Amadeus
Well Known Member
RV-12iS
Almost two years flying
194.3 hours
Coolant temperature is always in the green even in extended climb
Over the past few months I have noticed trace amounts of water on the floor of the hangar near the nose gear. In Kentucky, in the winter and spring, water is not out of place. I find water at all three wheel pant locations from precipitation the tires throw inside them to drain out later in the hangar. But sometimes it is only the nose gear and given that coolant leaking from the radiator drips into the lower cowling before then running down the nose gear leg into the wheel pant before dripping onto the floor it is always dirty brown water.
However it is Annual Condition Inspection time again (woo-hoo, second one) and the cowling has been off for more than a week. I arrived at the hangar this morning to find a very small puddle of orange water indicating coolant. I checked the radiator and found a small bead of water along the lower radiator frame at the bottom of the fins. I used compressed air to blow through the fins and it did blow out more coolant. Checking again a couple hours later and found a smaller bead of water along the bottom of the fins again.
Could I remove the coolant line that goes from just under the "radiator cap" to the overflow bottle and apply air pressure through that opening (and how much? 20#? 30#?) to be able to push coolant out and identify just where the leak is occurring and assess whether applying Marine-Tex is an option?
Is it possible (or even advisable) to take the radiator to a local automotive radiator repair shop to get this fixed?
This is a two year old low hour Rotax 912iS - why would the radiator fail so quickly?
Almost two years flying
194.3 hours
Coolant temperature is always in the green even in extended climb
Over the past few months I have noticed trace amounts of water on the floor of the hangar near the nose gear. In Kentucky, in the winter and spring, water is not out of place. I find water at all three wheel pant locations from precipitation the tires throw inside them to drain out later in the hangar. But sometimes it is only the nose gear and given that coolant leaking from the radiator drips into the lower cowling before then running down the nose gear leg into the wheel pant before dripping onto the floor it is always dirty brown water.
However it is Annual Condition Inspection time again (woo-hoo, second one) and the cowling has been off for more than a week. I arrived at the hangar this morning to find a very small puddle of orange water indicating coolant. I checked the radiator and found a small bead of water along the lower radiator frame at the bottom of the fins. I used compressed air to blow through the fins and it did blow out more coolant. Checking again a couple hours later and found a smaller bead of water along the bottom of the fins again.
Could I remove the coolant line that goes from just under the "radiator cap" to the overflow bottle and apply air pressure through that opening (and how much? 20#? 30#?) to be able to push coolant out and identify just where the leak is occurring and assess whether applying Marine-Tex is an option?
Is it possible (or even advisable) to take the radiator to a local automotive radiator repair shop to get this fixed?
This is a two year old low hour Rotax 912iS - why would the radiator fail so quickly?