How to seal a freeze plug?
Thread Starter
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Veteran
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 432
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From: Gardner, KS
How to seal a freeze plug?
Short story:
The freeze plug behind the fan belt pulley on my water pump weeps. Doesn't leak so much that it ever puddles under the truck, just enough to smell it a little after driving and getting out of the truck. after sitting over night it might have a drop or two at the oil pan and block junction.
The long version:
I replaced the water pump 2 weeks ago, due to a bad gasket that would leak when the truck got cold (leaked worse than it does now). so after consideration i decided what the heck, I have it apart, might as well put a whole new pump in rather than just replacing the gasket.
So I go to Napa and get the parts and Zerex (because apparently Napa is the only parts store around me that realizes that all orange coolants are not the same). I get a brand new lifetime warranty water pump (it's all they had) that says right on the box "precision engineered and fully tested". Well clearly that isn't true, or their test procedures are lacking (hard to believe right).
SO,
I am in need of potential ways to stop the leaky freeze plug, without tearing it all back apart and spending another $40 on antifreeze and RTV, and 3 hours to swap out the pumps.
Last night I tried to put some green theadlock on it (read that GM used to do this for slow leaks) to see if it would seal up. I don't think that it did the trick, because today when I got to work i could smell a little antifreeze when i walked past the front of the truck. I also have some Indian Head Gasket Shellac that i was going to try if the threadlock didn't take.
Any other suggestions?
thanks
nateroach
The freeze plug behind the fan belt pulley on my water pump weeps. Doesn't leak so much that it ever puddles under the truck, just enough to smell it a little after driving and getting out of the truck. after sitting over night it might have a drop or two at the oil pan and block junction.
The long version:
I replaced the water pump 2 weeks ago, due to a bad gasket that would leak when the truck got cold (leaked worse than it does now). so after consideration i decided what the heck, I have it apart, might as well put a whole new pump in rather than just replacing the gasket.
So I go to Napa and get the parts and Zerex (because apparently Napa is the only parts store around me that realizes that all orange coolants are not the same). I get a brand new lifetime warranty water pump (it's all they had) that says right on the box "precision engineered and fully tested". Well clearly that isn't true, or their test procedures are lacking (hard to believe right).
SO,
I am in need of potential ways to stop the leaky freeze plug, without tearing it all back apart and spending another $40 on antifreeze and RTV, and 3 hours to swap out the pumps.
Last night I tried to put some green theadlock on it (read that GM used to do this for slow leaks) to see if it would seal up. I don't think that it did the trick, because today when I got to work i could smell a little antifreeze when i walked past the front of the truck. I also have some Indian Head Gasket Shellac that i was going to try if the threadlock didn't take.
Any other suggestions?
thanks
nateroach
Professional
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 130
Likes: 0
From: Mena, Arkansas
Can you not get to this plug without removing anything? You could pull the bottom hose to dump the coolant in a clean pan/bucket and either remove the plug and put in a new one.
Or don't dump it, go oldschool like ive done with a brass rounded end punch and tap the edges out.
Or don't dump it, go oldschool like ive done with a brass rounded end punch and tap the edges out.
Thread Starter
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Veteran
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 432
Likes: 0
From: Gardner, KS
Yea the freeze plug leaking is the one behind the pulley. No way to pull the plug with out removing the pulley. If I am going to go to that effort I might as well just pull the whole pump and take it back to get a new one.
nateroach
nateroach