[MarkTr]

As I am working on my new P38 I noticed a constant leak of antifreeze onto the back of my right passenger running board for the last five days.

It looks like it is coming from the end of the hollow longitudinal box section running under the doors-the truck is not level and is slightly down in the back.


I thought it was water because I washed the P38 down after I had to drive it on salty roads. I gave it a 10-mile run to see if the condensation out of the tailpipes would clear up and to see if it overheats.

The condensation cleared up- but came back at idle. The motor temp stayed at 12:00.

I wiped up the "water" off of the running board but each day for the last five days it gets even wetter and does not evaporate very quickly. It has that slippery feel that antifreeze has on your fingers.

My guess is that the O rings leaked over a long period of time (no antifreeze in reservoir-added about 2 quarts to get to minimum cold level) that somehow it soaked the carpets and dripped into the hollow longitudinals? Is this possible?



I cannot think of any other way I would get antifreeze dripping onto the very rear end of the right side running board.


Sorry---Again I tried to attach a photo- but when I open the "manage attachments" box--- I get a blank box with no options and "waiting for rangerover.net"

 

[RRToadHall]

If your over flow tank is leaking, the coolant can find it's way down the back side of the inner fender well and blow back and around your mud flap if you have the factory side steps. Don't laugh I've seen it twice once blowing around the mud flap and once blowing over the top edge. Neither guy could figure out how they had antifreeze under their rear door and down the side of the car. Go look under your fuse box for coolant traces and check out your mud flap for same.

It is very doubtful ORings could do this. Your passenger carpet would be saturated and you would smell coolant in the cabin

 

[MarkTr]

Thanks RR--- That would be great if it was a leaking coolant reservoir. Before I drained the coolant to start on the O rings I had to keep adding water to the reservoir just sitting overnight.

I have the factory side steps. If I could post a photo it would show that at the back of the rear right door the side step is wet- and gets wet again overnight after I have wiped it dry.

Will check under the fuse box and report back.

 

[RRToadHall]

Is your passenger carpet wet?

 

[MarkTr]

Is your passenger carpet wet?

Well, it is dry under both the reservoir and the fuse box.

Yes, the passenger side was damp when I got her-- but only on the surface of the carpet on the hump. That is why I replaced the O rings - there was slight drips from the tubes. The rest of the carpet felt dry.

Today I happened to lean heavy on my left elbow when getting the heater tubes lined up (I assume the slots at the end of each tube goes into locator blocks) and my elbow got wet. I think it went into a slight depression in the bottom pan-deep enough to retain some fluid under the carpet. Perhaps it is time to pull the carpet up and see what the pan looks like.

 

[chris no 10]

Definitely time to have the carpet folded back minimum, and some blower heaters in there to dry it out completely.
do you get condensation on the screen ( inside) ?
Thats a classic sign for sure, when you fill your water what level do you go to,, the joint halfway up the expansion bottle is pretty much the level.

 

[MarkTr]

yup--- I am getting all of the classic P38 "features". The foam under the carpet was soaked and the wire trough alongside the passenger's seat was filled with coolant. It traveled back and there must be a seam at the rear of the rear door longitudinal. Coolant went into the box section and has been dripping on the running board. Just wonder how many past owners just kept adding coolant.

And so it goes-- Could have bought a better one- but I knew I would be fixing these issues even with a low mileage one. Just hope my head gaskets are still fine- at least halfway through summer so I can enjoy just driving her.

 

[Echo46Z]

Couldn’t it be the famous Heater O Rings

 

[MarkTr]

Echo-- That was the conclusion I came to when I saw how much water was under the carpet.

The carpet feels dry-- so no clue of the amount of water was under there. I was already fixing the rock hard O rings-- installed Viton today-- but until I leaned hard on my elbow while working on the O rings did I feel dampness- my elbow was wet. So- up came the carpet.

 

[Echo46Z]

Do you still have the leak post heater o ring replacement? As I have some minor projects up and running on my P38 I am going to check out coolant hose routing. That’s very odd. Could there be a heater core leak or at least a hose leading into the core leaking.

 

[MarkTr]

Do you still have the leak post heater o ring replacement? As I have some minor projects up and running on my P38 I am going to check out coolant hose routing. That’s very odd. Could there be a heater core leak or at least a hose leading into the core leaking.

So far with coolant sitting in the reservoir and the motor not running-- I do not seem to have a leak with the new O rings installed. But I will not know for sure until I can run the motor and burp it to take all of the coolant I drained out.

I cannot wrestle the hoses off of the heater aluminum pipes in the engine bay- cannot get a pick between the hoses and the aluminum pipes far enough the length of hose on each pipe to relief the stiction to twist them off. So I am leaving them be- so cannot simply pour water into the pipes to check for non-pressurized leaking.



I am still refinishing my wood and I am afraid to start the motor with so much disconnected. Seems like all that I have read points to that it is much safer to have all of the electrical bits connect up--such as the heating/cooling head-- whenever you run the motor. My impression is that with the BECM being so touchy that you could mess things up-- and at this point, I have not bought either the Nanocom Evolution or the NANO MSV-2 because I still have not pinned down if the MSV-2 worth the extra cost on a single P38. Without a way to recover I am not starting up the motor until I have everything buttoned up.