coolant leak on left ( passenger side) of radiator

[clash9]

I have a leak coming out of the radiator its on the right side of the pastic housing for it and its dripping all the way down and wondered what it could be. It not any of the hoses because theres no leak there and believe it is coming from the radiator itself. Used some stop leak and it worked for awhile then continued to leak again but much slower. When the pressure it out of the system and the coolant is back in the resovoir it stops

[dvrich]

If the leak is at the radiator's plastic end caps....that's OBVIOUSLY the radiator.

[Tyler46]

The radiator is bad. Buy a new one and install it yourself. Autozone sometimes has them in stock for ~ $165

[clash9]

Basic knowledge on cars is all i have lol so if I were to replace the radiator myself how long do you think that would take and do you think it would be hard for someone who hasn't replace one before to change one out

[tomw0]

Well, is it a 1946 Studebaker, or a 1961 F100?

Sometimes mentioning the vintage & drivetrain helps. FWIW.

Swapping the radiator is pretty simple, unless you have an automatic transmission.

Generally, two radiator clamps, and a couple fasteners on the upper radiator and it can be pulled straigh up, more or less. An automatic will likely have two metal lines that carry transmission fluid to the cooler mounted inside the radiator tank. The connectors are tricky, and should NOT be rotated.
Please provide a bit more detail.
tom

added: If you inspect the tanks on either end/side of the radiator, you might find the metal 'fingers' that hold the tank to the metal end plate have flexed and are allowing seepage past the O-ring gasket. You can use pliers to tighten the fingers and stop or slow the leakage from the 'gasket'. If the plastic tank has cracked, you need to replace the radiator as the leak is not repairable.

[Tyler46]

It's pretty straight forward, of course I have some adequate mechanical skills (pulling transmissions, etc) so "easy" for me may be nuclear engineering for you.

You have to unbolt the shroud, disconnect the electric fan (if equipped) and move that towards the motor, you cannot remove it with the radiator installed. Unbolt the radiator from the header panel, one bolt at the top on either side.

Loosen and slide back the clamps for the upper and lower hoses (best to drain the radiator first) and unscrew the fittings for the automatic transmission fluid lines (it gets messy)

Then pull the radiator, install the new one by repeating in reverse order

[clash9]

I think its leaking from where the radiator attaches to tank or platics piece. I dont know if there is a bad o ring or the radiator attachment is warped and allows for leaking

[clash9]

Automatic transmission 2001 ranger. First major problem i had but i dont want to keep buying coolant for it. Rather buy a new radiator if its required or if its a bad o ring replacing it

[clash9]

This wire or some type of return had alot of coolant on the outside of radiator and leaking into there the fan is. Is there any type of way voolant is coming from here or would coolant be sparyed onto it from a crack instead.

[tomw0]

Two things:
1)The push-to-connect fittings for the transmission cooler lines must NOT be unscrewed with the cooling line attached. They must be disconnected before removing the fittings from the radiator tank. The O-ring inside cannot take rotating, and will start to leak.
2)The plastic tank is held to the metal plate that all the radiator tubes are punched into by metal 'fingers'. Over time & heat cycles, the fingers sometimes lose their 'grip' and allow seepage past the O-ring sealing the plate to the plastic tank.
You MAY be able to remove the radiator and tighten the fingers enough to stop the leak. IF the tank is not cracked. I cannot tell from the pictures, personally, where the leak is.
Have you tried tightening all the hose clamps? Many times they will lose tension as the 'rubber' of the hose ages and loses resiliency. A slight tightening may be needed over time. The one hose that I could see, in the 1st pic, shows a bit of 'crust' left when coolant leaks, and the water portion of the solution evaporates. The white 'stuff' indicates a leak, though not a big one.
tom

[Tyler46]

That wire in the last three pics is the power for the electric fan. I think your plastic tank may be cracked or leaking between the plastic tank and the core.

You could bend those "fingers" back like the other member suggested but with these junk plastic radiators it's better to just replace it. You don't know if it could start leaking from another spot in a week or so.

They aren't hard to replace

[clash9]

Thanks for all the help but my radiator was finally like fuck you and the hole got worse in the radiator. Decided to dump all my coolant to the ground before worl so I'm just going to get a new radiator and that's that. Original radiator at 200,000 miles so it went a long time