Have you been worried about leaks that your vehicle might be facing lately? Are you aware of how to stop antifreeze leaks and how to go about them?
When you run low on a coolant, chances are, you may be moving forward with damaging your engine. Such damages cost you high prices, which you certainly won’t like paying. Well, why pay for such high costs when you can stop such leaks by following some easy steps.
This post will tell you everything you need to know about antifreeze leaks and how to stop them. It is important to stop leakages immediately after you’ve discovered them. This saves you from paying the recurring costs of repair and replacements.
So, let’s get started hands-on with the procedure of stopping antifreeze leaks. But before that, let’s learn what they are and what causes them. This should help you better to approach stopping these leakages.
What Is Antifreeze?
Antifreeze is a type of engine fluid that keeps your engine running seamlessly at efficient operating temperatures. It is the backbone of your engine that feeds it while preventing it from freezing or overheating.
It is a concentrated solution made up of ethylene glycol and silica. Antifreeze, when mixed with regular H2O, does the work of a coolant in the overflow tank and keeps the engine of your car cool and warm enough accordingly.
For regions with extreme cold weather conditions, the antifreeze solutions have propylene glycol, which freezes only when the temperature reduces to -74.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
What Is An Antifreeze Leak? Where Does It Occur?
An antifreeze leak can be the outcome of many reasons. For instance, a blown radiator hose or a worn-down hose clamp, a warped head gasket, or the most common of all, the interference of a foreign object can cause an antifreeze leak.
These incidences can leave you in trouble on an isolated highway with no help from a mechanic or whatsoever. It is undoubtedly a bad health sign for your car, and hence, you should act on it before you face extreme situations.
While you have a slight idea of what can cause an antifreeze leakage, you may wonder where the leakage might occur. There are several possible targets for such leakages. However, the most common are very few. To stop antifreeze leaks, learning their locations is vital.
At The Radiator
The radiator is the most common target out of all the possibilities. Most of the radiators have an aluminum core at their tubes and fins while they’re mounted on plastic tanks.
Older vehicles are designed to have welded aluminum tanks, while some older cars might have a copper radiator.
Regardless, leaks can occur at the joints of the radiators or at the points where the tanks and the radiator meet.
At The Reservoir And Hoses
The rubber hoses and the engine are also highly prone to antifreeze leaks. Moreover, the antifreeze reservoir, heater core, or thermostat housing are equally prone to these leakages. So, you should also learn about how to fix a car’s heater.
You may discover that your hoses turn hard and brittle with time, and the clamps start to loosen up, letting the antifreeze leak. While some of these leakages are easy to locate, others are difficult to inspect and can sometimes be invisible from below the hood.
At The Head Gasket
Locating an antifreeze leak at the head gasket can be troublesome. When there’s a leak in the cylinder head gasket, it often leads to a major loss of coolant.
It is already bad enough when the coolant starts to leak outside. However, if it leaks inside, you will notice a power reduction, increase in emissions, and major potential engine damage caused by the mixture of oil and coolant.
When you’d be done locating the antifreeze leak, you can throw a sigh of relief as the hard work of the whole procedure will be done with. Next, the time is to fix or stop these antifreeze leaks.
Repairing The Antifreeze Leaks
Once you are all set with the antifreeze leak location, it’s time to get hands-on with your tools to stop antifreeze leaks for good.
Fixing The Egg
When you find yourself in the middle of a desolated highway, and you face a car problem due to a leak. But luckily, you got some unfertilized eggs in the back compartment of your car.
Do you know how luck is in your favor? You can use those eggs to the rescue! You heard that right: Eggs to the rescue!
- Follow these steps in such a situation precisely and carefully to get yourself out of the problem.
- Allow the engine to cool down for 5-10 minutes.
- Open the hood of your car and the radiator cap.
- Crack and drop the material of two eggs in the radiator reservoir.
- Check if that stopped the antifreeze leak. If yes, you’re good to go. If not, drop in some more eggs till you stop the leak.
This formula works almost every time as the heated antifreeze cooks the eggs, and the leak forces out the cooked eggs. This eventually stops the leak, at least until you get it changed.
Replacing Damaged Or Old Hose Clamps
With time, the car’s hose clamps, the little metal circles may deteriorate and may cause the coolant to leak everywhere. What you can do about this problem is as follows:
- Allow the engine to rest for 5-10 minutes, and then open the car’s hood and the radiator cap.
- Identify the worn-out hose clamp.
- Accordingly, drain out some antifreeze by placing a bucket below the hose.
- Get rid of the old clamp. You can cut it if required.
- Put in the new hose clamp and fill in the new antifreeze and close it with its cap.
- Turn the engine on and let it warm up to inspect the new clamp for leaks. If there isn’t any, you’re golden!
Replacing A Radiator Hose
The radiator hose of a car can wear out with time and crackle and pop. You may notice some coolant leaking on the ground which can turn out to be much more than that. Here’s how you’ll replace and fix the antifreeze leak in such a case:
- Allow the engine to cool for 5-20 minutes and open the radiator.
- Identify the damaged hose.
- Drain out the required amount of coolant, placing a bucket underneath the hose.
- Unscrew the hose clamp and check for replacements.
- Replace it with a new hose each on both sides and secure them.
- Turn the engine on and check for leaks from the new hose. If you don’t find any, you’re good to go.
Replacing A Radiator
Mostly, the leakages cause the radiator to completely exhaust from its job. As a result, you may have to fix the radiator or replace it with a new one to stop the antifreeze leaks. Here’s how to replace your car’s radiator:
- Allow your car to rest for about 10 minutes and open the hood to open the radiator.
- Disconnect the wires of the battery.
- Drain out the required amount of coolant, placing a bucket below the hose.
- Disconnect the hoses connecting the radiator to the engine.
- Get rid of the old thermostat.
- Disconnect the radiator fans and remove the bottom nuts and bolts of the radiator.
- Also, get rid of the fan bracketry of the radiator.
- Install the new radiator and reinstall all the old fans if they did not have any issues or install new radiator fans if required. Replace the hose with a new one.
- Pour the new antifreeze fluid and reconnect the battery and take the car for a test drive to inspect for any more leaks. If there isn’t any, you’re golden!
Final Words
Antifreeze leaks are a major issue that is also quite common. However, the approach to stop antifreeze leaks may vary. Whether you choose to change the antifreeze fluid, the radiator, or fix it temporarily is your call.
Regardless, a leaking antifreeze or coolant is unhealthy for your vehicle, and it is highly recommended to fix it immediately.
