Jabob

I apologize in advance if this has already been answered somewhere or i it's the wrong section for it, I have searched for it but an never find my specific problem answered.
Anyway, the car is a 2000 chevy Malibu with about 75,000 miles.

The very, very abbreviated version is that im leaking coolant where a hose from the reservoir meets the top of the radiator. Now for the whole story,
I got the car about 2 years ago, and when I got it the low coolant light came on during the long drive home, added coolant, and it wasn't really a big problem. Until about 4 months ago, I only had to add coolant every few thousand miles, and it was never much. Around 4 months so I started to have i add coolant at increasingly faster intervals, until I was doing it once a week and went looking for the problem, I found one of the hoses (that is now leaking) ha gunk built up on the underside and was all nasty, I suspected maybe it had a pinhole leak and replaced it. Went to advance auto and they said fuel line will work, I looked it up and saw some other people used fuel line with success, so I went with it. Replace the hose an noticed coolant coming out where the hose meets the radiator, after some playing around and taking it off and tightening the clamp, it appeared to stop, but a few days later and coolant started to dissapeared again. I searched again an found a couple tiny cracks in the top of my reservoir, which was old and gunky anyway so I replaced that and did a full flush of the system, I even used some of that cleaner stuff. I ha to add coolant the next day after the flush but figured it was just the system leveling itself out after being driven some more, but have since had to add every day. I went for a quick search this morning under the hood (I work a lot and don't have much daylight to work on the car) and noticed that coolant is coming out of that same hose replaced. So my questions are really this, is it the hose, clamp, radiator, the nipple the hose sits on, or what? After the flush I started losing coolant VERY rapidly, but I haven't had any problems with overheating. I should also point out that I have spotty heats once the flush, if im on the gas and have a couple rpms going i get old Heat, if im sitting still not so good heat, is this an air bubble maybe? I hope someone can help me decipher this, sorry it is so long.

SWHouston

I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by this, but yes, many systems have to be placed in a vacuum, to remove captured air which can cause unreliable heating.

I think you may have a cracked/loose metal tube connection where it leaves the Radiator Neck, and your hose to the Recovery connects to it, so...

A Radiator Shop can...
Re-solder or replace the small tube at the neck (without removing the radiator), and, vacuum your system to clear the air.
You might take some pre-mixed coolant with you, where it will be just a labor charge.

Jabob

Thanks for the response, sorry for the spelling was in a rush when I typed it. What I meant about the heat is that when I'm above like 1500 rpms im getting good heat, going down the road at 55 mph I get good heat, but doing 30 or if I'm stopped at a red light it blows cold air, I did bleed the system but was a little confused about how to do it, I was under the impression that you bleed it until it's a steady stream coming out of the bleeder, and there isn't any air gaps.

About the radiator neck, how reliable is resoldering it and do you have a general idea what I might get charged for it?

Jabob

Also a quick update, I reseated the hose where it meets the radiator, and im losing coolant a little slower now, but still losing it

SWHouston

I'd replace the Reservoir Hose, and use a screw type clamp.

I still think you need to take your ride to a pro Radiator Shop, and have them vacuum the system to get your heat back.

I'm not sure just what the labor would be for re-soldering the tube, but it shouldn't be all that much, if you include the vacuum servicing.

Jabob

It is a brand new hose, I used a high pressure fuel line hose o the same size, I was told by the store and I looked it up on Google and found it o be suitable for that use. I wish I could use a screw clamp but because of its location it's not an option, everything under the hood is so tightly packed it's almost impossible to do any kind of service.

I ran it for a while with the heat on high and the reservoir cap off and the heat appears to be working normally now

SWHouston

That activity may have allowed the air to be expelled from the system ?

Stacey007

I recently replaced that old battery and i now have no heat ? answers any one? Chevy Avalanche 2500 2004

Jabob

Yes I read some more on purging air from the system and some people said they don't een touch the bleeder screw and just run it with get on high an reservoir cap off, I ran it for about 20 minutes like that and the heat is fine now, something else weird, I am not seeing any coolant where the leak was now, is it possible that maybe the air in the system was contributing to the leak? I will know I'm a couple days of I am still losing coolant

Jabob

Is it blowing cold air or just not blowing at all?