ford 4000 radiator seeping

[bob kuczynski]

down where the bottom hose attaches, it has some seepage.
need a quick yes or no.
will that radiator sealant stuff help it out?
any drawback to that stuff being in an old tractor cooling system?

 

[Sean in PA]

Replace the hose and clamps.

 

[bob kuczynski]

its the metal pipe portion that attaches to the radiator frame down near the wing nut drain. the hose attaches further up that pipe. are you saying it may just be water running down the pipe?

 

[MarkB_MI]

Seepage sounds like a leak that stop leak would have no problem plugging. But you should try to figure out exactly where the leak is; you might just need a new hose.

I ran Alumaseal stop leak in my tractor for many years to fix slow leaks in the core. Eventually vibration caused the fan shroud to wear a hole in the tank; I had the radiator re-cored when that hole was fixed.

 

[Sean in PA]

(quoted from post at 21:31:07 11/03/23) its the metal pipe portion that attaches to the radiator frame down near the wing nut drain. the hose attaches further up that pipe. are you saying it may just be water running down the pipe?

Sorry, your original description was just:

"down where the bottom hose attaches, it has some seepage."

Now your new description is completely different. First off, we need to determine exactly what radiator you have. Is this a 3 cylinder or 4 cylinder 4000? If it is a 3 cylinder, what transmission does it have and does it have a transmission oil cooler inside the main radiator? I do not know of any 4000 radiators that have a "pipe portion" that attaches down there other than those that have transmission oil coolers in them, and those connections are for the transmission lines.

If it is something else, then you will need to post pictures.

 

[bob kuczynski]

sorry sean, i keep assuming all 4000's are 4cyl gas.
there arent any puddles on the floor. its just after using it, and it cools, you see a ring around the area of that pipe the bottom hose goes to, is wet. i did get a 1/2 twist on the hose clamp to that hose.
im going to run it today and see if that was it.
as long as im not going to gum up something in the system im not aware of, i may try the sealant idea. just wanted to make sure there wasnt anything else i should know.
thank you and all the others for all the help on my 4000 fleet.

This post was edited by bob kuczynski on 11/04/2023 at 05:35 am.

 

[MarkB_MI]

I don't think you'll have a [i:654c4848f0]small[/i:654c4848f0] leak in the joint between the radiator outlet and the lower radiator tank. That's a soldered joint, and if it cracks it's going to leak a bunch. A leaky hose seems more likely. Another possibility is a failing water pump; look for water drips coming from behind the water pump pulley. It's also <del>possible</del> likely the core is leaking.

If you can borrow a cooling system pressure tester, you can pressurize the system cold and look for leaks. Don't put more than a few psi on the system; it wasn't designed for more than about seven psi and if it's the original radiator it's likely to blow if you exceed five or six.

 

[bob kuczynski]

by golly, it was a loose clamp on the hose. it was dripping down to the solder joint and made it look like a crack.
and...to make sure, i put some leak check fluid in.
problem resolved. thanks to all.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Thanks for the update, Bob. It's always good to know how things turned out.