the diaphragm. They CAN be disassembled (remove a pop-rivet and "undo" the halves), but the diaphragm is a different animal. Molded shape, not available commercially that I've ever found. The exercise is more like watchmaking or plumbing than car repair, though. If you NEED to drive the car before the new valve arrives from the "usual sources" you can plug off the driver's side hose with an old spark plug (see why GUYS save these "useless" things?) and the hose clamp from the heater box connection. Blanking the valve port I've used everything from a plastic pipe plug and cut up beer cans between head and valve, to MAKING a blanking plate from 1/8" steel specifically for the purpose. NO HEAT, but Emma will get ya where ya need to go!

 

[jaybird]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

Thanks Doc. And I was just replacing the hose because if I'm going to be messing around there anyway, not a lot of sense in putting an old hose back on!

 

[tony barnhill]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

Agree with Doc on the hose...& on my web site I've a tech tip on disassembling/cleaning/repairing the valve.

 

[jaybird]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

Thanks Tony, going there now. (dahubby might have a project tomorrow!)

Hmm, the link to Munch's article doesn't work.

 

[tony barnhill]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

I'll get with Bob & get his new web site url...but, try the other part of the article - cleaning - & have chuck make a new daphragm

...the Munchusen article is about modifying the valve anyway - not something you need to wory about until after you solve the leak.

 

[jaybird]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

I'll let Chuck read the article in the morning and see if we can't resolve this leak!

 

[Bruce74B]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

JB...the gaskets for the valves are natorious leakers...I guess because the torque of moving the valve loosens the seal over time. I solved my leak there with a gasket I made from a thicker gasket kit when I intalled a new valve.

Bruce /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

 

[tony barnhill]

Re: AHA! I found it!!! The elusive antifreeze le

Janel - here's the link to Bob's valve article...thanks for letting me know there was a broken link on my site:
https://www.cibolas7.net/12245.html