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cant find coolant leak

Old Jul 11, 2005 | 12:54 PM
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cant find coolant leak

ok ive been looking and looking it almost seems liek my water pump is leaking, is tehre a hole like in most water pumps that coolant will come out of when there is a leak? ive replaced thermostat and the seal because it looked liek that was where it was coming from but its not. my hoses arent leaking and the water pump is the only thing i can think of that i could check . is there any other way to check? thanks
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 01:01 PM
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o and btw none of this happened till i replaced my coolant becuase it was mostly water because the first time i flushed it somone had used most my coolant and i didnt notice, so it was like only 35 percent coolant so i took it out didnt even flush it just put in new coolant and water and now its leaking right after i did that.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 01:03 PM
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Not to ask the obvious but..

1. Did you clean off all the areas where you *think* its leaking from so you can trace it better?

2. Can you actually see a pool of coolant on the ground under the car?
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 01:07 PM
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check the coolant drain bolts on the motor.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 01:11 PM
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how do you know you have a coolant leak, can you smell it when driving? Check your radiator cap, it could be boiling out there.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 01:27 PM
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i know becuae i have lost alot of fluid there is a big pool under the car. and yes i know its an actual leak lol. i have filled it up to the line in the rez. about 4 times. ill check the engine drain bolts thanks for the idea ill get back to you guys. thanks
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 01:29 PM
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It might be the hose at the thermostat - double check that clamp. (I mention this since you said you pull the t-stat). It could also be the lower radiator hose.

What part of the engine bay is the leak under.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 02:04 PM
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its not leaking from the thermostat. i have checked with a mirror it is dripping off the oil pan witch is just where it collects from somwhere along the waterpump or somthing its really hard to tell
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 02:26 PM
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You can buy a dye kit, and you'll need some special glasses and blacklight. You'll see where the leak is.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 02:35 PM
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good idea i found out for sure its in the back now. the heat sheild on the rear exhaust minfiold is wet with coolant and also everything on that side is wet so im guessing its a hose back there somwhere.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 03:00 PM
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Go have your coolant system pressure tested at a local shop - this should pinpoint the leak - don't do this guess-where-and-replace-part/seal-see-what-happens BS.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 04:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Feed
Go have your coolant system pressure tested at a local shop - this should pinpoint the leak - don't do this guess-where-and-replace-part/seal-see-what-happens BS.
You beat me to it...

Pressure test all the way That should help you figure it out..
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 04:14 PM
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Originally Posted by maximaintheface
good idea i found out for sure its in the back now. the heat sheild on the rear exhaust minfiold is wet with coolant and also everything on that side is wet so im guessing its a hose back there somwhere.
17 words.

The coolant lines that connect to the back of the intake manifold next to the EGR pipe.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 06:07 PM
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are they small lines ive looked back there and i dont know what your talking about its about 100 degreeze in my garage so i probobly saw them and came back in. do you have pics of where they go?
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 06:36 PM
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The lines are right under behind where the IACV mounts to the plenum... here is a pic.. the lines connect to the two tubes at the bottom of the picture.

Old Jul 11, 2005 | 07:30 PM
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itdoesnt seem to be coming from there unless its where that hose furthest from the iavc ends up. but where they stat its bone dry. this is really cnfusing and i dnt want t drive to work with this going on. i dont want my waterpump to blow while im driving or have a hose busrt. i guess ill have to get a pressure test, im nt sure hw much its guna cost though.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 07:42 PM
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There is a weep hole that exits the block adjacent just below the thermostat housing. It allows coolant to leak out when the water pump o-rings harden with age to the point where they cannot keep up with contraction and expansion of the block and water pump.

Chances are your water pump is fine and its just the o-rings that need replacing, but because of the labor involved with removing the water pump to get at the o-rings, you might as well replace it along with the o-rings. A new water pump comes with new o-rings already installed.
Old Jul 11, 2005 | 09:12 PM
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thats where it looked like it was coming from at first but now im not so sure because the back heat shield on the exhaust mainifold is wet. i cud try and check to see if that weep hole is leaking. i put die in and now it hastn leaked and ive driven it around and its been siting for a lng time and i also turned the car on and reved a little and drove agin and its not leaking. thanks for the idea's guys.
Old Jul 12, 2005 | 06:44 AM
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Originally Posted by maximaintheface
thats where it looked like it was coming from at first but now im not so sure because the back heat shield on the exhaust mainifold is wet. i cud try and check to see if that weep hole is leaking. i put die in and now it hastn leaked and ive driven it around and its been siting for a lng time and i also turned the car on and reved a little and drove agin and its not leaking. thanks for the idea's guys.
If the back heat shield is wet, is/was definitely leaking from the coolant lines to the plenum - there is no other (logical) way for coolant to get back there.
Old Jul 12, 2005 | 06:55 AM
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looks like im gunna be having fun this weekend lol.
Old Jul 12, 2005 | 07:10 AM
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Originally Posted by njmodi
If the back heat shield is wet, is/was definitely leaking from the coolant lines to the plenum - there is no other (logical) way for coolant to get back there.
Heater hose connections are back there, too.
Old Jul 12, 2005 | 07:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Stephen Max
Heater hose connections are back there, too.
oops... my bad. Thanks for straightening me out!
Old Jul 12, 2005 | 02:18 PM
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I had a coolant leek very similar to this, what my problem was that from that coolant line that you have a picture of, if you follow the hose that goes under the TB it actually has a metal tube thats bolted to the EGR valve, or EGR BPT valve...one of the two i cant remember, that metal pipe basically just had a hole in it for some reason....got all corroded and rusty to the point where a hole popped up on the bottom of the pipe...took me a fiew months to figure out what was happening...cause the coolant would never really leak on the ground it would just leak onto the EGR return pipe (really hot) and basically fry the $hit out of the coolant before it could even hit the ground...

Might want to check that out, but i dont know if thats a known problem, it might have just been my max lol...

The only reason i say this is cause i had the same coolant drips on the rear exaust manifold as well....once it got worse that is..
Old Jul 12, 2005 | 09:12 PM
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ya im thinking its the heater hoses but im not sure. i just have a felling thats it, to check the egr wouldnt i have to take the manifold off? i worked 9 and a half hours today i dont feel like doing that
Old Jul 12, 2005 | 09:39 PM
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well im guna pull the intake probly not tongiht i may start a little bit, right about now i wish i had a 00vi to install so if its not a hose back tehre i would have completed somthing.
Old Jul 13, 2005 | 12:01 AM
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so far no hoses seem to be cracked and nothing has holes in it... just great. this is so annoying.
Old Jul 13, 2005 | 05:39 AM
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Listen to StephenMax
Old Jul 13, 2005 | 11:18 PM
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well i went to take off the hoses in the back and you know that barbed fitting liek an inch i would say. the plastic one. anyways i pulled on the hose to get it off and the whole fitting just broke apart on one end. so im guessing it was already cracked and i just must have mad it completly brake. so im guna get a new one. other than taht everyitngt back there is ok. so i guess that is what it was. atleast i hope thats what it was... anything else i should check . im gunna replace pretty much all the hoses back tehre since i have it all apart already.
Old Jul 18, 2005 | 11:22 PM
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finaly got around to fixcing my leak ivebeen wokring 8 and a half hours a day in the hot sun so ive been tired. but now its done thank god!! woot my car works now, lol.
Old Oct 12, 2005 | 10:30 AM
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Originally Posted by maximaintheface
finaly got around to fixcing my leak ivebeen wokring 8 and a half hours a day in the hot sun so ive been tired. but now its done thank god!! woot my car works now, lol.
so where was the actual leak you fixed? I am having a similar problem, I just ran a coolant bypass line back there and it seemed to clear up most of my problem but I am still getting a coolant leak from somewhere.
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