Radiator leak

When I bought the Discovery in March and got it home to Montana I noticed very slight drips on either side of the radiator on the ground. Peeking up and under the leak was dripping off the front frame rails. It was pretty inconsistent - some day a slight leak, other days no leak. Never seemed to drip when parking after driving but would find them in the morning.

So rather than test limits, I bought and installed a new radiator:

http://www.buyautoparts.com/buynow.asp?partnumber=19-01431_AN

Same goddamned thing. Couple small drips on certain mornings. Not enough to fill a cup or anything but noticeable on the ground. Peeking under it reveals the same thing - couple drops of coolant on the front frame rails.

Took the old radiator to a local shop. He plugged it up and pressure tested it: no leaks.

I'm at a loss. It's not coming from the hoses (I put in a new lower hose with the new radiator since I had to cut the old hose off). It must be coming from the side plastic tank (except on the new one it's only the battery side, the other one had an occasional leak on the PS pump side).

Any ideas? Just another bad radiator? The auto shop guy said that it's possible that since it freezes at night the rubber gasket between the side plastic tanks and the radiator shrinks when it is that cold.

I don't really want to order another one, go through the bitch of replacing it, and have it leak, too. This is the second radiator (the first was only 2 years old and I trust the guy who I bought it from that it didn't leak, and it showed no evidence of leaking when I bought it and only happened 2 days after getting it home) that does the same thing and no one has ever seemingly had this happen but me.

The new one came with a warranty but fuck, that's a big pain in the ass to switch them out just to have it happen again. Am I going to have to spring $600 for one from Land Rover? I can't imagine that these "direct OEM replacements" are that crappy otherwise there'd be more info out there on them sucking.

This pic is the old previous radiator leak but the new one does exactly the same thing. The guy I bought it from stated:

It’s a shitty design on the new radiators. My wife’s Jeep is the same way. Somedays it leaks when cold others (all summer in fact) no drips at all. They swage metal caps on the top and bottom and through expansion and contraction, water capillaries out through the mating surface.

Click to expand...

but I have searched and haven't seen anyone posting a similar problem.

With a year warranty on the new one I'm tempted to just throw in some coolant in the expansion tank every other day until summer hits and see if it stops. If it does it seems like something I'd rather deal with than replacement (and having another one do the same thing).

Yep. Didn't leak on the old one there either. On the old one I put in that trace leak stuff and hit it with the light and I could only find drips on the frame rail.

The new one has new oil cooler lines and I replaced the little o rings on the trans cooler lines and was very careful about tightening them all down. Dry as a bone.

I did the tracer stuff in the coolant with the previous radiator with the same symptoms and couldn't find anything at all, even in the black of night with the black light - nothing other than the couple of little drops on the frame rails.

It's definitely not shooting out of the expansion tank (which is new) and I ran paper towels under every connection on every hose to look for the slightest bit of damp: nothing.

My only guess is it's coming from the bottom of the black plastic side tank things at the bottom - can't see it since it sits on the frame and even if I could see it it would only show that somehow it's leaking.

it's just strange that 1 almost new, and 1 brand new radiator, same types, both do this but only on cold nights.

So I drove it up to operating temperature yesterday and then parked it. Of course this morning there is a small drip on the ground.

First shot is 7 pm. 1 hour after parking it. No drip. I checked again at 11 pm. No drip on the concrete.

Next couple of shots are showing that it is clean and clear.

(next post)

Next morning, 7 am. Small drip but it didn't freeze last night. You can see some drips on the frame rail and under the radiator (sorry for the bright light but if you can zoom in you will see where a couple drips are).

I found nothing even slightly humid around the hose clamps.

This one shows the most - it's the mount

Two hour round trip yesterday evening.

Not a drop this morning.

Bringing the thread back up - first below freezing morning:

Leaks again. Small drips. Hasn't leaked a drop since May of 2016 in Montana (where it would still be freezing at night). Hasn't even used a smidge of coolant either. (winter 2016 here it slept in the garage at night and never leaked a drop).

Something with this radiator and shrinkage when cold I guess. I thought about the K-seal that AB sells, but that seems like it plugs leaks when hot - mine definitely doesn't leak when hot, only when below 32 degrees.

glester said:

I was going to suggest the same thing. It should show itself under pressure.

Click to expand...

It doesn?t. The old radiator had same symptoms and even removed and pressurized no leaks.

It?s something in the seal on the end caps. When extremely cold they must shrink slightly.

Best bet is spending the money on the expensive ones I guess.