Radiator Drain Cock Leak

[CMM]

Drained and flushed the radiator on my '96 Voyager. Now, coolant is leaking from around the drain cock. Is fixing this as simple as replacing the drain cock?

-- Christian

 

[maxpower]

Drained and flushed the radiator on my '96 Voyager. Now, coolant is leaking from around the drain cock. Is fixing this as simple as replacing the drain cock?

-- Christian

The o-ring probably tore on the pet-cock. Get a new pet cock with the o-ring from the dealer. drain and refill after pet cock is in.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

[Robert Meyer]

Drained and flushed the radiator on my '96 Voyager. Now, coolant is leaking from around the drain cock. Is fixing this as simple as replacing the drain cock?

Maybe. The new drain cock has a new seal and that may fix it. Try it and see. Next time, just take off the lower hose. Good luck.

bob

 

[Richard]

Maybe. The new drain cock has a new seal and that may fix it. Try it and see. Next time, just take off the lower hose. Good luck.

bob

The factory drain cock was not well designed and a new one incorporates changes to eliminate this issue once and for all, or so we are told.

Richard.

 

[maxpower]

The factory drain cock was not well designed and a new one incorporates changes to eliminate this issue once and for all, or so we are told.

Richard.

Nope the new petcock is the same as the old one from Mopar. When you open it to let the coolant out, the o-ring is dry and most of the time the o-ring gets stuck and does not turn with the valve. This causes the o-ring to tear or break. Try spraying a WD40 or something like that on the petcock before turning it.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

[Richard]

Nope the new petcock is the same as the old one from Mopar. When you open it to let the coolant out, the o-ring is dry and most of the time the o-ring gets stuck and does not turn with the valve. This causes the o-ring to tear or break. Try spraying a WD40 or something like that on the petcock before turning it.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

Nope, I remember reading that they had upgraded this part because of reports that it would not go back on without a leak. It happened to me on a 96. Perhaps it has the same part number and looks the same. I just don't know.

Richard.

 

[philthy]

most of the time as long as the tabs that hold it in are not broke off or cracked if they are then cleaning off coolant with brake cleaner and using jb weld on it to make it a permanent seal

 

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

Nope, I remember reading that they had upgraded this part because of reports that it would not go back on without a leak. It happened to me on a 96. Perhaps it has the same part number and looks the same. I just don't know.

Better yet next time when draining just disconnect the lower radiator hose and leave the petcock alone.

Ted

 

[Bob Shuman]

I do as Ted has suggested and remove the lower radiator hose when I flush the cooling system every 2 years. I just wanted to add the caution to be extra careful when breaking the rubber free from the inlet since if you just pull blindly on the hose I'd imagine you can easily break where the inlet is connected to the radiator tank causing it to leak ... and ultimately requiring you to replace the radiator. (A much more expensive proposition than the o-Ring and petcock.)

Bob

 

[CMM]

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. I went ahead and replaced the part and that fixed the problem. The O-ring on the old one was shot.

I like the idea of just disconnecting the lower hose. I think I'll do that next time.

-- Christian