What have you done to your square lately??

[Radiohead]

Found the before pic finally

You must be registered for see images attach

The whole reason I was monkeying with the bearing.

 

[ChuckN]

Found the before pic finally

You must be registered for see images attach

The whole reason I was monkeying with the bearing.

All of your posts make me either feel thankful that I don’t have any symptoms from my steering column yet, or fearful for when it does.

 

[JamesSam]

@JamesSam Is that the drain petcock? If that is your leak point...that is an easy fix.

Now that you mention it and looking closely to my own pics, It does seem to be puddling out right there under it. Suddenly I have the slightest bit of positivity. When time allows I will be investigating again. Should I be planing to replace the petcock? Or just replace an O ring on it? I am assuming there is no way to do this without draining the rad completely?

 

[Radiohead]

Depends how fast you can swap it out, lol.

Leaving the radiator cap on will help hold some of the evacuation back. Do it cold.

 

[Redfish]

Now that you mention it and looking closely to my own pics, It does seem to be puddling out right there under it. Suddenly I have the slightest bit of positivity. When time allows I will be investigating again. Should I be planing to replace the petcock? Or just replace an O ring on it? I am assuming there is no way to do this without draining the rad completely?

I am agreeing with @Radiohead.

I recently fought this little battle with a '79 Trans Am. The day before we were supposed to take it on a 9 day trip.

I bought a cheap hand pump from Harbor Freight. I mean ridiculously cheap. It is Awesome. I love it. I pumped the radiator dry, dropping the suction hose all the way to the bottom of the radiator through the cap opening. When I finished replacing the petcock I just put the coolant right back into the radiator.

I am going to break away from the group on radiators here... Every modern vehicle I can think of, including my 2500HD Duramax has a plastic body radiator. I have seen very few modern vehicles broke down on the road from a leaking radiator. Plastic radiators are a lot better than what they used to be. I am not happy about putting a plastic radiator in my '87. But the original metal one was leaking EVERYWHERE. I call that garbage.

 

[JamesSam]

I am agreeing with @Radiohead.

I recently fought this little battle with a '79 Trans Am. The day before we were supposed to take it on a 9 day trip.

I bought a cheap hand pump from Harbor Freight. I mean ridiculously cheap. It is Awesome. I love it. I pumped the radiator dry, dropping the suction hose all the way to the bottom of the radiator through the cap opening. When I finished replacing the petcock I just put the coolant right back into the radiator.

I am going to break away from the group on radiators here... Every modern vehicle I can think of, including my 2500HD Duramax has a plastic body radiator. I have seen very few modern vehicles broke down on the road from a leaking radiator. Plastic radiators are a lot better than what they used to be. I am not happy about putting a plastic radiator in my '87. But the original metal one was leaking EVERYWHERE. I call that garbage.

Awesome tip. I will be looking at hand pumps. Is there a universal petcock or will I have to look for brand specific?

 

[DoubleDingo]

I’m not restoring it to show condition so I plan to leave my personalized flaws in the paint. Considering it’s a driveway DIY paint job, it looks good enough and should protect the metal for another 10-20 years as it sits outside to weather.

It's a truck, and it probably has better paint than from the factory

 

[DoubleDingo]

Awesome tip. I will be looking at hand pumps. Is there a universal petcock or will I have to look for brand specific?

The ones I've had to get were by size

 

[Radiohead]

The factory brass one is still on board. Worse come to worse, the recycling value alone will probably go quite ways towards a replacement.

 

[JamesSam]

The ones I've had to get were by size

I take it the petcock will be proportionate to the radiator size? 17, 19, 21 inch etc..?

 

[JamesSam]

I am agreeing with @Radiohead.

I recently fought this little battle with a '79 Trans Am. The day before we were supposed to take it on a 9 day trip.

I bought a cheap hand pump from Harbor Freight. I mean ridiculously cheap. It is Awesome. I love it. I pumped the radiator dry, dropping the suction hose all the way to the bottom of the radiator through the cap opening. When I finished replacing the petcock I just put the coolant right back into the radiator.

I am going to break away from the group on radiators here... Every modern vehicle I can think of, including my 2500HD Duramax has a plastic body radiator. I have seen very few modern vehicles broke down on the road from a leaking radiator. Plastic radiators are a lot better than what they used to be. I am not happy about putting a plastic radiator in my '87. But the original metal one was leaking EVERYWHERE. I call that garbage.

@Redfish Andrew... BTW, was the 79 Trans AM your ex brother in laws by chance?

 

[Radiohead]

I think the petcocks are sized by pipe size diameter. If you aren't sure, either remove the old one and use as a sample or get a couple different sizes and return the unnecessary one(s).

 

[bucket]

Fwiw, the drain petcocks in the plastic radiator tanks are normally just a quick release thumb screw and they are usually a proprietary design with different manufacturers. Also, there's just a simple rubber gasket that seals it to the tank.

I'll also point out that if the tank/core crimp is leaking, it will leak out right in that same location.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I take it the petcock will be proportionate to the radiator size? 17, 19, 21 inch etc..?

I meant diameter. I honestly didn't know they were different sizes until I needed one for a new radiator.

 

[DoubleDingo]

My new radiator that I got in June, it has a plug with holes drilled inside the plug, so when it's tight, no coolant comes out, but loosen it and it works like a regular petcock.