Leaking coolant reservoir

[Kent McLean]

I had a slow coolant leak on my '94 100S V6 that over the past few
months has gotten not-so-slow -- the coolant reservoir (overflow
tank) will drain over the course of 7-10 days.

David Torrey suggested checking the heater control valve beneath
the windshield wiper linkage.  Before I got under the plastic
"water deflector" (that's what ETKA calls it) at the base of the
windshield, I saw wet below the coolant reservoir. A swipe of a
finger and a sniff told me it was coolant. Doh!

I removed the reservoir and was surprised to see there were no
cracks in the tank. The hoses seem OK. (Why do the hoses have to
have different diameters at each end? Morons.) I thought the sensor
may be the culprit, but sucking on it seemed show it to be sealed.
It is a slow leak, so I wouldn't expect it to be like sucking on
a straw, but I didn't feel any seepage.

Is the reservoir under the same pressure as the rest of the cooling
system?  Might my sucking (I'll ignore any comments directed that
way) not be enough to show a leak at the sensor?

For now I'm going to put it all back together and hope it was just
a loose connection at a hose.

-- 
Kent McLean
'94 100 S Avant, "Moody"
'89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy" up in smoke