Coolant Reservoir Field Repair
#1
05-17-2014, 09:33 PM
I've had a slow leak from the coolant reservoir side of the engine bay that I thought was a failed cap, but late yesterday it hemorrhaged to reveal it was from a crack near the base of the nipple on the bottom of the tank where the line to the throttle bottle heater connects.
The truck was only a little under three miles from home so to get it home I did what I did when the bleed screw blew out of the original top radiator hose a few years ago; I broke off the nipple and crammed a golf tee in the hole, then held it in place with a nice duct tape wrap, refilled and drove home after also plugging the throttle body line with a short 5/16 bolt and the hose clamp. I left the cap off because the last thing I wanted was pressure in the system that might force out the golf tee. But that wasn't the real field repair.
This morning I removed the reservoir, flipped it over and filed down the stub to be reasonably flat. Then I found a screw that fit the hole (#10x¾) and after testing it for a snug but not too tight fit wrapped it in Teflon tape and installed it in the hole. The reservoir shell and the stub gave me perhaps 3/8 to 7/16 of thickness for the threads to grab. Worked like a charm, and after driving around for a while this afternoon there’s no sign of a leak.
I’'ll order a new tank Monday but this technique could keep some other DII or P38 on the road someday.
The truck was only a little under three miles from home so to get it home I did what I did when the bleed screw blew out of the original top radiator hose a few years ago; I broke off the nipple and crammed a golf tee in the hole, then held it in place with a nice duct tape wrap, refilled and drove home after also plugging the throttle body line with a short 5/16 bolt and the hose clamp. I left the cap off because the last thing I wanted was pressure in the system that might force out the golf tee. But that wasn't the real field repair.
This morning I removed the reservoir, flipped it over and filed down the stub to be reasonably flat. Then I found a screw that fit the hole (#10x¾) and after testing it for a snug but not too tight fit wrapped it in Teflon tape and installed it in the hole. The reservoir shell and the stub gave me perhaps 3/8 to 7/16 of thickness for the threads to grab. Worked like a charm, and after driving around for a while this afternoon there’s no sign of a leak.
I’'ll order a new tank Monday but this technique could keep some other DII or P38 on the road someday.
Last edited by mln01; 07-21-2016 at 05:04 AM.
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