Loosing coolant.

[AZ4x4]

I know the heading sounds bad, but I hope it isn't. I just installed a 3 row aluminum radiator on my 68 Bronco along with new hoses and added an overflow. I've had no leaks but my overflow keeps loosing coolant, not a ton, but enough to notice. I haven't seen any white smoke and the oil looks fine. What can I do to check and make sure I don't have a leak in a head gasket or something? I'm telling you, if it's not one thing it's another. Im not giving up.

 

[broncnaz]

By overflow do you mean overflow bottle? The overflow bottle is generally not the place to determine if your losing coolent as its level changes or can change when the engine is hot or cold.

 

[AZ73]

Did you bleed the cooling system correctly?

 

[dave67fd]

My guess is you had some trapped air. Is your overflow also being used as a recovery system? This would involve a sealed system that is at or above your filler neck and you don't have a pressure cap on the radiator. If a simple overflow, your tank is either leaking or it's evaporating.

 

[AZ4x4]

While digging into my dash to install a stereo and some other stuff, I noticed coolant under the passenger side floor mat. My guess s my leak is coming from my heater core. What do you all think?

 

[tirewater]

While digging into my dash to install a stereo and some other stuff, I noticed coolant under the passenger side floor mat. My guess s my leak is coming from my heater core. What do you all think?

Given that the floor mat isn't normally a known coolant pathway, I'd say you're probably right.

Check the hose connections to the heater core on the engine bay. If they're not leaking, bypass the heater core until you can replace or fix it.

 

[jw0747]

Probably a heater core leak and it's not hard to change. Coolant overflow bottle level changes as your radiator/engine heats and cools. Coolant level in radiator going lower is where you determine if you're leaking somewhere.

 

[jckkys]

I bypassed my heater core about 10 yrs. ago and miss the heater or defroster about once a year. Cold wet mornings when the windshield fogs up. So if your in the desert, you may not find it worth the trouble to fix until you have another reason to pull the heater box or dash. I'm going to put my new core in before this fall. Just found out, I got an elk tag.