Coolant leak, unsure of location (1 Viewer)

[badmuthatrucka]

I found it! It is the crimped joint where the radiator core is attached to the bottom tank, and on the outboard (away from the engine, with no hoses) side. I took the opportunity to purchase a bore scope (16ft, way longer than I needed for this application) and inspected the front and rear of the core and cooling fins after removing the fan shroud but while the radiator was still in place. There were no leaks at any hose, and no leaks in the core on either side.

So I removed the radiator from the 80 so I could get a closer look at the whole thing. I plugged the bottom and top hose outlets and filled it up with water. As soon as I did that I saw significant leaking coming from that crimp seal for the bottom tank, and when I plugged the filler neck and blew air into that annoying little hose in the top tank the leak became worse.

Apparently my picture is too big to attach, so I'll try to figure out a way to shrink it down and upload once I'm at my computer.

So now the question becomes which radiator to get. I've kind of always wanted one of the full aluminum ones, or at least one that has metal tanks since this is the second rad with plastic tanks.

 

[cvenom96]

I went with a Denso from rockauto and no problems. There’s another Amazon sells which others have good reviews of but can’t recall the brand.