Freakin' water outlet won't seal!

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Why is every fix for this car $50?

Inflation, the days of nickel & dime-ing us are long gone...
C
 
The flange probably is straight when you take it off and measure it. But as soon as you tighten it...I'm betting it warps like mad.

I went to Carquest and got a new filler neck, it was aluminum and the flange was OVER twice as thick as my old one. One gasket, no leaks.

The RTV's and sealers DO work but I'm not confident that they deal with a warpage issue. I prefer to get to the root of the problem, myself, but there's nothing wrong with sealants if they work. Having read this thread, I'd consider a nice beefy new flange, AND sealer!
 
I broke down and ordered the billet housing with the o-ring seal. I didn't get it from Summit or Jegs, but the same part for the same price from Amazon. I got the free shipping. 5-8 days it said. I ordered it Wednesday and got shipping confirmation within the hour. The tracking shows I will get it Friday by the end of the day. Sweeeeeet!
 
Mopar to ya said:
When I put the motor in I put in the reducer that was with the motor instead of a thermostat and it sealed just fine. When I redid the intake, I decided to put in a 160 degree thermostat. I used a gasket and 3M weatherstrip adhesive like I always do and it seeped coolant. I took it off and cleaned it off well, checked the outlet with a level, used our very good Motorcraft RTV and a gasket and reinstalled it. It leaked again. I took it off last night, went through the routine again, used more RTV than I normally would and reinstalled it. I didn't fill it until this morning so it could set up. I bled the air, watched the thermostat open, and went for a drive. The dang thing is leaking again. WTF? I am going to block sand the intake side next. Any ideas?
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simply use a short sraightedge on the intake and stat housing. if not straight use a file to make the surfaces mate properly. use a gasket with a thin coating of rtv and put some jb weld stop leak in your rad. not only will that solve the problem but the jb will also solve any other small leaks in your cooling system, unless you have a crack in your intake that you cant see. i swear by jb stop leak.
 
It's very simple: Your engine is rejecting the 160° thermostat because it's not the right temperature rating. Put the correct 180° thermostat in and the engine may well quit spitting it out.

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slantsixdan said:
It's very simple: Your engine is rejecting the 160° thermostat because it's not the right temperature rating. Put the correct 180°*thermostat in and the engine may well quit spitting it out.

redbeard.gif
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I thought the same thing, but it shouldn't leak anyway. It's supposed to be a water tight seal. I am tempted to go back to the reducer, but I was thinking just what you are thinking and thought about a 180 t-stat. My temp gauge just crapped out, so I need to get a new one asap to see what is going on temp -wise. My new o-ringed outlet arrived today.
 
Had one of those chromed potmetal things, frequent re-sealings, even more frequent leakages.. turned out it was bendt like banane at the end, so turned it flat, and it was OK.. for a while.

Thought I had ordered a Steel neck on e-bay, but lo and behold.. it was the same awfull pot-metal item, and now I'm at it again.




Just got the car back on the road after some serious problem fixings and upgrades, incliding turning the water neck and some carefull sealant application.

Gues what happened! :banghead:

In stead of enjoying getting my ride on the road again, I ended up ANGRY ofer this appalingly inferior and useless Piece of S..T.
"
Well, I've just placed an order for a "Four seasons 84830" Housing. It was stated that it was made from Cast iron, and from what I could judge from the picture, that actually seems to be the case.

It's got to be better, I suspect the pot metal they use for these cheapo "chrome" housings has lower yield strenght than the gaskets they are supposed to compress..

The small comfort is that I'm aparently not the only one having a hard time with these :pukeleft: parts.

I'll get right back once I have received and installed the new housing
 
Tried sealing the potmetal housing three times. Sanding, Indian head gasket maker you name it. No go... Finally bought an o ring billet housing from summit, worked like a champ!!
 
Well, just got back from Germany to find the Cast-iron housing I ordered had arrived.

It's definitively made from Cast Iron, no doubt about that. There's allso no doubt that it's a sand cast, which in my opinion stil leaves something to be desired regarding the stub for the hose. I'll se if I can pop it in to a lathe tomorrow and clean it up a bit.

The sealing surface towards the block is however machined so should be OK.
 

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Well, managed to hijack a lathe in the workshop today and got the neck of the housing cleaned up! Will update on the result when installed!
 

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This is going to sound really crazy and I believe it has been mentioned already but I'll explain what I found to be my leak and it may or may not be your issue. I too have a aftermarket stainless housing. I have had "seepage" around the T-stat housing of a tiny drop or two everytime the car was taken out. What I found was that my thermostat which is one that I have used for years in the factory housing and it never leaked a drop, would leak in the new housing. I played the same game with lots of RTV and other kinds of sealant, using way more than I usually did, but still had the weeping going on. So I took the factory outlet and placed the thermostat in it and it fit perfectly flush in the recess like it should have. Then I placed the same t-stat in the new housing and holding the housing upside down it appeared that the t-stat was sitting completely all the way down and flush on it's flange in the housing. Kinda by accident, I pressed on the stat on both sides by the bolt holes at the same time and I found a barely and I mean barely noticable movement back and forth,teeder todder. The inside of the housing is tapered where the nose of the stat sets. The top of my stat had a slight raised area around the center that was just tall enough to barely make contact with that inside cone area, causing the stat to be ever so slightly raised off the seat. So when I tightened it down to the intake, it would rock to one side or the other in the cone area of the housing causing an unstoppable leak, no matter how much rtv or gaskets you used. Went out and bought a new stat and the center area was smaller in diameter than the stat I was using so it fit in the pocket so to speak, perfectly. NO LEAKS. I have been chasing this for a while and with all the times I had it off I never picked up on the almost invisible bad fitment. If I had it off, I'd take pictures to show you, but it's on and not leaking so it stays put. Like I said, I looked this thing over many times and it looked like it fit in the housing all the way down flush, but it had just the tinyest bit of interfearance inside that housing that was almost undetectable, but that what my issue was. Long story, but a good find on my part. Good luck with your issue!
 
416, thanks for your post. Something for everyone to check before going the next (expensive) step. Right now I am having the same leakage problem with my wife's Buick V6. While it is a ***** to get to, I can now r&r that thermostat in about an hour. I will be checking this out the next time I r&r.
C
 
416 Stroker, thanks for your most informative post!

You say you had a Stainless housing, well, mine was the chromed pot-metal piece of cheapo C..p. Actually that housing had a recess that was way to deep, leaving the thermostat to rattle arround. (something i solved with a "spacer" made from a piece of copper wire)

The cast iron "four season" piece was much better in this respect, the recess was just the right depth to leave the thermostat completely flush with the housing flange! :smile:

When I removed the old housing today, the sealant bead was noticeably thicker in the middle and a small section had obviously been extruded out leaving a clearly idnetifiable leak-path. Banana-syndrome.

I installed the housing with the gasket that came with it, carefully coating it with hermetite golden seal on each side as well as coating both the housing and the manifold flanges. Torqued up the bolts to 10 ft-lb.

Just after I was done, it started raining, so no first trial yet.

PS what is the recommended bolt torque? Couldn't find it in my Manual..
 
Ok, surfed arround a bit, found the torque for the bolts to be 15 ft-lb, torqued up, re-filled coolant, and went for a drive. No sign of any leakage. So far, so good! :blob:

I'll probably get back on this thread after having driven for some weeks or months, just to confirm that it's holding up!
 
This shouldn't be this much of a problem. I've always just used the crappy paper gasket and put a very thin coating of clear silicone on both sides. I can honestly say I've done hundreds and never had a leak using this method.
 
OwdKasd,

You're too right, it shouldn't be a problem at all! All thing's considered, the radiator cap relief valve pops open at arround 0,4-0,6 Bar, which isn't moch of an over-pressure compared to.. well anything!

What sort of housings have you done up? Any of those cheapo pot-metal things? Granted, they might work with a perfect manifold seal-surface etc..
 
Just to follow up, I had the cheap chrome one and couldn't get it to seal after three tries. I've done many and never had that problem before. I spent the $45.00 and bought that Billet piece from summit with the O-ring (part #90820)and it sealed perfectly with no leaks. It was worth the money. Thanks for the info
 
Superelbert said:
OwdKasd,

You're too right, it shouldn't be a problem at all! All thing's considered, the radiator cap relief valve pops open at arround 0,4-0,6 Bar, which isn't moch of an over-pressure compared to.. well anything!

What sort of housings have you done up? Any of those cheapo pot-metal things? Granted, they might work with a perfect manifold seal-surface etc..
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I dealt with the occasional Chrome housing. I worked for years in a Ford Dealership so Mostly Stock Stuff. I had my share of "comebacks" don't get me wrong but never T-Stat housings. I always used to take the housings over to the wire wheel and remove every last bit of gasket. That Pot-Metal stuff looks strange to me(Looks more like the hose would leak with that rough surface). Just Glad Brywatz got it fixed. Plus Billet always looks good.
 
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