Antifreeze on fender

'46 ford coupe, '50 Merc 8cm flathead. No overheating, gauge shows proper, but find coolant (small amount) on fender when I open the hood. Can't find where it's coming from. Upper hoses have the chrome pipes, with rad hose pieces on each end, with rad hose clamps. Do I just have radiator too full? No sign of water in oil.

 

Is mark on fender from a leaking water pump seal?

 

If you don’t have a coolant recovery system the upper tank must have at least a 1” gap for expansion even with a pressure cap. 7 psi max.

 

Fan throwing it? Is the fan dry? Any on the bottom side of the hood?

 

Gonna have to fire it up from cold and sit there in a chair for a while and see what you see.

 

It may not even show up on your fender unless your moving.
Leaks can surface anywhere. hoses, radiator, pumps, or heads or head gaskets. I’ve had a leak migrate right out of a head in the past.
Most small leaks surface when the engine is at operating temperature and the engine is maintaining a high rpm.

 

A trick for chasing small leaks at fittings. Cut blue paper shop towels in strips, wrap the strips around each suspect joint and fasten with safety wire (or zip-ties). The paper color will change where it get kit with coolant.

Russ

 

Kinda akin to letting the smoke out of a device. The device leaking smoke has an issue.

 

pressure test the cooling system.