I noticed a few drops of antifreeze on the lower engine pan and found that antifreeze is 'weeping' from the black cap on the part located inline on the lower rad hose.
Since I have spent the past 20 years or so wrenching on American 60 & 70's classics, a lot of things I see under the hood on the xfire are 'foreign' to me so hopefully someone can tell me what this part is called and what it actually does (if anything)?
I tried searching 'little thingie with a black cap under the hood' but no luck and I have scoured the manual and still can't find it.
Hopefully the picture might help identifying it.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Steve

 

Congratulations ! You have completely stumped me. Never seen nuttin like that.

( This is an NA, not a SRT6 right ? )

 

Sorry, I did mean to include it is a 2008 Roadster, therefore NA.
The more I look at it, it appears to be a 'T' inline with the 'T' port capped off and I really can't see what it's purpose is????
Glad it's not just me stumped....never seen nuttin like it on a good old American classic, actually there's a lot of wiring, plumbing and weird parts under that hood.
The old classics are so easy to work on, not complicated, but they sure don't drive like the xfire!

 

That black cap hides the terminals for the block heater wires.
That part is the block heater.
The hose connections to it look like a bit of a lash up, the one on my old NA appeared a much neater set up, but I could have forgotten what it looked like. I have some pictures of it somewhere, I'll look for them.
The block heater was supplied to Canadian cars and probably to cars sent to the Northern States. It was supplied without the cable, the cable was quite expensive from Chrysler and I never did bother to get one.
My US market SRT6 does not have one.

 

Block heater. No wonder I didn't know what it was.
My Concorde Limited has that with a 120v pigtail plug on it.
It also had a battery warmer blanket, which I removed when I replaced the battery the first time.

 

Thanks 180, makes sense, northern climate car (it is a Canadian market vin).
Of course, very family with block heaters installed in the engine block water jackets, didn't think of inline heater. Now it makes sense why I couldn't see any wires.
Don't agree with 6 potential places to leak versus only two with a straight hose.
Since only summer driven and heated garage stored in winter (you and I both know that winter is six months of the year and the other season, construction season eats up the other half year), I'll keep an eye on it but consider removing it when I do coolant system flush. Not leaking but must be weeping, car has been sitting since November and there was only two drops there yesterday.
As a new guy to the forum (and the xfire) and experienced with other car forums, this forum is first class, congratulations and thanks.
Bonus is....alaxfire and I are no longer stumped!

 

Isn't a block heater a "warming system part"?

Oh, wait, this is a CANADIAN discussion, maybe THAT is my confusion.

 

I am sure that cars destined for the Northern US also received block heaters. Remember that there quite a few states and parts of states that are north of southern Ontario.
They need them more than we do, if we get sick from the cold weather we all have healthcare.
In fact you could call it a lifetime warranty.

 

27 U.S. States North of Canada -- Map

 

A map helps, many in the states would have a hard time finding Canada on a globe, even though it is the second largest country in the world, Russia is first.
Have you seen the latest world map that shows countries relative to their land area. Quite interesting, evidently the older maps are Eurocentric and distort the rest of the world. The shapes of countries get distorted but the area is realistic.
Country sizes. CLICK
A accurate map showing country sizes, CLICK and you thought this thread was about block heaters.

 

Funny. I always thought China was second to Russia in size. I'd have put Canada about 6th or so, behind USA/Russia/China/Brazil/India.
Has anyone noticed how my snarky comment leads to a great discussion?



Yer welcome............

 

I don't find that surprising.......

 

Not me, I knew Canada was #2, too big for your own britches.
You got more moose than people, eh ?

 

Yep agree and in some cases the moose are smarter than the people.

 

Quick update, a friend who just returned from wintering in Florida finally returned my coolant system pressure tester which he borrowed last summer. Can't seem to find any leaks, system held 15 psi for over 6 hours.
Good news is, I now know what the mysterious part is; bad news is I have no idea where the mysterious drops of antifreeze came from....nothing leaking at all.
Since it was around St Pattys day that I noticed it, must have been a leprechaun sleeping it off under the hood and I scared the p**s out of him when I lifted the hood!
Will be keeping an eye on it and will report back if I find anything, thanks all.

 

Just seen this, I disagree, but I would have to mention someone who was recently selected by guess who to make my point so I won't. Eh!