Radiator

myronx19 said:
Ah shoot - but... it might not be coming out of where you think it is.... might be the heater tube (let's hope!) - still not an "easy" fix... but doable.
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If it is the heater tube in the lower tunnel, there may be a relatively easy fix. When I was getting my X back on the road, I found a leak in the heater pipe in the upper tunnel. The factory welded mounts on that pipe and one of the welds ate up a little too much pipe and it started leaking. I replaced it and the rubber hoses on each end with a 10 foot section of heater hose that goes right from the engine, through the upper tunnel and terminates at the heater valve above the passenger foot well. While I was at it (and not knowing the condition of the lower pipe), I decided to see if the upper tunnel could accommodate another heater hose. Turns out there is room for it as long as you keep clear of the moving parts in there. I was using 5/8" Gates 28411 heater hose and found that 3/4" EMT clamps worked well at holding the hose to the side wall of the tunnel and away from the moving parts. Fortunately, my lower pipe was good so I did not need to execute the plan to move it to the upper tunnel.
 
So, there might be hope. But, if it is, maybe, the lower heater tube, which runs inside the lower tunnel, how is that determined to be the leaker and not one of the other 2?
 
Optimistic1 said:
So, there might be hope. But, if it is, maybe, the lower heater tube, which runs inside the lower tunnel, how is that determined to be the leaker and not one of the other 2?
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You could disconnect the heater circuit from the engine and drain it. Then plug the two open engine ports so you can run it and see if the tunnel still leaks. I used a short length of heater hose with a plug in it to heavily restrict flow. I read in several places that a hose that short with no restriction could cause too much flow to bypass the engine. Don't know how true it is but putting a stopper in the hose was pretty trivial.
 
Still dripping when I went in to have a look this morning. Didn't have any plugs, so I just connected the two hoses together and ran it a bit while trying to solve my other issue. Got it up to operating temperature, then shut it down. Still dripping. Went back an hour later, not dripping! Looks like I may have dodged a bullet, hopefully, with regards to the two main lines and their integrity. Thanks Don.
 
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