I'm looking for someone with a similar problem or a knowledgeable answer. I have a small leak of coolant. Some days there is a small puddle in the garage some days there is not. It is bright green with no oil in it. The exhaust does not smoke. The spark plugs look good. I've had the hardest time trying to find where the leak is coming from. It drips down to the oil pan and onto the floor. I noticed a small green line behind the air compressor along the upper oil pan. From there I can't see a thing. I've felt the thermostat area because I can't see but it doesn't feel wet there. What can this possibly be? I'm pretty sure its not a head gasket from my other findings. I tried to loan a radiator pressure tester from a couple Autozone stores but none have the right adapter. Any ideas?

 

if its comming from the upper oil pan area its most likely not the radiator unless its a pinhole leak. a pinhole leak will spray when under pressure but will be tight when depressurized. runthe car for 10-15 minutes and see if you see anything. place a piece of cardboard under the car for the night and see exactly where its comming from (eg: right side left side front back ect... let us know.

 

it drips from the front and back of the oil pan. I don't think a pinhole leak in the radiator would spray to the engine block and down behind the air compressor without me seeing it. My garage floor is painted with epoxy so I can see exactly where it leaks.

 

thermostat housing or water pump is located right above the oil pan. the Rad is too far to drip there. If the hole were big enough to spray that far, it would also steam from the same place.

 

It is your water pump, mine did that for a while then stopped. The pump is located behind an access cover on the side of the engine. There is a small "weep" hole in which coolant leaks down from the seal when your pump is going bad. Usually ends up dripping from the oil pan as u described.... Just keep an eye on your coolant level until you replace the pump.

 

Your answer sounds the most correct. I have looked, and looked and gone through the service manual and chilton with no avail. I know I'm not tackling the water pump myself. If I have some help maybe I'll give it a try. I already got a quote of $400 and some change. Is that reasonable? Where is that "weep" hole located? Is it below the water pump panel?

 

wow thats same thing that is happening to my car right now, i know the water pump is a fun one to put in

 

just got my water pump and timing chain done and my leak sounds exactly like you are describing..400 aint bad, but make sure you ask your mechanic if he is taking the shortcut way or the right way, b/c if he takes the shortcut, he could mess up your timing real bad.

 

Fru I believe so, it's really tight in there and hard to see.. But the coolant always seems to run down and drip from the oil pan when the pump is leaking. I have not done any research on labor but I know the pump it's self is about $50 bucks, so anything else is labor charge.

 

Is there any factual information from your statement of being able to mess up the timing with the water pump? Caution is needed so nothing is dropped into the timing case, but if that were to happen you wouldn't be too intelligent if you tried to drive your car after that.

By shortcut do you mean not taking the engine out?

And the job is not hard at all, there is a writeup here on the .org, I've done it successfully about 7 months ago because I had the same problem. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, then by all means take it to a mechanic, but you can find water pumps online for $75 or less, which would save you $325. Of course the bigger your hands and arms are the more difficult this job does become.

 

Thanks for all the input. Turns out it was the waterpump. Ended up paying to have it done totalling $550. Not the $400 something I was quoted with an aftermarket pump.

 

I doubt it was your water pump; more likely the inner or outer seal of the pump. Either way, it is about a 4-6 hour job for the DIY. I thought my pump had gone out when I had a similar leak -- turned out it was a pin-hole spray leak on the coolant outlet pipe from the block...warped gasket...

 

Either way the pump would have needed to be pulled to change the gasket and may have well changed the pump while it was out since it's 11 years old.

 

Sounds like I have the same problem. Have been noticing green stains on my driveway that run down past the oil pan.

 

coolant leaks between the gap of the oil pan and a/c bracket ,the fault should be water pump's gaskets (O-ring), my car has the same prob, i just think how to take the water pump out and check it.

 

i have a similar leak in my car... took it to a frnds garage, he couldn't find a leak anywhere, did a few tests including the air pressure, the mechanic didn't find any leak. i couldn't beleive it, there's green liquid on my driveway almost everyday, or some times not for a few days when the weather is cold... also i've recently seen the coolant dripping slowly (1 drop/sec) when the car was parked on an incline. i parked the car on a decline and no drip was noticed... weird! for now i'll keep refilling the coolant until the weather is a lil warmer and take a look myself...

 

its your seals on your pump....replace both seals, outer and inner and you will stop the leak.... since you're there, might as well replace the water pump, but it is not necessary....

 

so since i'm there... should i also replace the timing chain or thats not how it works on these cars?

 

Water pump seals sounds like the probably cause to me, but it could just be a leaking freeze plug in the block (you never stated the mileage on the engine). Either way, good luck with that.

 

No, don't worry about replacing the timing chain. That should last you until the car dies. Now if the mechanice drops anything in the timing case then they may as well replace the chain but they should be careful.

 

It seems my car just came up with the same problem... 85k, hoses and radiator look OK.
Could you describe "not hard at all!" How do you rate your mechanic's skills?
How much time for an "average handy" guy?
And what is the deal with the timing case(this is a new area to me)? How likely is it to drop something in there and not be able to retrieve it?..

 

I am joining this discussion quite late (new in this forum), but my car fits the bill, 1996 model, just under 100k on the meter. I have noticed clear green puddles under my car every now and then for the last 6 months. I have been both to my local garage and ended up going twice to the Nissan garage. They found nothing, pressure checked the system, checked the flow from the water pump which was all in good order, hoses and raditator looked good. I cannot find the leak but it takes a couple of seconds from when the engine starts until the drops appear on the oilpan, then in half a minute it stops and I can use the car the entire day.

This seems to be a problem for the 1996 models, so I will have the water pump changed. Changing the pump and seals is beyond my mechanical skills, can anyone give me an estimate on how long can I expect the garage to take?

In case the problem lies in the freeze plug, would that not have shown up when the system was pressure checked?

 

you should do the change yourself....i think they will charge you a grip for this job...

 

my mechanic did the wp and timing stuff in like 5 hours. most other shops i went to said 8-12 hours, which is ridiculous