Tiny intake coolant leak, advice needed

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71DodgeDemon340

71DodgeDemon340

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Hey guys, i swear lol if its not one thing its another and at the same time. I have always had a issue every once in awhile with the front pass intake bolt leaking ever so slightly, can hardly notice it and it doesnt do it all the time, i have resealed the bolt once with permatex #2 and it has been good for at least a few years but recently has started to weep a little. When i say a little i mean it might go for weeks before one little drop runs down from the bolt. Ill wipe it clean and then it wont weep again for a few more weeks or longer. But thats not my main concern. Last night while looking at the radiator i noticed the intake leaking ever so slightly, i wiped it clean and after about 8 hours theres one little trail and a droplet. I know the 100% right way would be to pull the intake and reseal it but is there any other option?

you can barely see the little trail and droplet

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Before you take it apart, go out and get the engine hot, heat soaked. Might take a little bit of driving, then come back and torque the intake before it cools. If that doesn’t work it’s time to take it apart.
 
Farmer John would pour a bottle of pepper in the radiator. My name's not John....or Louis....
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I've not been above using head gasket in a can before myself. As well as piston ring and engine rebuild in a can, too!
 
I just hate the thought of having to pull the intake, i guess im gonna pull that bolt out, put some #2 permatex on it and torque it and see what happens
 
The leak is not in the threads so permatex wont help . Its the mating surface between the intake and head that is leaking . Do as TT5.9mag suggested and get engine hot and retorque all the intake bolts . Dont over tighten or you could strip the threads in the head . They only require 35 ft-lbs .
 
Depending on how the coolant was maintained, it's not un-common to find the front intake manifold water passages eroded by electrolysis, and material will actually be missing/eroded from the alum intake, requiring some welding.
Timing covers often suffer the same fate.
Good luck
 
retorque the intake bolts on BOTH sides of the water passage, not just the one where you see water. It isn't the bolt that is leaking it's the water passage seal
 
Wtf lol i wiped the small trail off of the face of the head a day or so ago, looked at it today and head is dry, bolt is wet, not enough to run out but around the head of the bolt looks wet
 
Have you tried to fix anything or just wipe it off? You do understand that these things change shape and size with heat and cold right? What happens when it’s cold will not be the same as when it’s hot.
 
TT5.9mag said:
Have you tried to fix anything or just wipe it off? You do understand that these things change shape and size with heat and cold right? What happens when it’s cold will not be the same as when it’s hot.
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I havent done anything yet, waiting for the new radiator to arrive. I have always had a issue with it weeping a drop of coolant out from the bolt but it doesnt do it all the time
 
One more try - that bolt doesn't go into the water jacket...
 
71DodgeDemon340 said:
I guess the gasket is letting coolant to it then coming out of the bolt?
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Most likely. The only reason I repeated the comment is that it would effect how you try to fix it. It is also possible if it is leaking into the area around the bolt and then out of the bolt hole, it might also be leaking down the bolt into the interior of the engine...
 
inertia said:
Depending on how the coolant was maintained, it's not un-common to find the front intake manifold water passages eroded by electrolysis, and material will actually be missing/eroded from the alum intake, requiring some welding.
Click to expand...

^ This. Think about how many super corroded water necks you've seen at swap meets and pic on the web. They make radiator caps with a sacrificial zinc anode for winter storage. Most coolant has corrosion inhibitors, but it needs to be freshened every few years, like 3 max.
 
Aviation Sealer for bolts and threads.

As preventive maintenance 1/2 cup Dike Radiator sealer. Proven to work well, does not clog things up.

Although Bottle recommends up to 1 pint per 4 gallons coolant, does not take much to seal up the annoying small drip.

Got super small drip/seep? Seals them up.

Screenshot_20220221-153141_Firefox.jpg

Threads need to be clean and dry before application where they go into the water jacket, and apply sealer to both parts.

Screenshot_20220221-152542_Firefox.jpg
 
Bit the bullet and pulled the intake





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gonna try to get the intake back on tomorrow night.

whats the best thing to use on the 4 bolts that are exposed to the valley? The ones i took out had something red on them, but wasnt loctite
 
Also on the gasket maker for the china walls it says to assemble hand tight wait a hour then torque. Is this really necessary.

Also on the intake bolts some are hard to get to with anything other than a wrench, how are you supposed to torque them?
 
71DodgeDemon340 said:
Also on the gasket maker for the china walls it says to assemble hand tight wait a hour then torque. Is this really necessary.

Also on the intake bolts some are hard to get to with anything other than a wrench, how are you supposed to torque them?
Click to expand...
Make an educated guess.
 
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