Recently I redid the whole engine cooling system on my 99 dodge ram 1500 van 5.2l. I did this because the water pump was broken and leaking. I replaced all the hoses, thermostat, termostat housing. pretty much the whole deal. It was fine for about three weeks. but then last night i topped it off with some coolant because the resivor seemed low then I took it for a ride and parked it. after it was parked and shut off it spit out about two cups of coolant from what seemed to be the lower hose ( the one that connects to the bottom of the radiator and the water pump.) and then stopped and the coolant dryed up. I checked the water pump (what I could see of it because it is buried in the damn Van, and it looked dry)

I figured maybe the hose clamp came loose so I tightened it the best I could with a flat head screw driver (all I had with me). and then drove it home and parked it and shut it off. I waited outside for a little while with it to check for leaks and it seemed to be fine.

I woke up this morning to a puddle of coolant under the same spot of the van. I didn't have time to check under it to see if it was coming from the same spot because I was in a hurry to get to work.

I'm trying to get some feed back on this, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Louis

 

Many of the bolts holding the timing chain cover and water pump pierce the water jacket. These bolts should have RTV applied to them before reinstallation.

You should give the RTV several hours to dry before refilling the system.


The quality of worm drive hose clamps these days is suspect. Many complaints about them loosening up all over the net. T bolt type clamps or the constant tension spring clamps are one solution.

Sometimes radiator leaks will look like it is dripping from the lower radiator hose when the leak is elsewhere.

My Radiator is leaking, but most of the drips come from the bottom tank. It is under 2 years old.

I replaced my whole cooling system in sept '10. The bolts on the water pump loosen up, and every three weeks or so I bust out the 9/16 open end wrench and socket and give all the bolts 1/4 turn to stop the small drips.

Pisses me off.

 

It looked like it was leaking from the top of the lower hose where it connects to the water pump and it dripped all the way down the hose. the first time it was a good amount of coolant. I'm hoping its just a bad hose clamp that poped open when the hose expanded.

Who knows though. I am going to try and do a pressure test tonight. hopefully I'll be able to find out where its coming from.

 

On the water-pump, there is that black tube with the o-ring. Did you use any petro-jelly on it? This black tube also needs to be inserted properly and aligned perfectly so as not to leak.

As for the lower RAD hose going to the water-pump, I had that leak after gutting out my entire cooling loop last year. Had to lay a cardboard box down flat and scoot under the van with a high powered MAG light. Noticed that the clamp needed to sit just so ever perfect in one place so as not to leak.

My cooling loop even has a rear system. Other than the OEM Valeo RAD made in Mexico rotted out, the tee to the rear heater unit cracked. Took about 10 long hours to drain, pull the entire cooling loop out, including the fan clutch and putting it all back together. I had posted my work here as a step-by-step guide to help others who may need it too.