Recently had the coolant crossover hose on the driver side bank of my 87 v12 crack, replaced and went about my day. Today, the second time I have driven it since then it has again sprung a leak this time it appears to be from the thermostat on the same bank.
These failures literally inches from each other has me wondering if there may be a problem other than aged rubber and gaskets, anyone want to weigh in?
It’s too hot at the moment to see if I damaged the hose from the thermostat to the rad when I removed it to get to the crossover pipe but that remains a possibly though it appear to be the bottom of the thermostat
Hi Kyle, perhaps it is corrosion on the thermostat housing that was disturbed when you removed the hose. Cleaning up the neck of the housing and applying a smooth coat of JB Weld around it might help.
Dave.
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
3
There is some possibility that the upper 1/3 of your radiator is plugged up and it’s causing a pressure buildup in the driver’s side coolant plumbing.
Alright, I’m prepared for this one Kirby, I’ve got a spare rad ready to go! Been procrastinating on the install but I think I might head down to the scrap yard and see if they have a set of electric fans that fit. If I remember the book correctly I’m looking for an Integra to cannibalize the fans from correct?
I will look into ordering the hoses, any upgrades in hoses I should be considering or just order them all from my preferred parts place?
I didn’t even consider displaced corrosion on the pipe, I will be cleaning up and inspecting all of the exploded surfaces as I go through my hoses. 12 correct?
There are two schools of thought on the subject, but I adhere to the “keep it OE as much as possible” school. I think electric fan conversion is unnecessary. I’ve replaced the OE auxiliary fan with an aftermarket fan, but only because the OE is NLA. I also changed out the '76 OE steel fan for a nylon (?) fan from a later model XJ-S because I was having trouble with finding a fan clutch for the '76 configuration. But it’s still mechanical. I cools just fine. I see no reason to go down the all electric path, which leads to alternator changeout an I don’t remember what else. Also skipped out the aluminum radiator conversion fad.
I hadn’t thought about power draw issues with the current alternator, my main reason for wanting to switch is one less belt on the engine and post shutdown air circulation a close second.
The rad I have is OEM out of a parts car but is in good condition.
I’m not worried about originality at all truth be told, to me an electric fan potentially accomplishes more than oem with a part that is cheap, easy to test for functionality should troubleshooting of the system need to be done and it’s failure modes seem more acceptable