Hi all,

I recently picked up a 944 and it's drives great, but it unfortunately has a small coolant leak. It's under the driver side of radiator. When looking under the car, i see that the previous owner probably hit cur and bent part of the radiator bottom plate up into the radiator. Please see the pictures below:


I have a couple questions I'm hoping someone can help with.
1.Does anyone know what the part name is for that plastic panel that rests below the radiator?
2. Is there anything else I should do that can confirm it's the radiator that's leaking before biting the bullet and replacing it?
I've checked the hose above on that side, and they're ok. it's definitely leaking from the bottom.

Thanks!

 

Best way to confirm is to do a pressure test on the system. Dry the area, and once dry with the pressure test you should see where the leak originates. The radiators are known to have the plastic side tanks crack and come apart from the aluminum core. I tried to look up the cover part in PET, but wasn't having luck figuring that part out.

 

It worth trying some Bars Leaks. That stuff sometimes works wonders, sometimes only works for a while, and sometimes doesn't work at all.

 

My guess is 944-575-221-00 or 944-575-221-01 for M573 (what's that, A/C?). [Edit: yes, M573 is A/C.]

 

Jeyjey mentioned a sealer that you put in the system. Bars leak is one and plenty others. K&W I think has one. My brothers friend had Rover disco with the Buick aluminum block and heads notorious for leaks. He is a cheap bastard and found the cure all online a bought it. Poured it in started the motor added water maybe the whole motor locked up. Yep sealed it like Victoria's Secret!! Im not opposed to alternate ideas but whats real and not are two different things. The image you have show rust/cracks and obviously lifes wear on the vehicle. Is band aide you only option or can you afford. If you have a Orielly parts house near but or something like theres little dry biscuits about the Dia. of a quarter and 3/4 inch thick https://www.google.com/search?q=gm+r...hrome&ie=UTF-8

I have found this to be the best. Put them in a shop towel maybe 2 to start with pound them into dust and ad to coolant and run for a while like a hour. Just dropping them into the coolant tank wont get you where you need to be. Take a hose off and introduce but even then its all about being quick Jonny on the spot getting fluid flowing and running. A new Radiator would be better considering whats in there is probably older than you are!!!!

 

If this is an "early" car, then the radiator is brass. It's a fairly straight forward bottom only removal process and then you can take it to a radiator shop and have it repaired. If it's a later car, then it's replacement time. Change out the mounting rubbers while you have it out. They're cheap and easily replaced. While you have it out of the car, you might see if you can pick up a set of 6 bladed fans for the cooling, depending on where you live. They'll bolt right up to the earlier radiator...HTH some. BTW..Change out the radiator fan switch while it's out of the car...it's a lot easier to do when the radiator is out of the car. Might as well do it all at one time...Good luck..

 

Thanks all. I think I’m just going to replace it. I tried bleeding the system as I was seeing some weird temperature things to go along with this, and bleeding did not help. In fact, when topping up the coolant expansion, a good amount of coolant came out of the radiator.

the radiator works, but definitely not as wells as it should. Should only have to do this once for the this car.

it’s an 86 btw.

 

New is best option might as well put in a new thermostat while you are at it. And all the rubber mounts as mentioned above. It been my experience over the years once that theT Stat gets dried off from open air they stick shut. Again in the years of service I cant remember how many times a cooling system got opened up for some reason and chances where good we would be dealing with a overheat issue. Food for thought.

 

Brass radiator in early cars? I have an 84 and its the aluminum with plastic sides. I've also seen at least 3 other early cars with the same type of rad. How early did they have brass tanks?

 

There is hard science behind the cellulose-based leak-stoppers. They will not seize an engine, despite the ubiquitous urban legends.

The cellulose particles precipitate and stiffen in the presence of heat and oxygen (ie: at a leak site). So they work when the leaks are small enough (and the substrate is stable enough) for the stiffened cellulose to block the leak.

If you have cavitation at say your water pump, then I imagine it's possible they could precipitate out there. At that point they're going to be like even softer version of crushed walnut shells (which are used for bead-blasting engines because if you don't get them all out they won't damage anything -- unlike sand or glass beads).

My experience has been that they worked great for a pin hole on a Triumph TR4-A and a seeping hose connection on a Ferrari 330GTC. And (somewhat surprisingly), they worked well for a much larger leak on a Mercedes 250 (where the leak must have been ideally situated in a corner or something). They worked for about a year on a Kubota diesel tractor I had with a medium-sized leak from a rock impact, so I replaced the radiator. For the split seam on my Bentley T2 they didn't work at all, so I had that one re-soldered.

They're not a silver bullet. But they're not bunk either. Just another tool for the toolbox....

 

As DSMBlue suggests, purchase a pressure tester. There is no point going through all the work changing the radiator if leak is elsewhere. You will need the tester again 100%. Note that the "universal" ones fit just fine on our coolant tanks.

If the leak ends up being at the radiator where the plastic tanks attach to the core, it is possible to remove the radiator & tighten the plastic tanks by gently squeezing the clips. I did this and still leak free after a few years.

 

I think that the plastic panel that you refer to is the remnants of an air scoop that directs air either up into the radiator or to the condenser....I had to purchase a radiator for my car as it was missing. I purchased it from a recycler, and I thought it was brass, but it was already painted. I thought it was brass, and was fairly heavy, but from other comments here, I may have been mistaken. If memory serves me correctly, I think it was a Behr radiator. Thanks for the mental correction.