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Antifreeze on the timing cover

classicdoug

classicdoug

Member
I've got a customer with 302 in a 67 Falcon. It keeps getting pools of antifreeze on top of the timing cover. It's not a lot, just enough to know something's leaking. We thought it was the top radiator hose, but I don't think so anymore. Any suggestions?
 
My 289 does the same thing. It only leaks on the passenger side. I thought it was the thermostat housing at first but I feel no wetness under the housing.

I'm interested to see what responses you get.
 
There's a small weep hole on the backside, might be leaking a small amount there.
 
I always thought SBF's were supposed to have a little antifreeze on top of the timing cover. :pbj
 
If it has one of those chrome thermostat housings, it probably is leaking there. I went back to the original style to eliminate that particular problem. Chrome ones are notorious for leaking.
 
Bypass , thermostat housing , but it could also be the timing cover by itself because there are 2 passage in the timing cover to let water pass through frm the waterpump to the motorblock euh engineblock. IIRC.
 
A friends was leaking recently and I found one of the upper timing cover / water pump bolts was a bit loose and just needed a little tightening. Problem solved. Check all the bolts first.
 
As said prev, check the hose clamps and hose condition first, Then bolts for tightness.
The timing cover has 2 potential seepage points, the gasket between the block and cover
and the gasket between the cover and pump.
I do a bolt/clamp check over after a rebuild/replacement and test run.
After 3 test runs bringing eng up to operating temp and letting it cool down, I run thru all the bolts for tightness like header bolts ect.
 
Just to throw it out there, the least likely scenario is probably the intake gasket around the front coolant crossover. It's happened before.
 
"classicdoug" said:
I've got a customer with 302 in a 67 Falcon. It keeps getting pools of antifreeze on top of the timing cover. It's not a lot, just enough to know something's leaking. We thought it was the top radiator hose, but I don't think so anymore. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

You didn't mention it, but did you do a pressure check? A friend's car had the same issue, so we dried everything off, then pressurized the system and looked all over. Very quickly found it was leaking from the timing chain to block gasket.
 
We got the car back yesterday and tightened all the bolts a little. It's a very small leak and just on the drivers side. We'll pressure it up today and see if it still happens.

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

Doug
 
Another possibility is that a "friend" of yours is manually adding antifreeze on the timing cover simply to make you worried about it.

It has happened before...and will likely happen again to someone somewhere sometime...
 
I checked my car over yesterday after taking out for a blast after winter storage,i too had a small puddle on pass side of timing cover.Seems to be a common problem on sb fords.
 
I am a bit late in the discussion and all the suggestions are good ones. I like to look at simple stuff first. If you can't or don't pressure test it to find the leak, I have found (11 SBF Mustangs later) that 99 times out of 100 it is a thermostat housing that is warped or the gasket didn't seal well, etc. Look there.

I went to a show one time and it seemed fine and just before the Judges came over for some stupid reason I started the car and ended up with coolant all over both sides of the timing chain cover. Turned out the fancy chrome thermostat housing I was using warped on me.

Mel
 
Is it a hot or cold leak? Had one car that had a cold leak.....drive all day long with no leaking. Leave it sit over night and I had a passenger side puddle. Warmed up the car, then used baby powder to cover the surrounding area of the puddle (after dried) and waited over night.....found the leak at the stock thermostat housing.
 
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