Stupid question about a bad coolant leak

[krs09]

Hey everyone, So i was warming up my D for the first time after replacing my valve cover gasket and after about 10min of nice idle i noticed the temp gauge rising a bit past half way so i decided to shut her down after i saw no leak from the newly installed gasket. Now going aroung to the back to close her up i hear a bubbling comin from the overflow bottle and a huge amount of coolant dripping down the side of the car. Here's the question, I have two hoses coming into the bottle one going to the back of the bay (near the rear glass) the other going the other way towards the rear facia. The question is - is that smaller hose facing towards the rear facia supposed to act like a drain and be dissconnected (like mine) or is it supposed to be connected to something i just cant see ?? I have a black metal overflow bottle, if that matters. Any help would be great.. The problems just keep coming. UGH !!

Vin#4870 - custom interior - sweet fuzzy dash and stock everthing else

[Michael]

Its correct, the small hose is just an overflow hose. The coolant leak needs to be addressed however(or at least confirm its overflow), and you need to make sure your fan switch (or otterstat) is working, it should trip around 220 degrees. You very well may have air trapped in your cooling system causing the car to overheat, or have too much coolant in the system....did you change or add coolant?

[dmc6960]

What you described going towards the rear of the car is just the overflow tube. Its supposed to leak coolant if its overfilled. Did you open up the cooling system when you did you valve covers? If so, you'll need to do a full bleed procedure to get air out of the system.

[sdg3205]

Bottles tend to differ but yes one is an overflow drain and one originates from a "t" on your heater hose. Typically the hose to the rear fascia is overflow.

If the car is overheating there is air in the system or not enough coolant. You will get steam that build pressure and cause leaking out the overflow in some cases IIRC.

[sdg3205]

3 responses in one minute. What a forum!

[Nicholas R]

Its correct, the small hose is just an overflow hose. The coolant leak needs to be addressed however(or at least confirm its overflow), and you need to make sure your fan switch (or otterstat) is working, it should trip around 220 degrees. You very well may have air trapped in your cooling system causing the car to overheat, or have too much coolant in the system....did you change or add coolant?

The otterstat should not trip at 220, it should trip much lower than that. The stock otterstat is designed to turn your fans on at I believe 206 degrees and kick off once you're down around 195.

If I recall correctly SpecialTAuto also sells lower temp ones that turn on around 200 degrees.

[krs09]

Its correct, the small hose is just an overflow hose. The coolant leak needs to be addressed however(or at least confirm its overflow), and you need to make sure your fan switch (or otterstat) is working, it should trip around 220 degrees. You very well may have air trapped in your cooling system causing the car to overheat, or have too much coolant in the system....did you change or add coolant?

Thank you so much.. It did seem to be just overflow so thats good. Another problem is that it has no otter switch, the PO welded the pipe shut where the otterstat would sit and wired the fans to run all the time ( after my overflow issue i noticed the fans wont turn on at all! UGH! ). The level looked ok so hopefully theres no issue there.. Lets hope. Thanks again.

[DeLorean03]

the PO welded the pipe shut where the otterstat would sit and wired the fans to run all the time

If you have stock fans, not good. The fans pull - IRC - about 22A - a huge amount of current, and that in your case is constant - all the time. Now if you upgraded to Toby or John's performance pancake fans, those drop the current in half and would be much easier on your car's electrical system.

If it were me, I would order that pipe from DMCH and get that otterstat back in right away.

http://store.delorean.com/c-332-1-3-...waterpump.aspx

Part # 110131 - $28. WAY easier to just replace that pipe. Then you can get the wiring back to stock and hook it back up to the otterstat like it should be.

[DeLorean03]

As for your fans not running now, I'd check the connections that lead from the front of the car to the fans - make sure those connections are good. Since your wiring is such that the fans are on all the time, you should check for power at the wires that lead directly to the fans. That, or I'd go to the relay compartment and check to make sure the fan fail module you're running didn't fail.

What do you have for a fan fail module in the electrical compartment ? Is it a 3 wire jumper with two 20A fuses? If so, I'd check to see if the fuses blew.

[krs09]

As for your fans not running now, I'd check the connections that lead from the front of the car to the fans - make sure those connections are good. Since your wiring is such that the fans are on all the time, you should check for power at the wires that lead directly to the fans. That, or I'd go to the relay compartment and check to make sure the fan fail module you're running didn't fail.

What do you have for a fan fail module in the electrical compartment ? Is it a 3 wire jumper with two 20A fuses? If so, I'd check to see if the fuses blew.

Yea your right i just gotta get the new pipe and otterstat and call it a day (i do plan on getting a coolant flush so i guess i should wait), although i have to find the connections for that switch.. Any idea what they look like as far as color, the PO has diconnected wires all over the place.. I did do the relay update so i do have the 3 wire jumper.. Ill have to check to see if the fuses are good. Thanks again. I could use all the help i can get.