coolant elbows

smug

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So my white car keep leaking coolant from those damn plastic elbows and I have never had this problem before. I replaced them once a couple months ago and the leak seemed to go away for awhile and now it is back. It keeps filling the lower motor mount U shaped bracket full of coolant. I did lube the O ring with a light coating of oil so that they slid in really nice but maybe the O ring is not sealing because of some crud built up around the sealing areas. Any trick to get these things to seal up?
 

M@

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Nov 26, 2007
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I'm surprised ZZP or someone doesn't make billet ones, or some sort of metal version, or something along those lines.

They'd cost a mint, but would never need replaced, and would be worth a good chunk of change for the headaches eliminated...
 

Turbocharged400sbc

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iirc there was a company that did make a limited number of billet stainless/aluminum elbows down in oz

i tried finding it on streetcommodores but couldnt...for some reason i recall someone machining like 5 or 10 of em after he made a set for his own car

besides the plastic isnt the issue, they dont like to be disturbed in any way esp if the aluminum has a chance to start corroding around em i usually scrape the aluminum oxide off and then coat the bores and elbows with silglyd and toss it together, never had an issue. i'd only use rtv if the corrosion was really bad but then it makes it a bitch to seal in the future as you gotta get that stuff outta there
 

Ron Vogel

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Jul 12, 2007
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Well, if it's not a corrosion/pitting problem there is the chance of a hairline crack weeping coolant out. IMHO, rtv wouldn't stand much of a chance fixing it if that's the case. Devcon makes a real good aluminum epoxy I've used in the past, it doesn't swell when flooded with coolant. It would fix it, but it cures SLOW and is a bitch to sand.

If you continue to have problems with it, the easiest fix is to find a different LIM to pop in there.
 

Turbocharged400sbc

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i got some 90 degree elbows and fittings from earl's/aeroquip and tapped the intake/tensioner bracket and front cover on my coupe. never a leak and they look pretty cool too.
and no pics? :tear:

blocked off the 442's rear motor passages entirely and machined the alternator bracket down to the bare min.
never had an issue with the stock elbows though like ron mentioned there have been a few that were bad enough to require replacement of the tensioner/lim/Timing cover.
slide your fingernail down the bore and you shouldnt feel it catch or get excessively rough, corrosion will feel like a bump then you know where to hit it...btw an exacto knife with a curved blade is the best thing ive found though i have used a good flathead screwdriver with a nice crisp 90* edge as a scraper in a pinch

yeah dex has a shitty smell, i love green, smells a little sweet, dex is horrible and from experience loves causing corrosion in stagnant area's near orings/gasket edges
 

smug

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i got some 90 degree elbows and fittings from earl's/aeroquip and tapped the intake/tensioner bracket and front cover on my coupe. never a leak and they look pretty cool too.

I want to see pics of this!
I really just think it was corrosion that had built up. Last time I had it apart I sanded the corrosion down and it felt smooth but I might has missed a spot on the LIM. I am gonna check the car again as it had been sitting for about three days now and see what it looks like.
 

smug

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yea so The coolant elbow to lim connection has a slow constant dribble for about the first min that the car runs then it seems to seal it self up. It is just enough to see green coolant around the end gasket of the lim. I dont know if it is leaking while driving because I can not drive the car right now. I suppose I could rev the engine up to higher rpms and see if it leaks like that .....
I went outside and looked under the hood and did not see any coolant after the car has sat for three or four days. Started it up and watched the coolant dribble out for a min, noticed that it seemed to stop. Blew off excess coolant with air and did not notice any new coolant appearing while the car was running for another 5 min.
 

smug

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I have tried this one more time lol. Took everything apart again, cleaned all the hole out really well. I took an exacto blade and cut the rtv out and then took some fine sand paper to knock out the small chunks left over. The holes were very smooth when done. Dried up any excess coolant, then took the GXP to the store to buy new coolant elbows. Re intalled everything and coated the orings with vaseline and they slid in super nice:pedobear:.

I hope this works or I dont know what to do next.

oh also cleaned the K&N filter, installed new battery, installed new/used battery cable harness = busy cold day in the garage.
Gotta install the new control arm I got for christmas but that can wait for another day
 

Droptopta69

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Apr 18, 2010
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the parts store brand ones tend to leak. i do alot of the 3800 work at my shop. we had like 3 cars come in that needed elbows that we had done like a year and a half ago while gm had them on back order and we used the "help" line. we now stock the gm ones and alot of them haha. also on one occurrence we had one with a worn groove in the tensioner put a little bead of rtv and knock on wood its been ok
 
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