Attention: TDR Forum Junkies I drained the cooling system in my truck, using plastic drain valve on the bottom of the radiator. After closing drain valve (petcock) it failed to seal and continued to drip. Now that valve is back in a dark corner of the world and isn’t easy to operate let alone inspect. I don’t know about you but to me a leaking radiator is not only a nuisance, it’s a potential disaster --- so the next step was surgery to remove the radiator. That’s not a really fun way to spend your leisure time. Getting the over flow tank, windshield washer tank and fan shroud off isn’t all that tough, once you figure it out --- but the “plotting’ and planning” took longer than the work. Once the radiator was on the ground it was found that the valve was made up of two parts. The valve body is iatrical to the radiator end tank --- trouble there would be really bad news. The plug (or moving part) pulls out once the valve is open and is therefore easily examined. In this case the plug was found to have a couple of groves that look like something that should contain an “O” ring --- but there was no “O” ring. . How could the valve have been holding without something to seal it off? All I can figure was that the ring was broken and had been swept out by the drained fluid, although I never found it.
I checked the “Dodge Shop Manual” and could not find anything of help there --- so off to the auto parts store to look for an “O” ring … Guess what --- NAPA had a replacement plug. It turns out they had similar replacements for a number of makes and models. The parts guy said he sold “quite a few “ of these things to local repair shops, which make me wonder if this isn’t a common problem.
I’m no longer looking for help with this problem, (although it did cause me some heart burn for a while). The reason for this post is to perhaps help someone else who might some day encounter a similar problem. Next time you drain your radiator you might want to purchase a replacement plug along with the coolant. I don’t remember the exact price but the replacement plug was less than four dollars.
I checked the “Dodge Shop Manual” and could not find anything of help there --- so off to the auto parts store to look for an “O” ring … Guess what --- NAPA had a replacement plug. It turns out they had similar replacements for a number of makes and models. The parts guy said he sold “quite a few “ of these things to local repair shops, which make me wonder if this isn’t a common problem.
I’m no longer looking for help with this problem, (although it did cause me some heart burn for a while). The reason for this post is to perhaps help someone else who might some day encounter a similar problem. Next time you drain your radiator you might want to purchase a replacement plug along with the coolant. I don’t remember the exact price but the replacement plug was less than four dollars.
