I finally fixed my overheating problem but for some reason there is coolant leaking from under the very front of the car. Looks like its coming from under the radiator...I mean this kinda pisses me off because i'm hoping to not have to buy a radiator...its only a few small drips but still...where can I get a good radiator...wheres the best bang for the buck? thanks guys

 

Well if you want bang your gonna have to pay some big bucks from summit or jegs. If your radiator is stock make sure you know where the leak is coming from. Order an aluminum stock replacement from autozone or O'Reilys whatever is cheaper. Thats what I did when mine cracked and leaked coolant. Price would be around 120 i would think.

 

I'd hunt for the source before i went and started buying. Alot of people replace radiators when they have a broken lower radiator hose, or less obvious yet, a bad water pump gasket letting coolant leak down the lower radiator hose or the front of the block.

Wipe down anything that looks wet, make sure everything looks clean and dry (lower radiator support, front of the block, lower hose, upper hose, etc) Do whatever you did to make it leak (if you ran it hard and it leaked, do it again, if it leaks by itself just sitting there, let it set, etc) then start looking around for wet spots, if you don't see anything anywhere but the radiator, i'd say to just run a thing of Bars' Stop Leak for radiators through it as the directions say. I've had real good luck using it on small leaks. If it's leaking from the hose, it's a real easy fix, take the hose off, go to Autozone, buy a new hose and a jug of antifreeze, put it on how you took it off. If it's the water pump gaskets, same idea, i dunno if you have a serpentine belt or not on an 86, especially with it being a 350, which i presume to be aftermarket. If your not confident in tracking down the leak and feel like paying a shop to do it, make sure your not paying them for a bunch of **** you didn't need.

I dunno how you fixed the overheating problem, but if it was thermostat replacement or something, make sure those gaskets aren't leaking.

If you do have to replace the radiator, i've heard that generic aluminum radiators work just as well as BeCool or Griffin radiators and they'll save you quite a bit.

Hope that helps some...

 

alright guys thanx for the input...i have no school today so i have plenty of time to fool around with it...i'll let u guys know whats happening later..I'm gonna go see what the hell it could be

 

nothing under the hood is wet with coolant...not the water pump/hoses/thermostat housing....just under the radiator. so the radiator has a crack in it?

 

Not necessarily...


Just wipe the coolant off the radiator. Now crank the car up and get down there and see if you can actually SEE where the leak is coming from. Liquids can travel all kinds of ways under the hood. Alot of times, what LOOKS it may be bad, isn't at fault....it's something else entirely.



HTH

 

well i wiped everything down nice and the only thing dripping is the bottom of the radiator and it only does it when the car is at operating temperature...who the hell knows..

 

same thing happened to me..but i have a new radiator. it started when i replaced the hoses and flushed the system...it turned out to be both the lower hose not tightend enough and the petcock. try those.

 

my car just started doing this today at my friends house. i was waitin for him with the car on and tons of radiator fluid came out. we kinda checked it out it was drippin from the bottom front of the car. my dad is gonna check it out 2morrow but im hoping its the water hose/pump. this wasnt a drip of antifreeze this was a whole lot comin out does anybody think it could be a big crack in that case?