legacycentral bbs

I have a coolant leak that only leaks when the car is cooled off and sitting. (91 Legacy Turbo). There is some dried coolant on top of the driver's side head. Anyone heard of this? thanks

well a lot of us have heard of something like it. a lot of time when the motor heats up and radiator hoses and metal in general expand they seal the leaks which was probably just a pin hole.

if you have some pics that will help a lot....... also a good way of diagnosing it would be to let your car cool over night. and then start it early in the morning before the day heats up. or just make sure the motor as cold as its gonna get, and then start it and go and see if you can see a leak.

its probably just a loose hose clamp or connection of some sort

How do you know it only leaks when the car is cool?

Im going to ventue a guess that its the reservoir bolted to the intake manifold

Its fairly brittle plastic, especially when it gets old.

i'm pretty sure it's not the reservoir, i just bought a new one. i have looked high and low (mechanics have too) and it's dry as a bone when it's hot.

Theres nothing else above the drivers side head really

Unless its a pinhole leak in the top of the headgasket, but I dont even know if that can happen

could it be a head gasket that only leaks to the outsside?

If you've recently replaced the reservoir, check the clamps on the hoses. The clamps are tighter on hot hoses than on cold ones because hot ones are larger.

But also, check the radiator cap. It's good practice to replace the cap every once in a while, so if you didn't buy a new one when you bought a new filler tank, I say buy one now. When you install it, lubricate the rubber gaskets on it with coolant to help keep them from tearing.

i resealed the block heater and checked the clamps on the reservoir. it looked like the block heater was seeping. i guess we'll see.

we resealed the block heater, it still leaks. the only straw left to grasp is a rad cap?

It's not a last-straw kind of thing -- you should replace your radiator cap if you don't know when it was last replaced.

If replacing the cap doesn't solve the leak, you can do a pressure test. But don't do a pressure test if you don't know that the cap is good, because the pressure test doesn't test the cap.

with a new rad cap, it still leaks. I guess I will resort to leaving it overnight at a shop so they can see it on the hoist cold.

had it on the hoist yesterday with a pressure test for 2 hours and not a drop. this is getting nuts