I just opened the hood to replace a cracked piece of my intake and discovered radiator fluid spray. Anyone seen this kind of thing? Hoping against hope that it isn’t too serious but ... meh.

 

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a hose or other "easy fix" in that area. Any chance you can remove plastic cover to pinpoint the leak?

 

I removed the cover and nothing beneath it had splatter. Based on the splatter it seems like it came from the top corner of the radiator itself, but is that even possible?

 

I see tell tale sign of cracks in between where the top plastic piece meets the aluminum. You can find out either from pressure testing or warming the car up to temp while having the hood open to identify it. The latter is dangerous as you might overheat once the coolant level gets low.

 

So I started up the car and let it warm up, watched the whole area and did not see any leaks or splattering. But I agree, it certainly seems like there is seepage along the top of the radiator where the plastic meets the aluminum.

I also noticed that the radiator reservoir cap has a crack in it. It didn't seem like the reservoir was wet, but is it possible that fluid could have shot up from inside the radiator and sprayed out of that crack over to the corner of the engine bay?

 

On my car this little hose that goes between reservoir and radiator was leaking at radiator. Fluid was dripping down, and flowing to the sides, eventually got sprayed at the engine bay by the air flow. I had marks on the engine on both sides where radiator was ending. To fix that I left reservoir cap loose.

If you want to tackle the problem yourself, first it would be nice if you could get your hands on one of those:


Maybe one of stores (Pepboys, Autozone, etc.) has one for rent? Car cold, radiator full, put some pressure on it (14 psi it says on the cap?). Makes finding leaks a bit easier.

Otherwise clean the area and check if from time to time, or order denso radiator from rockauto.

 

Okay right on. This may be my issue after all. I took my son to school (basically drove for 15 minutes) and when I got back I checked the radiator again. There is coolant sitting just below the radiator cap, right by where the little hose goes to the reservoir. It was not there before. So it seems like this must be the issue? While driving it leaks at this location, then makes its way along the top of the radiator seam (btw the plastic and aluminum) and down along the passenger's side of the radiator, then gets blown by the air flow back onto the rest of the engine bay behind it.

 

Those seams are a common failure point. Time to replace the radiator. Grab a DENSO replacement on Amazon for half the price of OEM

 

Thanks for the reco. Do most people also replace hoses, etc during a radiator replacement? Any tips on what else I should be looking to replace?

 

If your leak is coming from the hose, I'd replace the hose. It is a $3 part and takes less than 1 minute to replace. These hoses fail often. Mine did. ( 19103-RCA-A00).




https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p...p-hose-974974/

 

Yesss. Definitely going to start with this. Thank you!

 

I would start with a new tiny hose and rad cap. They are spares, worst case.

 

I clamped down both ends of the hose going to the overflow tank using a high heat clear silicone hose, despite the fact that there is no pressure there. However, over time, that hose would have expanded and contracted so many times that it starts to seep through the tiny gaps in between the hose and the fittings. Also you have to use spring clamps because of the great degree of contraction and expansion on that hose. If you use a worm gear hose clamp, it can leak even more because worm gear hose clamps does not contract and expand according to different temps. I suggest you stop the leak of that small hose first to make sure that is or isn't the issue, then move on to do the radiator replacement. But you can't go far.... warm up the car by doing short drives. Pressure varies way more during the drives which can be different than if you just warm it up in the driveway.

 

Over the summer, I had this exact same problem, and I mean every symptom just as you've described, except my radiator was brand new (< 2 months old - backstory below*). I have no way to know if this will fix things for you, but here's what fixed it for me.

1. New reserve tank cap -- [19102-PM5-A00]
2. New reserve tank rubber hose (for inside the tank) -- [19104-RCA-A00]
3. New reserve tank rubber tube (connects the tank to the radiator neck) -- [19103-RCA-A00]
4. New radiator cap -- [19045-RAA-003]

I think the root problem for me was my faulty radiator cap, which was then unable to properly regulate the internal pressure ...something, something, something... excess pressure cracked my reserve tank cap and that little leak made a big ol' mess.

*The Backstory: I was in my 2007 TL-S A/T doing 80+ through Alabama on my way up to TN when the radiator fitting for the transmission cooler hose broke clean off, leaving me stranded in the middle of nowhere surrounded by smoke and the smell of burning fluids. Turned out that there was a mid-sized little town maybe 20 minutes down the road, but it was Saturday evening after 6:00 and essentially the whole town had shut down until Monday morning. No car rental places, no public transport, nothing. I had no choice in parts, fluids, or prices, really, and nothing was OEM, but I paid what they asked and was glad to have whatever kind of radiator they'd installed. So yeah, it was friggin' awful an adventure.

 

^Damn, that was an adventure!

Glad it wasn’t a horrible out come.

I purchased a denso (OEM) radiator from rockauto for under $100....

 

Thanks, man. It was a mess, but we made the most of it (I had my two teenage daughters with me - we were on a road trip).
Believe me, I took no pleasure in finding myself reduced to hoping that strangers would perform decent work on my car AND would not extort the shit out of me come time to talk about the bill. In the end, sure, I'd say they cut some corners and yeah, they made some money, but none of it was egregious. It killed my soul, though, to turn her over to strangers to be worked on. I think that stung more than having to pay for it.

But back to the OP and his newfound spontaneous coolant distribution! @WDPanda is right, go ahead and buy a new OEM radiator cap. They're cheap ($20 - $25 currently?), and if that doesn't fix anything, keep it as a spare. Have you looked at your radiator cap? Here's a pic of mine - the new OEM part is on the left, the busted old junk is on the right.

Acura OEM radiator cap [19045-RAA-003] on the left, busted rando from parts unknown on the right.

 

Geez bro sorry about the car an the sketch people touching your car.If your ever have any problems in Alabama I live here and have family and connections all over this state I would of definitely showed you love here. ( Plus I swear there's no other active members in Alabama lol)