So I discovered a coolant leak dripping from the hose in the pic; it's a 3.5" hose, on the expansion tank side of the engine. Tried tightening the clamp, and it just got worse. So, decided it was time to change the hose. I bought exactly the type hose that was already on there: Vulco 1 5/8 (41mm). It's black, spiral, sort of a fabric braiding. I cut it to the same 3.5" length. Drained all the coolant (that was fun. not.) and replaced the hose. Put the screw clamps back on. Attempted to not overtighten; basically, i stopped when the clamps were starting to indent. Started the car, let it get to warm. Still leaking from the bottom of the hose. Tightened again, and again, and again. I think at this point is as tight as could possibly be. At no point did it STOP dripping. After 8-10 hours on this, I'm at my wits end. I've almost spent more time trying to fix this than I've spent driving the car. I don't see why something so freaking simple (in concept) fails to solve the problem. Any ideas? ETA: I'm fine with going with a Ricer silicon hose that doesn't have "FERRARI" stamped on it. Even if it needs two $5 clamps. Even if it's blue. Or the same hose with new clamps. Really, all suggestions/hints welcome. I just want to drive my car without spending $800 on a new hose from Italy. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Assuming as the previous posts says, you dont have a crack in the pipe, are you sure the hose is not a slight bit too big. If it is you will have a job getting a seal. It should be a tight push fit with a slight bit of grease on the pipe. Too loose and you will be there all day getting no where
The pipes corrode, especially if the correct coolant additives and/or soft water haven't been used. I had to replace most of mine many years ago. The bad news is that if one has gone, the rest will probably follow.
Yeah , good possibility the aluminum tubing is compromised and will need replaced if tightening the New hose made the leak worse. Food for thought .. About 18 years old and had a Jeep CJ-5, had a trickle coming off the water pump, no big deal. Changed the water pump and started it up. Still leaking! Ended up taking the water pump on and off a total of four times and could not get the damn thing to seal, was at my wits end. Father walked by and pointed out that it wasn't a water pump but the hose forward of the pump which was leaking. LOL Consider it a welcoming gift from your new car!
Serves him right for starting a sentence with 'So'. ;-) Look on the bright side, at least it's not one of the pipes that runs front to back through the chassis and requires engine out to replace. I guess if the leak is near the end of this pipe you could try a long piece of hose and clamp upstream of the leak. It's not a long term solution but might buy you some time to enjoy the car.
Take the pipe off and check for pinhole leaks. Go into a dark area and get a flashlight and shine it down one end and cover the other the end with your hand. Put the light in the other end and do the same. I had a pinhole leak in my front pipe and it took several attempts to find it. A new hose with clamps should to leak. Hopefully, you tightened the clamps after several heat cycles.
I tend to agree that it's a pipe issue. However, I have seen leaks that APPEARED to be from a certain location that was actually caused by a pinhole in a totally different hose/tube that was spraying a virtually invisible stream onto the location that appeared to be leaking. Of course, if this is occurring with the engine NOT running, that can't be the problem. As suggested, if it's a pinhole in the pipe a longer piece of hose, clamped further up the pipe would stop the leak. If it's a crack in the pipe, that will just continue to lengthen unless you find the end of the crack and drill a hole at that spot. Obviously if either of these is the case, it could be that the pipe is basically rotted out and needs replacing. OTOH, I have seen the "extended hose" and/or drilled crack/extended hose work fine on marine engines for many years.
I would want to know exactly where the leak is coming from first without pulling lots of things out. Clean the entire area up really well. Coolant is slimy so use some simple green. Get it all very dry. Then wrap the entire length in new blue shop roll towel you have and then start the car and run long enough to see the start of the leak then shut off. If you have access to a GoPro, put it in that area with a good light and see where the leak is originating. You should get a good idea if it is the joint or the pipe or upstream of all that. Clean and repeat until you know exactly where your issue is. Franny
If it's a pinhole in the pipe, get a longer piece of hose and move the clamp locations a little farther apart.
Haven't noticed it coming out of the block... where do you see a crack? I see it slow-dripping from the bottom of the hose, right past the clamp once the pressure builds inside the expansion tank... don't think it's squirting out of the head....??
First - thanks for all the advice. Truly appreciated. After another day of it, I've gone with about a 5-6" 41mm hose. 1" on the upper tube, and another 3-4" or so on the bottom tube. New hose, new clamps. Actually using 2 clamps on the lower end of the hose - 1 just after the "rim bulge", and another at the end of the hose. Still dripping from the bottom of the hose. Sigh. Tubes look ok, honestly, though I don't have shop equipment to do forensic testing. But something is screwed in the equation somehow. Have a tube of RTV sealant, but haven't tried it yet. Seems overly messy and like I'll be putting caulk over a gunshot wound. It looks like the lower aluminum tube + official Ferrari hose is just under $100 in parts. Which at this point is probably less than I've spent in buying 8 gallons of coolant, hoses, and paper towels over the past week. Guess I'm just going to put the car on jackstands, pull the whole tube off and replace it, and hope for the best.
Is there a way to remove the tube and plug both ends with rubber plugs (plumbers call them test plugs - they use a bolt to cause them to expand thereby sealing themselves in the tube end), then bore a hole in one end plug so you can insert the tip of an air line (best if its the not leaking end). Then submerge in water and introduce air at no more than 16lbs and look for air bubbles? Heck you have a lot of time into the project already; maybe this will make you feel better about buying another aluminum tube or will prove you don't need one. The only challenge will be to insert the plug shallow enough so that it doesn't cover the potential leak.
I would 1st put a stant style pressure tester on the system to make sure I was really leaking out the hose and not a crack in the pipe or a pinhole in the pipe. If you have a pinhole it can be repaired in the lower end neighborhood's radiator shop if you just take them the pipe. High end radiator places don't fix anything. They just know how to replace and bill you. I agree with John. The gates power grip is the best I have used. PowerGrip® SB Clamps | Gates Corporation I use power grip 100% of the time except on my racecar where I have to take the hose on and off often over the race season.
Those are some interesting looking clamps, Billybob, John. I'll be checking into them... i will say that there's something about those wormdrive clamps that I really wonder about. There's something about them that makes me think I'm getting a dead spot somewhere, like it's not seating or crimping/kinking the hose in some odd way. I know, new vs old... but still. It's a rubber hose with a clamp. I look inside my modern DD, and I don't see those old-school clamps anywhere.
Good day John, As FBB mentioned, get yourself a pressure tester and pressurize the system so that you can trace the leak to the source. Before you run out and buy a pressure tester, check with your local parts suppliers (pep Boys, etc), as a number of them provide tool rentals... and the rental cost is usually free (they simply take your credit card number in case the tool is not returned). I ended up buying a tester on Ebay, as I (and a number of friends too) found it quite handy to have one around. Cheers, Sam
Yes you get that with a worm clamp unless it has the internal metal thing under the worm drive area to prevent that dead spot. The one pictures is the good kind of worm but does not adjust with expansion and contraction with heat and cold. You can use a OEM spring clamp. They get 360 degrees and hold pressure and expand and contract with heat controling clamp load. I like the clean look of the powergrip and its ability to control the clamp load with expansion and contraction. The the OEM spring clamp and gates powergrip are not dead clamps never changing in grip with expansion and contraction and time. The thing I hate about spring clamps is sometimes it is difficult to get good access to remove them or place them. If you ever had one slip during install or removal and the grabby parts end up in a bad place you know what I mean. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
There was an episode of Dick Van Dyke where Rob's Ferrari had a coolant leak. He got on the phone with someone he believed was a Ferrari repairman, but it was really Alan Brady. It was a pratical joke and Sally, Mel, Buddy and Alan instructed Dick what to do. Gave him point by point instructions on how to disassemble the cooling system, then told him to put it all in a bag, walk out in to the front yard, wave all the components above his head and scream like a chicken. Sounded unorthodox...but it worked
There is no need for exotic hose clamps. The standard parts store stainless steel hose clamps work perfectly on applications with far more pressure than anything a 3x8 cooling system can produce. If you prefer a different clamp for appearance purposes, fine, but if a standard hose clamp doesn't work, the problem is in the components involved, not the hose clamp.
Put some Permertex jointing compound on the pipe and see if it cures your leak, that will at least narrow it down. You can always then replace the pipe if it stops the leak
