Coolant leak issue

General engine questions/issues that aren't specific to the other categories
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Coolant leak issue

By ballistic
- Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:35 pm #157187 Okay, so here's the story.

I got in my car after class, let it warm up for about 2 minutes or so before leaving, everything seemed fine etc.

SO I'm driving along, about 3-4 miles down the road, and I notice the temp gauge creep just a bit while I'm driving, and go back down to normal as I stop at a light. Odd.

So I get to a gas station about 2 blocks up the road and look under the car to see a nice puddle of coolant about half the size of a keyboard, and a decent drip comming from the backish drivers side of the engine.

Now I know its probably a split hose, or a hole in a hose or something, but what hoses are back there, it also seems to be from under the intake manifold if that helps with diagnosis.

Thanks for the help in advance :thumb:

By ballistic
- Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:13 pm #157198
egsedanguy wrote:hold on. so you know its a hose from behind the intake? then look for the leaking hose.. yes ther isa coolant hose back ther.


Well, I'm guessing it's a hose, since theres not much else that trasports coolant through the car, and I am also assuming its coming from below the intake mani on the drivers side, because thats about where the coolant appears to be comming from.

I guess I should have made it more clear that I was looking for someone who could tell me exactly where the coolant hose runs to/where should I look for this leak/hose.

Thanks
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By ikon
- Thu Nov 19, 2009 1:11 am #157218 could be a bad seal on that water pipe behind the distributor.

By ballistic
- Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:09 pm #157380 Okay, so I checked and the leak appears to be coming from right around in front of the alternator. and from what I can see there is no hoses in that area except for the waterpipe?

I had the car on stands and I had it running and it seemed to be dripping down from that area, is there anything in that area that I should check, I really gotta get this fixed. :(

Thanks
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By teal_dx
- Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:19 pm #157390 It may be the water pump... is it coming from behind the plastic lower timing belt cover?

If that's not it then it bay be the O-Ring gasket between the end of the water pipe and the block.
That's going to be a lot easier to replace, hope that is it :thumb:

By ballistic
- Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:20 am #157412
teal_dx wrote:It may be the water pump... is it coming from behind the plastic lower timing belt cover?

If that's not it then it bay be the O-Ring gasket between the end of the water pipe and the block.
That's going to be a lot easier to replace, hope that is it :thumb:




Well, I looked at all my hoses, and they all look okay, and nothing seems to be coming from the pipe.

So I talked to a friend and he said it's most likely my waterpump going bad, and I also read that when they go bad they do leak giving you some warning before it completely fails. Could this be the problem?
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By teal_dx
- Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:50 am #157418 you'll have to take the lower timing cover off to see. it's held on by 10mm bolts, 5 of them i think.
You'll also have to remove the crank pulley to take the cover off.

If it's time to replace the water pump, check to see how old the timing belt is too. it makes sense to do them at the same time.

Also pick up a haynes or chilton's manual if you are dong the work yourself. best $20 you'll ever spend :thumb:

By MG6
- Sun Nov 22, 2009 1:09 am #157740 Agree, and if it is your water pump, you might as well change your timing belt, tensioner, cam seals, t-stat.

This way, you know it is done and won't be a problem for another 60k-90k.

Good luck.
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