Do I need to drain the radiator for a coolant pipe reseal?

[billschroeder5842]

I've developed a small coolant leak on my driver side water pipe. I noticed it as I saw a small "spray residue on the underside hood of the car. I seem to get this under hard acceleration and the drip hits the spinning belt and splashes things a bit.

My plan is to take off the small "elbow" hose, clean the pipe, the inside of the hose and reset the factory clamp. The hoses are silicone units from Jerry's so I'm confident that it is just a reseal.

My question is IF is best to drain the radiator before removing the hose from the water pipe to minimize a messy coolant loss? I don't mind a bit of loss (towels are my friend) but will fluid come "gushing out" from hoses? I will need to have things apart for a few minutes as I clean everything before reassembly.

Thanks!

[secondchance]

I've developed a small coolant leak on my driver side water pipe. I noticed it as I saw a small "spray residue on the underside hood of the car. I seem to get this under hard acceleration and the drip hits the spinning belt and splashes things a bit.

My plan is to take off the small "elbow" hose, clean the pipe, the inside of the hose and reset the factory clamp. The hoses are silicone units from Jerry's so I'm confident that it is just a reseal.

My question is IF is best to drain the radiator before removing the hose from the water pipe to minimize a messy coolant loss? I don't mind a bit of loss (towels are my friend) but will fluid come "gushing out" from hoses? I will need to have things apart for a few minutes as I clean everything before reassembly.

Thanks!

Yes. I would drain by unscrewing the radiator petcock. This generally removes about 2 gallons.

[billschroeder5842]

Thanks SecondChance.

I drained the radiator and then removed the silicone elbow . A little sand paper for roughing, smoothing and cleaning along with a bit of grease then a reassemble. I lost zero (zero) coolant.

So far the fix seemed to solve things. I had the engine up to 7k twice on my "test run" and there was no leaking- I think I'm good.

Thanks!