Hi,

I had my head gasket replaced about two years ago, and all was well until a trip this past summer. I drove from sea level up in to the mountains in the interior of British Columbia, about 5,500 feet above sea level. The Summer saw temperatures of plus 35° Celcius. I had a new viscous fan cluth put in along with a new Head Gasket, and I use Kendall GT1-20w50 (ZDDP of 1,200 ppm & HTHS of 3.9) which kept the engine smooth and cool throughout.

A few months after that trip I noticed that my dash occasionally began to make a gurgling sound upon start-up. I checked the coolant reservoir and to my shock, it was almost empty! I topped it up and then I began to see a little bit of whitish exhaust smoke, but that could be the weather as it is colder now. I have checked the coolant level since and it seems to not have dropped too much. I am a little puzzled as to the cause of the leak.

Cheers.

 

I think I may have found the cause behind the coolant levels!

I kept hearing the gurgling behind the dash on occasional startups. I decided to peek around the engine and noticed coolant/liquid on top of my valve cover on the passenger side, and noticed some buildup where one of the heater matrix/core hoses is connected with a clamp (See photos below).

If you look closely at the photos I have circled the area where there appears to be some material / sludge at the hose clamp.





Is all that I require just this Heater In/Out kit from Atlantic British?

Just an reminder that I replaced Head Gaskets two years ago, also viscous fan clutch, and lower rad hose as well as top rad hose.

Cheers and thank you.

 

If I replace these two hoses, do I need to do any draining before hand or should the hoses already be empty as I recall reading that no fluid is in the hoses until the vehicle is running.

 

you will have some coolant in the hoses but not enough to worry about

 

Cheers, and thank you for the response

 

Just waiting on hoses to arrive.

Out of curiosity I have seen a few threads from various vehicles about a heater core flush whereby you reverse the direction of hoses and use an air hose, or a water hose or some CLR and then use the air hose to force the liquidy crap out.

Has anyone done a heater core flush? Any reservations about it? Any tips?

 

Un hook both hoses from engine, use garden hose

Put against one hose till you get clear water out the other hose then do the other hose to reverse it

If you are somewhere cold be sure to top off coolant afterwards and run the engine good to be sure not just water remains in there to freeze

Probly have more heat afterwards cause iirc the heater core lays on its side , let's sludge set in there

 

Just a quick question on the hoses. A friend's is also leaking from the same spot. Can generic hoses for the heater core be used from a local auto store or should we go the RN route again?

 

generic heater hose will work, that's whats on there now.
the factory hose are molded

 

he means does he need to buy the molded hoses or can they buy a length of straight from the store and cut to fit

goto store just be sure it is not rubbing on something, they are molded to go over the fuel lines, you can get big wire loom so it does not rub on fuel lines