Coolant smell and an oil leak......

[Jeremy Hohn]

Well, as some of you may or may not know, I recently got my car back from Dallas where I had the tranny completely rebuilt. I was enjoying the crisp shifts and having my sho back again, when I started to notice a strong coolant smell on shutoff. I got underneath the car, but couldn't locate the source of a leak if there was one. I did notice there was a puddle around the pepcock drain area, however and made sure the pepcock was closed. It was. Still baffled, I told myself that I needed to really look at it closer by jacking the car up, and letting it run a while to see if I could find out where it was. I was driving around doing errands today, when the check oil light came on. What is this? I thought. Well, I was due for an oil change anyways, so I took it to my local oil change place where they allowed me to look under the car real closely underneath in those tunnel deals they have to get under the car. I noticed a pretty fresh oil accumulation right under the area where the oil filter was, onto a cylindrical part right below it. Any ideas where this leak could be occurring? I have brand new front and rear main seals, new valve cover gaskets, and pretty much new everything, and it was solid as a rock before the tranny work. Maybe oil or tranny pan gasket? This is pretty disheartening to say the least, cuz I pride my valvetrain in being solid. HELP!!

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Jeremy

1993 atx 122k miles
-PIAA headlamp bulbs (thanks Fratperformance)
-fish tanks installed
-fog lamp mod w/ blazer fog lamps
-6" 5% tint border on windshield
-black body filled lettering
-wclewis "powered by yamaha" badges
-Sho Shop Cold Air Induction Kit
-Lund blackouts front and back
-cincysho colgan half bra with "SHO" lettering
-KVR chrome cadmium plated rotors with carbon fiber pads
-Sho Shop cat back system with magnaflow chrome tips
-Performance Plus y-pipe
-TX personalized plates "SHO FUN"
-Shoshop underdrive pulleys
-Shoshop 80mm MAF
-60k completed by Sdpatt
-Redline atx tranny fluid and water wetter
-Ted Breaux LPM
-D4U1 computer upgrade
-Rebuilt 94/95 AXOD tranny with TRANS-GO shift kit

 

[ThatSHOkid]

for the coolant smell it may be the heater core? this happend in one of my old cars.

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1993 White/Tan SHO MTX 97k Miles
[*] Performance: Sho Shop Y Pipe * Coneless & Boxless * K&N Filtercharger * Superchip Performance Chip
[*] Appearance: Colgan Custom Bra * "SHO" Windshield Banner * Blacked Out "SHO" Lettering * Ventshade Sunroof Wind Deflector & Vent Guards * GTS Headlight Blackouts
[*] Audio: Sony 10 Disc Changer
[*] Lighting: Eagle Super White Headlights * American Products Company Super White Reverse & License Plate Lights * Blazertech Foglights
[*] Coming Soon: Tinted Windows, Sub Frame Connectors, Sway Bars, Front Strut Tower Braces, & A Sig Pic!
[*] The Driver: Jay/Jason/Hubes
[*] The Car: Zsa Zsa
[*] The AIM Screename: KingPin641 (a NESHOC member)

"Drive it like you stole it!"

 

[Blast7]

My old radiator had a crack in the plastic part of it which allowed it to leak down where the pepcock area is. I would check out both sides of the radiator where the plastic parts are.

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1991 Black MTX
K&N Filtercharger
PP Motor Mounts
Rod Shifter
Blazer Tech Fogs
Want to Buy:
~1st Gen Black rust free trunklid
~1st Gen Black rust free front door mouldings

 

[RStalveyARFF]

My radiator is leaking in the exact same place. they are notorious for doing that.

 

[SHOTIME]

If this was after they changed the oil, The oil you saw under the filter was probobally from them changing it. Its a PIA to get out with out leaking a bit.

------------------

Eric
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>
http://people.ne.mediaone.net/billebobob/index.html

 

[Jeremy Hohn]

UPDATE: The oil leak seems to be okay now. I still don't know why the check oil light came on. The coolant smell is getting stronger to the point of making you nauseated when you get within 5 feet of the car when it is running. I don't have a rock solid leak spot, however. What would it take to get a new heater core put in? Are we just talking swapping a new radiator in? Costs approximately? Thanks for the help.

 

[luigisho]

You should probably take it to a "reputable" shop and pay someone to diagnose the source. No sense in replacing things haphazardly. I think the coolant leak fumes go inside the cabin when the heater core craps out but that may not always be the case. The cost to replace heater core is big bucks ($500-$600 minimum) cuz you have to take the whole dash apart. Good luck!

 

[fredhurderjr]

Yeah, ask Mark Nunnally about how much enjoyment he gets from doing a heater core...

 

[sdpatt]

Jeremy,

Is the coolant smell on the outside of the car? The guys are mentioning the dreaded heater core which is the usual culprit if the aroma is inside the passenger compartment. If it is the heater core, there will also be a moisture problem inside the windshield form the water vapor.

Form the leak at the radiator drain petcock area, it sounds like either a crack in the composite end tank on the driver side or the seal between the end tank and the tube section. My original radiator cracked at the upper fan shroud bolt in the driver side end tank. I have also seen and heard of others who had a problem with the seal I mentioned.

A radiator replacement is a fairly simple job. The only bolts that need to be removed are the two brackets at the upper header. There are rubber cups to locate the bottom of the radiator. Of course you would have to remove the upper and lower radiator hoses and the (I'm sorry to say) transmission cooler lines on the passenger side end tank.

If it is the tank to tube seal that is leaking, you may want to try a bottle of Barr's Stop Leak. If it a cracked end tank, only a new end tank or radiator will stop it.


------------------
Scott

1991, 253K miles, glass hood, police grill, SVO shifter, Catz fogs,
K&N, 73mm MAF, Superchip, PP Y-pipe, Borla cat-back, 190 lph pump
Eibach/Tokico/polyurethane, SHO Shop front & rear strut braces,
16x7.5" Moda R1, 225/55ZR16 Bridgestone RE730, -1 deg camber x 4,
Class II hitch, Silver award at the SHOklahoma Car Show

 

[Jeremy Hohn]

The coolant smell is definitely on the OUTSIDE of the car, and I see no water vapor that you guys speak of. I guess I need to get under there and take a closer look to see if there is a definite leak spot. I hope it is a cracked hose maybe?? Here's hopin.....

 

[High Plains Drifter]

My '93's radiator had a very slow seep right where the plastic tank crimps onto the cooling fins. I took out some needle nose vice grips and gave it a squeeze. That did the trick. Get up under the nose and look really good. Could your smell be a radiator leak and the fan is kicking the coolant back on the manifold? Cooked antifreeze smells like ****. I hope you find it and good luck.

 

[luigisho]

Jeremy, this probably doesn't happen very often, but here's what happened when I thought my heater core was on its way out. I had the manifold off and lost coolant from hoses around the TB. I overfilled the coolant in the reservoir and I think it came out the overflow and onto the cats. Maybe something similar happened to you? Should still keep looking though! good luck

 

[pimothy]

Originally posted by Jeremy Hohn:
The coolant smell is definitely on the OUTSIDE of the car, and I see no water vapor that you guys speak of. I guess I need to get under there and take a closer look to see if there is a definite leak spot. I hope it is a cracked hose maybe?? Here's hopin.....

Jeremy: Why don't you go out and get a coolant system pressure tester. A good tool rental shop will have one or perhaps you can borrow one. I got a Stant tester on Ebay for about $30 including shipping. The feature of the tester is that you can climb around a cool engine top and bottom and find a leak under safe pressure,just search for drips. Expect that the tester itself will leak down slightly,perhaps after 5 minutes. But you can still spot leaks under 5 psi.

 

[Adrian]

Hi,

I had the same problem with my car. That lovely (not!) coolant smell from the engine. But I couldn't figure where the heck it was coming from.

I finally found it! It was coolant leaking out of the weep hole underneath the water pump (the seal inside was worn out). It would trickle down behind the timing cover and crank pully, onto the sump and then drip on the hot exhaust which gave the nice smell.

Its hard to see but turn your wheels at full right and then you can see in there from the passenger wheel well. It got worse over time.

Just another trouble shooting idea. Hope it helps.

Adrian

 

[DemonNeno]

Here are some problems to look into...

Sometimes, in a very oddball chance (as I ran into), the tube running from the radiator to the overflow tank will build up with crude and trap the overflow from working 100% if at all. I ended up blowing out all types of hoses before i tried to look down the tube to see how clear it was. It had completely clogged at the point. Not good news!

Also, check your radiator tanks for leaks, as everyone else said. Plastic tanks don't last long. However, if it isn't a hairline crack in the plastic, but the radiator falling apart, there are instructions as to how you can "pinch" it to fix it.

Finally, you can easily pull out your overflow tank to check that for leaks. Mine leaks VERY SLOW but just enough to leave that god aweful coolant smell in the car when i turn up the heat or stop in hot weather during traffic jams. The leak isn't serious, however, so I'm slacking on fixing that right at this moment.

Other things to look into would be a hose right beneath the exhaust manifold... It's a U bent hose that I believe is for the oil cooler? Mine blew out and squirted on the fan from the pressure built up, which made it seem like the radiator gernaded on me! Hmm.. what else...

Lower hose you said was fine? Check around the neck of your radiator by the cap... Any stains might indicate a leaking cap. Also make sure that the cap is working properly. I just check to see if it does overflow into the tank while the car is running (you'll see the coolant bubbling up in the overflow if it's flowing correctly).

Thanks all I can think of off the top of my head.. Good luck!

Happy New Year!

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Neno & The '91 Dark SHO
SHOCAGO Enthusiasts Club - http://www.shocago.com
137K Mi., Black on Black/Mocha Interior, '94 Mark VIII Rims, 225/50VR16 Comp TA VR, Rod Shifter Converted (Broken stabilizer bolt, still sitting in my trans housing!), SHO Nut Reinforced Motor mounts, Coneless, 3.2L larger crossover tube for intake installed (sure did make the intake LOUDER!), Delrin SFBs, Semi-loud exhaust system...

Ready To Install: Subframe Connectors and Intrax springs instead of Eibachs?

Coming Soon?Konis/Poly setup

 

[Mikeys_Taurus]

In advance I apologize for the long post. This is a quote from my post at the TCCA. It turned out to be a 3" rubber hose connecteding the metal heater core hose to the head... or the block... I don't quite remember.

Anyhow... If you use a pressure tester, you can leave the engine off and hear exactly where it is leaking from. The pressure tester also exagerates the leak. I had a horrible coolant smell before I fixed this. Good luck though.

Alright, well as many know, the Vulcans fuel pump decided to go belly up.

Just when I don't have any money too. So me and my buddy grabbed our Taurii and went to our newly found garage, complete with engine hoist and lift! Yeehaw!

So we picked up the Red SHO from the shop with a newly tuned engine, running absolutely beautifully and we decided to take that to Arlington Heights Ford to get some clamps I needed for the fuel pump. Well my buddy, being the crazy guy that he is, saw a set of fog lights in the rearview mirror and decided that it would be fun to play with the guy. The car behind us was an Audi complete with "Audi Motorsports" written on the windshield. So my buddy thought that he would go nice and slow and then just open it up, and that is exactly what he did, until he went to shift into 2nd. "Clunk!" followed by frantic shifting. Then finally his words caught up with him: "Mike, the car isn't going into gear." Me: "****!". We then coasted into a Meineke parking lot and got the car towed back to the garage. Clutch is fried. So we decide that we are goig to take out the tranny, get about half way through the job, and then realize that a good portion of the front end is broken. The CV boots weren't there... No grease! Both of the half shafts are broken, all four of the rotors are cracked, the pads are pretty much gone, the ABS gears are cracked... Pretty much we just decided that it would be best to part the car out, although it's unfortunate. I really wish we didn't have to, but it's just not economically wise to fix it. Too bad. Here are some pics from Sat.

Ok this picture is taken from the Baby Blue Taurus and the car way off in the distance is the SHO, which my baby, with a bad fuel pump, couldn't keep up with.

This is the 91' on the lift at the beginning of the trans removal.

This one needs no explanation... both Taurii, both mine.

something someone never wants to see. This has been a reoccuring problem and we have not been able to figure out where it was leaking from. I was sure it was the water pump, but since we had a pressure tester handy we decided to check. Well it turns out the the leak appearred to be coming right out of the head. We both crapped ourselves and proceeded to pull things off of the engine, which leads us to the next pics...

[This message has been edited by Mikeys_Taurus (edited 12-30-2001).]

 

[Mikeys_Taurus]

and

This is a pic of the valves from when we took the intake off. Something weird about the SHO?: It doesn't have a lower intake... The head seem to have the runners coming righ off of them... Nice design. So it turned out that the leak was coming from the heater core hose. Yay! It was an easy fix too.

A pic of my two babies sitting next to each other.

And yet another picture of the since deceased SHO. The plates on the 94' will be changed to "No AUDI".

Good night all.

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[DemonNeno]

Totally off-topic, but Mikey... It looks like your Gen 1 SHO has (a) burnt bulb(s) in the sidemarker(s)? It's supposed to light up like a fish tank.

------------------
Neno & The '91 Dark SHO
SHOCAGO Enthusiasts Club - http://www.shocago.com
137K Mi., Black on Black/Mocha Interior, '94 Mark VIII Rims, 225/50VR16 Comp TA VR, Rod Shifter Converted (Broken stabilizer bolt, still sitting in my trans housing!), SHO Nut Reinforced Motor mounts, Coneless, 3.2L larger crossover tube for intake installed (sure did make the intake LOUDER!), Delrin SFBs, Semi-loud exhaust system...

Ready To Install: Subframe Connectors and Intrax springs instead of Eibachs?

Coming Soon?Konis/Poly setup