hole in overflow bottle

[vinnieviper]

was burping cooling system and when i was putting coolant through the over flow i saw it leaking out my front right below fog light. i removed the round access cap and reached down.. and sure enough on bottom right corner of overflow i felt hole and leak.. how in the heck do i get to the overflow bottle ?? and hole does not feel all that big.. easy fix ?? or have to replace whole over flow.. which probably would be easy if you could even get to it... help please !!

 

[Big Medicine]

Take the fascia off. (front bumper)

Solvent & plastic grommet, insert into hole, let stand.

No more leaks.

 

[Jack B]

Since you felt the hole there is no need to remove the fascia. If the hole is not too large, you should be able to get your hand in the opening and insert a sheet metal screw or lag (larger than the hole) into the hole. Remove the coolant first. The screw should contain a large glob of silicone caulk/adhesive. The 3M 5200/5300 is a good choice. Make sure to rough up the area around the hole and then clean it with laquer thinner. Once the plug is set up, then, apply a heavy layer of the 5200 oiver the lag. This will be as permenant as it gets.

You will probably find that the hole was created by a sheet metal screw that holds the fascia together, remove the guilty fastener.

 

[Cudaman]

Are you sure there is a leak? There is an overflow plastic tube that goes down over the side of the bottle, at the end (at bottom edge of bottle)of the tube is a hole cut at a 45 degree angle. If your bottle if full, when you burp the system it would appear to leak from the bottle.The reality is it is designed that way.

I would like to know what engineering genius designed an over flow bottle to over flow in front of right front tire and then after that you drive thru it with rear. What should have been designed, was to have over flow tube routed into center of car avoiding ALL tires.

Cudaman

 

[Jack B]

I heard from a good source that the engineer in question is now the chief design engineer for the C6 vette.

 

[AZTVR]

I'd agree with Jack B. Try fixing it in place first, and then keep an eye on fluid level. Otherwise, if you take the fascia off, just replace the bottle instead of doing a repair that may fail later. You may save yourself, or the next owner, some headaches. On a 2002, taking the fascia off wasn't as simple as advertised. Both techniques listed in the archives missed a couple of important fasteners. If just taking the fascia off, they didn't mention the fastenings under the headlights. If doing the bumper cover removal technique, they didn't mention the outermost mounting bolts which I'm not sure were accessible with the cover in place. These differences may be unique to the later cars (Definitely different between 2000 and 2002).

http://vca2.viperclub.org/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB14&Number=630900&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

http://vca2.viperclub.org/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB14&Number=362343&Forum=All_Forums&Words=OVERFLOW&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=5&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=362334&Search=true#Post362343

 

[Big Medicine]

I ran mine for 1 year before I discovered the hole. I'm not certain the appurtenance is even necessary. I put 15k miles on mine over 3 years with an empty bottle, and finally decided to fix the leak tha last time I took the nose off.

Ran it in the Texas heat and mirskiters too. I'm sure there are plenty running around oblivious to the leak.

$0.02

 

[vinnieviper]

i also have a feeling this hole has been here for some time..i bought the viper last summer .. hell i thought the overflow bottle was the one in the engine compartment. but with some reading on here i learned otherwise. anyhow i inserted a screw in the hole with silicone. then coated around screw and a few other coats later.. seems to be holding fine for now anyhow.. the problem happend.. wrong bolts in the facia.. one of the bolts were actually hitting the corner of the overflow and thus the hole... thanks for the ideas !!!

 

[Knight Viper]

Had the same hole in mine and didn't know it till I took off the nose. I wonder how many more are like this??

 

[Ron]

As Jack mentioned, when the lower fascia gets pushed up because of a speed bump or low curb impact, one of the sharped tipped lower fascia bolts punctures the bottle. I cut the offending bolt in half and ground it smooth to prevent impact. Total removal is another option.

 

[ByteMe]

First thing I did when I bought the car was to put a much shortened bolt into that location which is essentially flush with that panel. It cannot punch a hole in the overflow bottle.