Coolant Leaking from Upper Radiator Hose

Royal96

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So this is an odd one.

I've had a fairly substantial water leak the past few weeks. I sometimes have to add a gallon or more to the reservoir a day (assuming my normal day of driving about ~40 miles).

I kind of thought the issue was with the crossover - again - except it has a revised PI manifold, and I wasn't even losing as much water before I replaced my old manifold for a crack at the crossover.

Well, one day recently I noticed that water was leaking from the connection between the upper radiator hose and the radiator. It seemed to leak especially bad right after turning the car off, but it is definitely leaking some while driving. I disconnect the upper radiator hose from the radiator to inspect the radiator inlet and the hose, expecting to find something cracked. But both parts seemed in perfectly fine condition, so I replaced the hose clamp, tightened it down good, and hoped for the best. Well it didn't do any good, and its still leaking.

So my logic (which I have no idea if it is valid or not) is that it could be the radiator cap was bad and wasn't bleeding pressure off properly, which was causing water to come out of the hose. Now I've been extremely busy the past couple days since coming to this conclusion (Shhh, I'm writing this at work. Don't tell my boss.) so I haven't had any time to pick up another radiator cap.

So come to last night, I am adding water to the reservoir several hours after turning the car off. Water starts bubbling out of the hose as I am adding water! So at this point I figure my whole bad radiator cap idea is a bust, and now I'm just confused.

Has this happened to anyone else? Anyone have any ideas? I don't even know what it could be at this point, and I don't really want to just throw money at it.

I am fairly certain I do not have a blown head gasket either, since I am not really facing any symptoms minus losing a bunch of water.
 

NEURON

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Gotta be the radiator or the hose. I am wondering if the heat is exposing a weakness in the hose or radiator inlet tube. Nest time it leaks take it apart(after releasing the pressure) and see if anything looks hinky. The top hose sees the most heat so it usually goes first. First thing I replace when I buy a car unless it is provably new, I don't sweat a few dollars for peace of mind.
 
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Royal96

Royal96

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Yeah my next step is replacing the upper radiator hose but I can't help but feel like its a waste of time, other than to rule it out. I hadn't thought about the heat loosening things up, but I supposed it's a possibility.
 

DeepList

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The only explanation I could think of would be a pin-hole on the hose, or a crack on the radiator inlet.
 

Burninriverdiver

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The hoses are relatively inexpensive and worth the piece of mind replacing on an older car. It's going to need done eventually and it's better to do in the driveway than the side of the road (I learned the hard way). If it still leaks, the radiator must be the culprit and should be replaced before the small crack becomes a spewing mess that leaves you stranded
 

ttocs

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I am confused on how are you loosing a gallon a day and not able to find where its coming from or going? I mean if your not finding a puddle under it or a trail behind it, have you checked your oil?
 

wmfateam

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Does the reservoir have a Wendy's frosty like tint to it or does under the cap look like that? My car has a bad head gasket and the coolant overflow is pretty dingy. I add water once every two weeks.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 

ttocs

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doesn't that mean you have oil in your coolant? Have you checked to see what your oil looks like? If your adding water and not noticing a leak, you better check your oil.....
 
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Royal96

Royal96

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I am confused on how are you loosing a gallon a day and not able to find where its coming from or going? I mean if your not finding a puddle under it or a trail behind it, have you checked your oil?

doesn't that mean you have oil in your coolant? Have you checked to see what your oil looks like? If your adding water and not noticing a leak, you better check your oil.....

I said it's coming from the connection between the hose and the radiator, and yes it has left very large puddles in parking lots right underneath that connection, and I have watched the water come out of the connection. This isn't so much of a question of "do you guys have any idea where my water is going?" and more of a question of "do you guys have any idea as to why water is coming from this connection even if it's tight?"

I've located an upper radiator hose locally, finally (harder than I thought it'd be) so I'm going to swap it out later today and see how it goes.
 
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Royal96

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Well, swapped it out in the parking lot at work. It definitely fit much more snug than the old hose, so I had hope. Fired it up and after running for a minute or two, it's still bubbling out from there. :( I guess the radiator has a hairline crack or something in it around the connection.

And my oil looks perfectly healthy. I know a bad head gasket when I see one. Before this car I owned a 1988 Toyota 4runner that was on it's 3rd head gasket before someone slammed into it from the rear.
 

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