Petcock leak after flush (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Elliott]

Hi All -

Spent a lot of time over the course of a couple of weeks flushing the cooling system and now have really good results (185 - 191 temps in the South)! That said, I left it parked in the drive yesterday and it's slowly leaking out of the petcock.

I tightened the petcock yesterday pm to the point where it wouldn't get any tighter. This morning, there's a small amount (silver dollar sized stain) in the driveway again. When I crawl up under the truck I can clearly see a drop of green coolant (please no jokes about this wouldn't have happened if I'd used red!) hanging from the the bottom of the petcock. It appears to be leaking past the valve vs. coming from above.

Anybody run into this before? I really don't want to replace the radiator since I just replaced all the fluid!

 

[thatcabledude]

The gasket still there? If yes, maybe got tightened too far and damaged now?

 

[bigredmachine]

Anybody run into this before? I really don't want to replace the radiator since I just replaced all the fluid!

get a new petcock, most likely the o-ring is starting to tare. not too uncommon for it to leak on an older rad that hast been touched for a very long time.

no need to drain the rad, leave the cap on, take the old one out, get the new one in then just top off the rad. it helps if theres another person to cover the drain hold in the rad.

 

[FJP971]

Before you replace it try opening and closing it a few times. Maybe you have some debris in there not allowing it to close properly.

 

[flintknapper]

Before you replace it try opening and closing it a few times. Maybe you have some debris in there not allowing it to close properly.

^^^^^ This.

Then if it continues to drip...just replace it.

Until then...dry it off with a rag, put a glob of RTV on the end to stop the drip until you have time to replace it.

 

[Jeff Elliott]

Thanks all - Just went ahead and replaced it and it seems to be good!

 

[flintknapper]

Thanks all - Just went ahead and replaced it and it seems to be good!

Thanks for the follow-up.

Good job Sir!