EC928NC

So, since I completed the TB/WP I've been driving the car now since Thursday last week. I drove it 100 miles R/T to work and back, had the shifter bushings r&rd, drove it out to dinner and drove my daughter to a function at the church..... all in all about 150 miles without ...incident.

and this morning there's a wet spot about 8" round from coolant dripping from the radiator drain plug.

I thought the rubber was pretty snug, but should I have put a little RTV on the plug.... or what have other's done? Thanks!

Rob Edwards

I finished a week's worth of nights doing the intake and a bunch of other things on my car, and got it all back together. I then proceeded to break off the coolant plug while torquing away on it with my philips head screwdriver. I gues I exceeded the 1 ft-lb torque spec. Fortunately (for purposes of removing the broken off plug) the plug's philips' head imprint extends part way into the shaft of the plug, so it can easily be removed.

I don't know if I'd RTV it, maybe you just need a replacement? ($4 or so).The knee jerk might be to find a metal plug, but in my hands that would just result in stripped threads in the plastic passenger side tank......

I'm awaiting a replacement plug from our friends in Anaheim.


EDIT: Just to be compulsive, are you sure it's the plug and not either A) a slightly loose upper radiator hose connection, or (god forbid) a leaking passenger side end tank? Either could let coolant dribble down the side of the tank and drip off the plug. Just want to rule these out!

Bill51sdr

Just a suggestion to all here regarding drain plugs on ALL radiators. 75% of the time the stupid things break and will cause a problem similar to what is mentioned here. The solution to this problem is to NOT drain the coolant thru the drainplug, but to pull the lower radiator hose. The coolant drains much quicker this way and you won't have to deal with any broken parts.

Mrmerlin

Good call, Bill

EC928NC

DOH! Thanks Rob...

Funny that the coolant leaks down exactly onto the drain plug. Clamp took almost two full turns??? Hmm wonder why I didn't lose more coolant; overflow tank doesn't look like it went down much. Maybe it's still burping.

Thanks everyone for the memory joggers and good advice.

dr bob

Use caution when tightening that upper radiator hose clamp. There's a fine line between "tight enough" and "tight enough to crack the nozzle on the end tank". Of course, with the end tak off the radiator core, it's easy to get the broken bits of drain plug out...

NickT

However be very careful not to yank and pull too hard on the hose on the hose to get it off, you can also cause some leakage that way..

Bottom line however you do it is just take it easy..

Mrmerlin

usually the end tanks have a metal collar built into the fitting where the upper and lower hoses are connected, so over tightening isnt as much of a concern , the end tanks will usually fail at the top of the passenger side tank where the tank is swaged onto the core, right at the top of this part there is an air pocket that will always stay there and over time this part of the plastic not being in contact with coolant will become more brittle and eventually crack at the flange...........the touchier thing is overtightening the drain plug it just gets snugged as the real sealing part is the O ring placed on the shank of the drain plug.
One other thing the 928 coolant system is a self bleeding system there is no burping that is required, If in doubt just check the top of the radiator and the center of the coolant bridge note they both have small hoses that are placed at the top of the cooling system, and they are both sent back to the resivour , that said there is a need to open the heater core and let it fill, this is best done by topping off the system and driving the car for about 5 miles this should be enough to purge the air out of the sytem and fill the heater core, as always you will want to check the coolant system when you return and top it if necessary, note its better to let things cool down and then open the tank, slowly so as not to shock the system by removing the pressure fast IE by spinning ther cap off fast, this will flex the side tanks of the radiator and since they are hot it will be more flexible and possibly cause a leak BTDT. Stan

Vlocity

There is an o ring on the plastic plug.....you might double check that the o- ring was put back in place or replace it to see if that stops your leak.


Ken