here's the deal:

i drove 1 hour to my friend's house, and my car was fine the entire way without overheating or leaking. but as soon as i shut off the engine, i heard a humming sound. i got out and opened my hood, and the coolant was evaporating and steaming out somewhere. and i looked under my car, and coolant was pouring down like a waterfall from the driver's side to the passenger side.

i think it was when my water pump stopped running and my coolant was way too hot, it needed some place to go with all that heat and pressure, so it found a weak spot in the radiator to dump from...

i just recently replaced the lower and upper hose with new clamps, new thermostat and gasket, and new radiator cap, and flushed the cooling system. i had a small leak before. and i know it's not leaking from the hoses...

i have one possible idea: that it may be my radiator cannot hold pressure at all; there are 2 hard lines that doesn't go anywhere on the bottom of my radiator, i'm pretty sure that's where i lost all my coolant from; are there any plugs for those hard lines? or are they supposed to be connected to anything? they look like 2 small "L" shaped hardlines (tubes) that come out of the bottom rear of the radiator.

can anyone help me out? any advice would be helpful; i'm going to remove my radiator now to see if there's any damage to it. thanks

 

Those hardlines are actually there for an automatic transmission. The first thing that you should check is the drain plug in the bottom of the radiator. Then look for pinholes in the radiator or the fins. Afterwards if you find a hole then you can take it to a radiator repair shop or if its not very cost effective look up CSF and get another one for $130.

 

cool, i'll check...

but my car only loses coolant when it's hot and when the car is not running... when the engine is running, it's perfect... no problems..

oh, and my car is a 86 non turbo manual tranny

 

Did you check the heater hose at the firewall??

 

so far so good...

i pressure tested the radiator, and it's good... i once again replaced a few more hoses, and redid the clamps... and also changed all my belts...

so far there is no more leak.. i've warmed up my car a few times and shut off, and still no leak...

the ultimate test is to go on the highway for an hour back to my place... and if it doesn't leak, then i'm good...

wish me luck.. haha