Socal Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Well, I took the car out for a drive after putting a new battery in. There was a sizable amount of coolant on the pavement right along the passenger side front tire an hour later (a couple of oz.) I was hoping it might have just been an overflow as I just had the thermostat replaced at a shop earlier this week, but the coolant expansion tank is now only half full. I really had a hard time finding any coolant inside the engine bay, but I checked below the expansion tank and it looks like there is some staining. Squeezing the base of the rubber hose that goes into the bottom of the expansion tank caused bubbling inside the tank. Seems most likely place for the leak. My question is, is this a common place to develope a coolant leak, and what is the procedure for replacing the hose?This is a 98 S70 by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadeInJapan Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Could be from there... Hope it's not from your water pump...also on that side. Is the expansion tank lid intact? If they tightened it too tight it could have cracked...a source of many woes for me back in the '90's with our old 850. Replaced that cap numerous times and always found the leaking under the passenger wheel. The expansion tanks do leak too but this is not frequently seen. Fill it up, put some towls under it and see if it leaks on the towels if the cap is okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Socal Posted February 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 The lid was intact.I didn't notice any leakage down the sides of the tank, which is what lead me to think it has to be the hose connecting to the bottom of the tank (along with the fact that when I pinched the hose at the at the clamp it allowed air to bubble into the tank)As for the waterpump...couldn't get to an angle where I could see it. I didn't have the car jacked up. I also checked the coolant hoses going to the radiator and the bottom of the rad - no signs of leakage.. Would replacing the hose at the bottom of the expansion tank require draining the coolant from the entire cooling system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadeInJapan Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 You don't have to "drain" the tank...I would use a piece of hose and syphon out from the top. disconnect the tank, including the electrical connectors, take the tank out completely and either pressure test it or fill it with water in your sink and see if while holding the hole at the bottom, see if the tank leaks. If not, then I would try a different hose clamp on the original hose, or if upon inspection, you feel the hose is bad, replace it and then clamp it down. It just seems odd that this happens right after you had your thermostat replaced. A good mechanic would never touch the expansion tank itself while doing this procedure. Just for [fun] check the large coolant hose at the top going to the radiator to see if it's leaking as well as the smaller hose from the expansion tank to the top of the thermostat housing. I recently had that little guy leaking on mine and it caused the top of the T-stat housing to be wet and I actually thought that the housing screws were not tightened enough, but that wasn't it. I replaced that short piece of hose with silicone and all is better now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAzOR Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Tank's crack fairly often it also coul be that hose underneath it that runs back towards the turbo. Look carefully at the top of the tank, that's where mine usually go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Socal Posted February 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 I checked the upper and lower rad hoses last night, they looked fine.I siphoned off about 1.5L of coolant and then removed the tank this morning. Tank seemed to hold water ok, and I didn't see any cracks in the hose coming from the bottom of the tank. So I put everything back together tightened up the clamp on the hose coming from the bottom and went for a test drive. So far so good, no leaking coolant.Who knows, maybe I'll even get to drive the car this week lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James A Sousa Posted February 9, 2006 Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 What does the mechanic have to say about the leak?It is possible that they overfilled the system to allow for air bubbles and to avoid a recall for low coolant.They might assume that the average owner would never see a small amount of discharge caused by the overfill.I have had three bricks that would spit a bit of coolant out after the dealer topped it up after service. In each case, I marked the level (usually about 1/2 way between full and low) on the coolant tank and then watched the coolant regularly. In each case, the car never lost any more coolant, on one car that was more than 100,000 miles.I'd ask the mechanic - if you don't trust him, you should be bringing your brick to another guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Socal Posted February 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 What does the mechanic have to say about the leak?It is possible that they overfilled the system to allow for air bubbles and to avoid a recall for low coolant.They might assume that the average owner would never see a small amount of discharge caused by the overfill.I have had three bricks that would spit a bit of coolant out after the dealer topped it up after service. In each case, I marked the level (usually about 1/2 way between full and low) on the coolant tank and then watched the coolant regularly. In each case, the car never lost any more coolant, on one car that was more than 100,000 miles.I'd ask the mechanic - if you don't trust him, you should be bringing your brick to another guy.Thanks for the info. I haven't seen any coolant leaking since I tightened up the aformentioned clamp, so I didn't bother to contact my mech. The only reason I mentioned earlier that I had had someone replace the thermostat and coolant temp sensor was that I thought it might be pertinent because the cooling system has to be opened during the survice if I'm not mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cswi9367 Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 FYI: my tank would hold water and couldnt see any cracks in it, but there was a crack where the coolant lines were connected to it. when heat built up, it would leak. good luck. i also found a radiator leak this weekend near the end cap, so thats my next up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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