Coolant leak - head gasket?

[ahl395]

Great idea guys, I didn't think of that. That's what I'll do.

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[Barrel]

You're on the right path. Pressure tester to find the leak. I bought one when I was chasing a coolant leak. Found a pinhole in the line going to the reservoir. Only happened at high RPM and heat, so I could never find it when it was just sitting idling.

 

[ahl395]

Haven't gotten the pressure tester yet, but I took a closer look at it yesterday with a brighter light. I can see residue around the black coolant tube going from the water pump/block to the hose pictured in post #4.

Ordered it from Ford, should be here tomorrow. Only $26. From there I'll look deeper and pressure test to see if anything else is leaking.

 

[ahl395]

[MENTION=19978]sigintel[/MENTION] you were on the money. Replaced my coolant pipe/fitting the other day and the leak is gone. What a relief.

You can see in my valley all the burnt coolant :(

 

[Bbarfoot14]

What is our max pressure? Gotta run that test since I’m slow leaking and believe it to be the same issue as you folks (2015 gt)

 

[Tommy V]

Im pretty sure its on the rad resvoir cap.

 

[Bbarfoot14]

Im pretty sure its on the rad resvoir cap.

Yea it say 21 psi, I just wasn’t sure if that was idle or normal operating psi and there was a max beyond that for testing leaks.

 

[Tommy V]

Thats the max u want to pump the tester to,car can be cold.Pump up to 21 psi.and then start looking around for your leak.The faster the pressure drops the bigger the leak.

 

[Bbarfoot14]

Thats the max u want to pump the tester to,car can be cold.Pump up to 21 psi.and then start looking around for your leak.The faster the pressure drops the bigger the leak.

Thanks man

 

[AlexZafo]

I had a coolant leak at the orings on the heater to block connector.
Need to find parts pictures. I ordered a bunch of different orings to get a tighter fit.
Cleaned the ring seat that had paint using paint stripper and lightly polished w dremel thin cloth wheel w rouge(polishing totally not needed unless you scratch surface).

All my orings showed signs of weeping. Cant remember which, but one was much worse than others leading to coolant drips blown around all over motor making it abitch to find.

My water pump seals were caked and leaking too so it got replaced. I stopped using water wetter after that.
This engine was tracked hard with a Whipple. Car lived in Mexico after oil was warm. Never treated better than the red headed step children.

That piece almost caused me so much concern. I had a shop install an 18 manifold for me a while back and they didn’t tighten that one retaining bolt. I drove all the way from NC to NY, no problem. While up in NY I installed a Barton hybrid 3 shifter. The minute I tipped the block/tranny back to pull the old shifter out coolant started pouring underneath the car. We thought we broke a heater connection or something. We raised the block back up and leak stopped. Could NOT find it for the life of us. I drive the car all the way from NY back to NC with no leak. Thinking Furiously about where it came from I get home and start snooping around and as I go to look at the connections to the heater core I lean and put pressure on that piece and coolant squirts me all in the face. That bolt was literally finger loose and the only thing keeping me from being stranded was that o-ring. I guess when we tipped the block back it just separated enough to leak......

Moral of the story, don’t just look it over really “wiggle test” all the coolant connection points while under pressure, because like I said it was pressurized the whole trip and not leaking.

Good luck!

 

[Bbarfoot14]

And of course the autozone pressure tester doesn’t come with the adapter for ours

 

[Adf020]

This!


I own my own pressure tester and I always find the leak this way.

Which pressure tester do you have that fits the s550 coolant tank since they don’t have radiator caps. Can you link the one you bought?

 

[Notagain]

Know something I just wanted to mention its nice to see people fix their own shit instead of crying OMGBBQTICK or cry about whatever issues comes up like every other jackhole on youtube. Or whine the dealership cant figure out their issues or whatever excuse they decide to come up with.

Great to see people. Maybe just maybe..... Not everyone has forgot how to swing a damn wrench!

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