coolant leak

[rocker231986]

hey guys as the title say i have a coolant leak i cant find. I went autocrossing with it and i noticed between runs a coolant smell and sure enough there is coolant sitting on the top of the transmission in puddles but no serious coolant lose. which i thought was puzzling

after doing a little investigating i noticed that the thermostat housing was covered in dry coolant but i cant see it leaking its like it leaks under pressure.....the smell is strong coming from the top of the motor.....someone told me that i could be a head gasket but its not showing any signs of a head gasket....no smell from exhaust and no coolant in oil and its not over heating can you guys plz give me a idea where to look.........thanx guys

 

[93rev2sev]

A coolant system pressure tester will help you a great deal. If you choose not to get one, disable the fan and heat the car up in the driveway. When its good and hot, shut the engine off and start poking around the area of the leak.

 

[rocker231986]

im not 100 percent sure where the leak is where should i start looking......im just concerend thats its something serious

 

[average sho]

Start with the coolant hose going to the throttle body, then the 2 heater hoses going to the fire wall.

 

[weewajr]

if the leak was from the water pump, would you be able to see the leak? would you see water dripping or does it collect somewhere that you cant see? i have a coolant smell aswell, yet i see no drops under the car and everything looks good and dry.

 

[SHOZ123]

Look out for that short 1.5" hose that connects the coolant pipes together between the heads. If it blows it will dump all the coolant in a hurry.....

 

[ICEMAN007]

I agree. I had a coolant leak that we tried to fix earlier this week. The leak appeared to be coming from the water pump because there was coolant dripping and there was a puddle underneath the waterpump. After buying a reman cardone waterpump, tore everything down, installed the water pump, buttoned everything back up, filled her up with coolant and once again, coolant leak. So we decided to pull the intake off and the fuel rails and jackpot, coolant leak was coming from the crossover tube, which is actually called the 'Water Supply Tube', that runs from one end and over to the waterpump. The side near the waterpump would leak directly under the waterpump, onto the exhaust and the opposite side would drip off of the transmission. You wouldn't know to look for this if you didn't know anything about that crossover tube going to the waterpump. There are rubber O rings that go on each end of that aluminum tube, which is about a little over a foot long by about 2 inches in diameter. What you need to get is called 'WATER PUMP MOUNTING SET'. I prefer the FEL-PRO brand personally, which I got at O'reillys. The part number is ES70425. It includes:

(1) Water Pump Main Gasket
(1) Water Pump Inlet Gasket (which connects to the water pump and is located just on top of the lower radiator hose, right behind the right side of the timing belt.)
(2) Water Supplt Tube "O" Rings
(1) Water Pump "O" Ring

If you want, I have the part number for just the (2) "O" rings for the Water Supply Tube. I'm not too sure if you can get them seperately, I was told no but here is the part number just in case. FEL-PRO brand, Part # 94829

Good luck to you and I hope this information helps. -C

 

[cmeseadoin]

Keep in mind with these cars, that passenger side catalytic converter is right below the bottom of the crankshaft and water pump area. I just did a water pump three weeks ago on mine, and the leak was so small that it was dripping from the base of the crank from the timing belt inner cavity onto that HOT cat....evaporating and cooking and never making it to the ground. I had a horrible odor sitting at a traffic light and smell under the hood, but no fluid making it to the ground. When I stuck it on the lift, took the passenger tire off, then saw that cat had obviously had coolant dripping on it when red hot. My water pump was shot and that is all I had going on.

For the person with the problem here, I would def. do a coolant pressure test and then you need to focus on areas where hoses are clamped and such where you see dried up coolant and no visible leak currently. That means it WAS and HAS leaked there before, so check all of that.

 

[Bizzy]

if the leak was from the water pump, would you be able to see the leak? would you see water dripping or does it collect somewhere that you cant see? i have a coolant smell aswell, yet i see no drops under the car and everything looks good and dry.

Well, in the case of the OP, his is dripping on top of the trans which is on the opposite side of the actual water pump. For him I'd suggest running the car for awhile and then open the hood and take a look. If there is steam there's a drip. With a hot motor it's more difficult to find because you can only get but so close to the motor. Oh, and watch out for sticking your head near the intake when it's hot. It's easy to touch your forehead to it and it burns like a sonofagun. Don't ask me how I know that.

If coolant is dripping out of the water pump it will collect down near the crank sensor. That's what causes crank sensor failure most of the time. Your best bet is to get the motor good and warm, squeeze the hoses and see if you can see the leak or at least narrow down the general vicinity. Looking with a mirror in hard to reach areas can reveal a lot too. Unfortunately, most of the "mechanics" mirrors are really small. They do fit into small places but it's really hard to see with them. My eyes are horrible though so you may have better luck with it than me.

Also, just as a helpful hint, if you can get your hands on a shop manual you can figure out from there exactly where all the coolant lines are. Then if you narrow down the general area that the problem is in you can then go to the manual figures. From there pinpointing the actual problem will be much easier.

 

[cmeseadoin]

Well, in the case of the OP, his is dripping on top of the trans which is on the opposite side of the actual water pump. For him I'd suggest running the car for awhile and then open the hood and take a look.

Yes I agree....I was just basically speaking from my own experiences to another person's question about the water pump and how you would know it might be going bad. It sounds to me like this guy's coolant leak is somewhere else from the fact that he stated he was puddling on the tranny. Basically, if you see dried coolant, you had a leak. Odds are it is pressure related IE) when the system is hot and pressurized.

 

[weewajr]

I typically drive my car very short distances when i drive it, like to work and back. Which is close enough that the car doesnt fully warm up. and when i drive these short distances the car smells like coolant and sometimes i see it dripping off the cat. so yesterday took it for about an hour long drive and opened the hood. no smell. no dripping no nothing. let the car completely cool off then drove home. same thing. no smell, or anything. so then this morning drive it to work, and there is the smell again. is it possible that the leak goes away when the car fully warms up? any ideas?