I noticed a small drip under the front of the truck a week or so back.
Looking under the front don`t see anything wet.
I have noticed the Coolant bottle level slowly dropping the past month or so.

This morning no drip on the concrete. Filled the bottle with coolant and Distilled
water this afternoon, and an hour later a drip.
Crawled under the frontend with a flashlight and the bottom of the Core Support
is drippy wet. The leak is the fitting where (if I had an auto trans) the ATF line
would connect. The coolant is seeping between the plastic tank and bushing,
I would like to snug it up, but not sure if I would open up a can of worms cracking
the plastic. Maybe the rubber seal is shrunk down or vibration eventually caused it
to loosen up a bit...

Bought the truck July 2014 and the radiator looked like it was fairly new then., and
put 105K miles on her. So she has held up good.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2ND problem or issue coming up, noticed the bottom of the Lift Pump is wet, and the
looped hose is almost drippy. So a new Pump is on the list to buy.
Maybe the Radiator leak was a blessing in disguise.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tuesday my two new Accelerator cables should be here from Tasca Auto Parts.
If a few are still available from Ford or OEM is still floating around out there, I
better grab some while the getting is good. Plastic in the spring is broken and the
rubber sheath is pealing off.

Always something.


Charlie

 

Wonder if you have an aftermarket radiator? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure both your trucks came with brass radiators and with factory manual transmissions there were no plugged auto trans fittings. Mine has a manual 5spd and no auto trans fittings, plus all brass top and bottom tanks.

 

Thank You Raymond,
Yes the 85 has a Brass Radiator, the 86 was replaced before I bought it.
They were all Brass from the factory from what I have read in the Forums.

As the original supply dries us, then all the one`s produced later are for auto trans.
there was more auto trans trucks ordered than manual trans.
Probably because of our shiftless society.......
I see that with my Mercedes Diesels also, (80 - 85) only one`s available for our
80 240D are for auto trans.

Charlie

 

Charlie, are those fittings inverted flare? If not, you might consider using teflon tape to seal them since you have a manual transmission.

 

What did you do? Get it fixed?

Roy

 

I would attempt to tighten it gently. If it doesn't move then just seal it externally. Permatex makes a radiator tank repair kit that should solve the problem with minimal work.

 

I haven`t done anything to it...till this afternoon.
I have been keeping an eye on it since my last posting.
Some mornings there is a quarter size wet spot on the concrete,
and then go several days it is dry.
Last few days it has started to drip a bit more. the coolant level
in the tank stays the same so not a large loss.

This morning there is a wet area about a foot across. So this afternoon
I finally had to do something.
There is a thin brass nut about a 1/8" thick, takes a 1 1/6" or 27MM socket.
I gently tightened it, it turned just a slight bit. But that made it to start seeping
and dripping. Now what, crack in the plastic?

I have a plastic tub I bought at HD several years ago, think it is for mixing brick
motor, concrete etc... 2ft x 3ft. works good for drain pan for radiator, auto Trans
etc.... catches it all w/o making a mess.

Drained the radiator. I cut a hose about a foot long to stick on the short pipe from
the drain Pet-**** so I could shoot the coolant into the pan w/o it running all over
the Core Support and picking up dirt and oil etc.... so I can reuse it.
Then transferred it to some 2gallon ("clean") oil jugs.

Removed the brass Nut and behind it is a Stainless this flat washer, and no seal of
any kind behind it.
There is a threaded brass fitting in the hole, which is what the auto trans ATF line
screws onto. So when this thing quits dribbling coolant, I`ll dry it off and maybe use
some black RTV on the tank, stick on the washer, maybe a bit on the front side of the
washer and tighten down the nut.

10-23 (stand by). for page two.

Charlie

 

Many plastics are really hard to get RTV to stick to. Maybe you would be best served by tracking down some more specialized product. Maybe this:

https://www.permatex.com/products/sp...nk-repair-kit/

What about adding a rubber washer?

Roy

 

You could just roughen up the surfaces and float some jb weld over the entire nut. That's how I patch fuel tanks, a self tapper and then jb weld over the whole thing. Never had one leak again from the same spot.

 

JB weld is good stuff but is no substitute for polysulfide sealant on fuel tanks

I don't know what Radiator Charlie has so I have no opinion as to a repair

 

My Radiator is the typical black plastic top and bottom tank, with aluminum fins.
It is a replacement one that looked like it was just replaced before I bought the
truck back in 7/14.

The lower plastic tank is not cracked. It just started to leak some around where
the nut screws the fitting tight to the tank for the trans cooler line. There is two
of these fittings, drivers side and pass side. There is a brass threaded piece that
sticks out from the inside of the tank that the stainless washer and brass nut cinch
it tight to the tank.

I thought it strange there is no rubber seal to keep it from leaking.
Guys look up at the bottom of your radiator and you can see what Iam talking about.
Especially if you have an auto trans. You will see two rubber hoses screwed into
the radiator from the transmission.

I have the T-19 4-spd gear box.

Charlie

 

Charlie, let us know how the repair goes. Pics are needed, STAT!

 

ok I know the fittings on the plastic tank, I think the Rubber seals are on the inside....