Millie74

1974 parked a few weeks ago after transmission rebuild. It was cold on the trip home and I turned on the heater.

It was running rough unexpectedly, I suspect not related to this post. I haven’t tried to diagnose the rough running yet.

Walking by the other day I noticed this wetness, dried it up and it has returned twice despite not running it.

I have replacement hoses ordered. But is there any special concern here? Just planning to cut and replace. Does coolant sitting there a few days cause any valve cover gasket issues or things I’m not thinking of?

67:72

Try to snug both the hose clamp and the intake bolts on either side of the hose connection. If the intake bolts will tighten without much force, go through all of them and torque to specs: 25-35 ftlbs in the recommended pattern.

Millie74

as this is something where I’m hoping to learn, there’s a lot of basic automotive tools like a torque gauge that I don’t have. Any specific recommendations?

There’s a lot of junk out there it seems. I’m in a big city so lots of local options if Amazon isn’t competitive.

Pretty sure it’s the hose though, based on following gravity, the hose is wet above where it could be coming out of the intake by bolts 11 and 12. I’ll snug the clamp and poke around for a gauge.

67:72

For the intake manifold, you may be fine with just an open or box wrench. Some of the center bolts are difficult to get to with the sockets that torque and ratchet wrenches use. 25-35 ftlbs has a hand feel of firmly seating the bolt/nut without any discomfort in your hand or arm - seat the bolt head firmly and then give it a 1/8 to 1/4 turn more. If you let out any kind of grunt, you've gone way too far! Give all of the intake bolts the same tightening feel to keep it evenly tightened down to the heads.

A torque wrench is a stand-alone ratcheting wrench that uses differently sized sockets. You can get a decent Husky brand at Home Depot (~$50) - Harbor Freight has one for half the price but accuracy and repeatability could be suspect. They go upwards to quite a few hundred for the Snap-ons and such. If you plan on working on the car, socket sets using 1/2" & 3/8" drives, 1/2" & 3/8" drive ratchet handles, extensions, open & closed wrenches, and a 1/2" drive torque wrench (with range from 20 ftlbs to 100+ftlbs), are pretty much the basics needed (very few if any metric fasteners on a '74). I've collected my tools over the last 50 years and buy old-school Craftsman off eBay when I need to replace something. If you want to find decent used tools, ask here for recommendations.

67:72

In your pic above, you're likely to catch some flack for the rubber fuel line. Sometime down the road, you should consider changing that rubber & steel line out for the original all steel from fuel pump to carb (if you have the stock Rochester Quadra-Jet carb).

Millie74

Thanks for the replies! I have a basic craftsman socket set that’s gotten me through 15 years of home ownership. I think it’s 3/8 but honestly I don’t know. There’s multiple harbor freights and Home Depot’s around, I’ll probably check out HF as my dad is a fan, but he’s sometimes just ultra cheap.

As for the task at hand, gave the hose a few turns on the clamp. Used the socket wrench to put some elbow grease on 11 and 12, and 11 certainly was easier to turn than 12. I stopped short of a grunt worthy effort. 12 would have taken some Arnold noises. Next time I have the air cleaner off I’ll check the other bolts.

As for the fuel line, I have a quadrajet in a box next to the car that I’ll be sending to Lars. I intended to address the fuel line at the same time. Likely add an in-line filter there for peace of mind as well. Haven’t plotted that phase out yet entirely. I have seen some debate that there are certainly non-steel fuel-rated lines that can be used.

HeadsU.P.

What member 67:72 wants you to try is to torque all the Intake bolts with a box-end wrench in the order shown on the drawing. Sometimes those Intake bolts leak coolant but it's usually the four corner end bolts. The other bolts thread into the lifter (oil) valley.

It appears the wetness area is just behind not only the heater hose but also that pipe fitting could be leaking. Those fittings should have a thread sealant on them that is Glycol proof.
And just above that is the water-neck gasket that are notorious for leaking too. And the water-neck appears to be chrome which triples the chance its leaking.
Those are a easy fix. The problem is, no RTV on earth will stick to chrome. So, by draining off "some" coolant you can remove the water-neck.
Sand the bottom flange removing the chrome. Then a $20 gasket instead of a 99 cent gasket will fix that problem.
Its all about prep, good sealant and quality gasket to contain a leak there.
Great time to swap out a old thermostat too.

It appears the bolts for the water-neck are aftermarket. In some rare cases the bolts are a smidge too long. The bolts bottom-out (blind-hole) and never clamp down the housing. Unsuspecting car owner keeps tightening the bolts to no avail. The housing never seals.

Hopper12

OP: good advice above. A little hint if you do replace the heater hoses....do not 'wiggle' the heater hoses off of the heater core. Instead, use a sharp blade and slit the heater hose along the nipples of the heater core, and use a small screwdriver to work the hose off the inlet and outlet of the heater core. If you try to twist them off, you increase the likelihood of ruining your heater core - and that's a whole different issue. Best, Paul

Millie74

Thank you very much for explaining it this way. Sounds like a good winter-time repair task. If it is indeed a leaking gasket does that pose any threat to water invading places it shouldn't?

I saw that somewhere else, too, and planned to follow that tip. Seems like it would be easier to get off than twist/yanking, too!

67:72

Yeah, you really, REALLY, don't want to repair the heater core if you don't have to. Some guys just join the two hoses at the heater core so they don't have to do the job! The heater core is just a small brass radiator with brazed connections and tends to be fragile.

If the water on top of the intake came from the thermostat housing or the hose, it won't cause any issues elsewhere. If it's leaking past the intake manifold gasket, then, yes it can certainly cause issues deeper in the engine. If coolant leaks into the lifter valley it'll wind up in the oil which is no good for lubrication. Water sinks below oil so that when the oil pump picks up from the bottom of the oil pan, it'll pull from that layer of water. Granted this scenario only applies to major leaks or very long time leaks to build up to that level of coolant, but it's best to fix all crankcase coolant leaks.

Not all intake leaks go both up top and down below – some only go down and go unnoticed – if the leak is from your manifold, it's possible that it's only coming up to the top and not into the valley but caution should be your guide. Oil with a serious water problem will look like coffee with cream. Smaller amounts of water in the oil won't be evident but you can have an oil analysis done that will include flagging water contamination. A lot of us use Blackstone Labs (~$30/sample).

1Hotrodz

If I were you I would cut an inch off the existing heater hose and re-install with a new worm gear clamp. That way there is no need to touch the heater core side. Done! Most likely the clamp has gouged the rubber hose.

HeadsU.P.

Millie 74

I don't know about a wintertime repair task. I would not want coolant sitting around on the Intake like yours.

Everything I listed can be done in about 45 mins or less if gasket and sealant are available. This is a simple repair. The hose, clamp, pipe fitting, thermo housing and gasket. Easy-peevy.

Permatex makes a Water-Pump and Water-neck RTV sealant, small white tube, AutoZone, $9.
Keep that in your toolbox. The reason it's the best is, its Glycol proof. Not all Permatex is.

Millie74

great points

neat idea! I’ll consider it before I go about replacing the whole hose, although, it would seem tightening the clamp and the bolt seems to have resolved the leak

I don’t have to wait to do the task, it’s already winter. Leak seems to be addressed but wouldn’t hurt to replace and re-seal.