I've grown weary of the coolant leaks out of the sweated- in joints on the manifolds on my 1997 431-12 unit. Rudy led me to photos of a new Model 600 unit that uses heater hose to replace these manifolds. I'm taking pics but I need help posting them as I am using a Mac Book Pro and am a tad slow. I closed the two faucets that the manifolds thread into but both were leaking torrents when I starting taking everything apart. I will rebuild them also. I'm now an eco- terrorist with the slippery green mess I've made. These small leaks over the years have caused problems like causing the adhesive to turn loose below the bay door that holds the aluminum strip that runs from the steps to the rear fender flare and ruining the rubber bay door gaskets by soaking them in antifreeze. I've got three manifolds out so far and have no interest in soldering the joints again. They always find somewhere else to leak.
I won't be able to replace every soldered joint on the whole unit as some come thru the cover for the tank.
Rudy suggested moving the burner out of the way and I promise I won't fire it up while it's out!
Thanks,
Steve I wonder if the pH of the coolant had anything to do with the leaks?
Forest:
I never tested the ph but changed the coolant twice in 5 years with a 50/50 mix. Some of the joints have a green buildup on them which to me indicates a leak.
steve, email me the pictures and i will post them for you
tom
here are steves pictures.
tom
From your pictures it looks like the leaks are from where the hoses attach to the fittings?
Is it leaking anywhere else?
If you can wait a couple months I'll give you a hand when I come visit.
I will help you out too Steve if we make it there before you finish. Looks like you should be using different hose clamps. The "Sharks" are crimped and hold more secure. The clamps your using actually can cut into the hose and create leaks, especially under pressure and heat. Your taking on a very "burley" job there my friend....
Over the years, I have found these clamps to be unreliable and I would try to install heaver duty clamps or double the clamps which are tightened from the reverse direction. I use double clamps on all of my marine applications and my Newell water system.
Forrest: The hoses may have seeped but aren't leaking any into the tray. The soldered joints are definitely leaking.
Larry: Rudy says I am the first to try this that he knows of, but it looks fairly simple to this simpleton! The clamps need to be the constant
pressure kind me thinks. I wish I could reach all the soldered pipe and replace everything all at once. I'm still tearing it down.
Rudy is going to try to come up when we do Forest's batteries so we may have a mini rally going on in the bayou country!
So what's the date to shoot for ??? Forest ???? Do you have a good family recipe for Gumbo ?
There are many clamp options and other than doubling like Chester open to you but the crimped kind seem to be the best for pressure and heat.