99' S70 weird coolant hose leak

Post by **850 LPT** » 18 Mar 2021, 19:07

Hi guys,
Today my low coolant light came on. The car had a very slow leak already for a while so I thought I would just drive the car home after work and then top it up.
But there was a lot of coolant missing, way more than ever before. I traced it to this little rubber connector nipple right by the radiator hose:

Is this something that can be replaced, or am I in for a radiator replacement.

Thanks, Dirk

Post by **scot850** » 18 Mar 2021, 21:28

I take it the nipple is cracked or damaged?

It may be possible to find a threaded nipple, remove the old one and drill and tap the top of the radiator and glue the fitting into there?

Neil.

i take it the nipple is broken

Post by **abscate** » 18 Mar 2021, 23:16

I would dry it off and build a cone mountain of JB weld around that before buying a new radiator, too.

Drilling and tapping, and inserting a JB welded brass barb fitting is tier two

Post by **850 LPT** » 19 Mar 2021, 06:50

It appears that there should be a plastic tube fitting that is molded in as part of the radiator. I found some images on the FCP website that show this pretty clearly. This probably broke off at some point during PO's ownership and they somehow cobbled up a solution with this rubber piece. I am surprised it lasted this long honestly.

I am looking into making a brass fitting that could be screwed or glued in. Not sure if threading that plastic is a good idea though, the plastic is probably thin in that area.

Post by **volvolugnut** » 19 Mar 2021, 08:52

Before attempting glue or epoxy, clean well with alcohol.
Wall thickness of the radiator would make thread contact minimal.
volvolugnut

Post by **850 LPT** » 19 Mar 2021, 09:19

Wall thickness is my concern as well. And I am not really a fan of gluing things.

FCP sells new Nissens radiators for $110. I am tempted to go this route considering the fact that I don't know how old this radiator is and the car has close to 220k miles on it.

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 19 Mar 2021, 10:50

I had this happen years ago. THere may be some creative solutions, but honestly the safest and most reliable long term bet will be to replace the radiator. I always try and be careful dealing with that nipple and the drain plug on the radiator.

Post by **kallekula** » 19 Mar 2021, 13:02

I would've bought a new radiator.

Post by **850 LPT** » 19 Mar 2021, 15:32

Nissens radiator ordered. Not bad of a job. Plus, it's a lot faster on a stick shift car

Post by **scot850** » 19 Mar 2021, 17:17

Start spraying penetrating oil on the 2 radiator mounting bolts (one either end about half way down).

You could always keep the old one for experimenting on. I think the plastic is reasonably thick so drilling a hole for say a threaded barb and letting it self thread in and use a JB Weld type epoxy would give a good back up radiator.

Good luck!

Neil.