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O/T 92 Buick roadmaster radiator problem

O

old

Well-known Member
Location
Camdenton Missouri
Been working on my sisters car. Has a bad leak but so far I can not find it. When the radiator was still in the car it had a leak that was so bad you could almost pour it in the top and have it run out the bottom. It has a metal plate under the radiator so you can not see where its coming from. I took it out and filled it with hot water and blew into the hose with the others capped off and no leak. Lower hose looks good and so far I'm about to go crazy trying to find the leak. Any good guesses??
Thanks
By the way nearest radiator shop is 100 mile away
Hobby farm
 
Old, Find you a way to put 12 to 15 lbs of constant pressue on that bad boy.If you don't have a pressure tester you will have to rig something up with air and a regulator.Maybe an old cap with a quick connect brazed in will do it.Cap off the bottom,top and overflow openings and have at it. if its leaking the constant pressure will show it.I'm sure you have had to improvise before.
Untitled URL Link
 
Old,

If the radiator holds pressure and the hoses are good (but I always suspect the lower rad hose) then the darn water pump is playing games on you. As you know, when the seal goes out, there is AF loss through a small hole in the front of the shaft housing, facing downward. Maybe it is peeing AF down and forward at the bottom of the radiator. The good news would be, a rebuilt WP is probably cheaper than a radiator repair, and the WP replacement is much easier with the radiator out of the way.

Good luck!!

Paul in MN
 
does this have a shaft drive water pump or belt and you can get a new radiator for noyt much more than a repair job.
 
easy way to pressure test if you dont have the kit with the gauge and pump is to use a bicycle inner tube. cut the tube opposite the valve stem, then hook the tube up to eithet the radiator in and outs or hook up in place of a radiator hose, with a couple hose clamps. pressureize the system with the tube. about 15 psi is all you need. then look for the leak, should be pretty easy to find. i the system is dry, use dish soap in a pump bottle and spray around like looking for a flat tire leak.
 
Kid had a camero that had plastic tanks on cross flow radiator. One tank cracked when car was jacked crooked and would only leak when flexed just right. Good luck! joe-
 
Glennster, thanks for the hint about using a bicycle inner tube connected to the inlet and outlet radiator tubes and then pressurizing through the valve stem. I will try and remember that trick. I wish that I had heard of that 50 years ago. I will be checking some tractor radiators with your method in a few months when it gets warm out again.
 
My question is: why look for the leak?
Are you able to repair it if you find it?
These radiators get so rotten that they just need to be replaced.
Order one off the net, then you know what you have. It will be good to go!
Use the time you saved to do something fun.
Happy New Year!
 
Pressure is NOT an issue if the water was running out as he was pouring it in as he stated in his post. I would block the lower radiator hose and fill the engine to see if it leaks. My bet is the water pump. Sometimes the weap hole in the pump will leak because of a bad seal and the water will follow the lower radiator hose making it look as the radiator ot hose is leaking. FE (332-428) block Fords were real good at doing this.

Kent
 
Not the water pump checked that first. Leak is to far away from the pump to be the pump. Leak is or seems to be under the radiator but with that metal plate under it I can not see where its coming from. I plan to replace the lower hose today and I hope that will fix it
 
Not the pump. the pump is so far away from the radiator and the hose is dry but the leak shows up under the radiator and not place close to the pump. I'm starting to think its the hose clamp or lower hose
 
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