2003 5.4L - Radiator leaking after reassembly

[Eric M]

I hope that this is the last mishap that I need to share with you all.

After the head gasket job, I had the whole motor reassembled.

Today I poured in a gallon of antifreeze and it immediately leaked out of the bottom of the radiator, where the two tranny lines enter it.

When I originally removed the radiator, I was unaware of the quick-connect system, so I unscrewed the two fixtures to remove the lines. On reassembly, I screwed those back in as tight as they will go, but there is obviously a problem as they both leak like crazy (motor off). The leak is right where those screw-in fixtures contact the plastic bottom piece. Basically, it seems like those screw-in fixtures aren't able to seal against the plastic, no matter how tight.

I'm thinking there may have been o-rings on the fixtures that fell off at some point?

 

[Don Hall]

Several kinds of leak proof/prevent tapes on Amazon..... s

 

[Hamfisted]

Yes, there's an O-ring that seals that fitting to the radiator. You can pick them up at any auto parts store. Fel Pro sells them too, but they'll have to look up the part number in the computer. They usually tear up if you remove the quick connect fitting from the radiator, so you have to replace them. Make sure you get all the old one out of the opening so you don't end up with debris in the line blocking flow.








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[Eric M]

Yes, there's an O-ring that seals that fitting to the radiator. You can pick them up at any auto parts store. Fel Pro sells them too, but they'll have to look up the part number in the computer. They usually tear up if you remove the quick connect fitting from the radiator, so you have to replace them. Make sure you get all the old one out of the opening so you don't end up with debris in the line blocking flow.



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Many thanks!