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Hello guys, My old ’94 Mazda B4000 truck has started leaking coolant. I have noticed it around the upper and lower radiator hoses and from the heater box inside of the truck.
It’s a small amount of coolant but I must add more coolant about once a month. I’m ready to fix it and stop adding all that coolant. I’m wondering if these leaks could be just age or if they could be a bigger issue like internal rust or something that could also cause the head gasket to fail.
Do you have any suggestions for this 80k mile truck?
Mark, in Tallahassee, Florida
Dear Mark, The miles really don’t play much into this one. There is no way to tell the complete internal condition of the cooling system without complete disassembly, but you can get a quick look by removing the hoses and looking inside of the passages.
If there is only light rust and scale, then we would suggest starting by replacing all the coolant hoses, flushing the entire system including the heater core and replacing the thermostat.
Once all of that is done, we would also add a bottle of K-Seal Ultimate to the cooling system to help prevent future leaks. It won’t clog the system and if there are any small voids in the head gasket it does a good job of sealing them up by searching out pressure differentials in the cooling system.
Good luck! Take care, The Motor Medics
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