I'm getting a smell of coolant and some coolant loss on the ground and it appears to be coming from here. It's the back of the engine near the crash wall. Just above the motor mount. Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

I had a similar thing happen . May be your problem. But i had a heater hose burn on the egr pipes in the back. very slow leak .

 

Rodent infested 03,
I have an 02 with the VQ35DE. When I changed the valve cover I remember there being a hose that carried antifreeze. Take off the engine cover and the plenum to get a better look. Hopefully the hose needs to be replaced.

 

Yeah, hope it's the heater core hoses...they go out after about 10 years or so for sure. If it's the engine block leaking, time to trade it in quick

 

I think I found the source. A metal coolant pipe that connects to both heads?




The cam sensor leaks threw me off. Then when i fixed that the leak was blue





Shot from underneath. The hoses seem ok.

What do you guys think about this as the cause of the leak?

 

Looking at this picture, it sure does look like there's a gasket popping out from behind that thing. Like it's slipped and moved. I'd venture to guess if there is a part # for a gasket there, replacing that would be a good idea...

 

could possibly be it, I had a leak there once and had to replace the black gasket but it still seemed to leak slightly so i just put some gasket sealer on the outside edges, not saying you should do that. Only thing though the whole pipe has to come off on both heads to replace that gasket or you can unbolt it and slide it off to give more room.

 

The gasket could have rusted and dislodged the nylon coating. But it shouldn't be visible like that, so it's odd.

And I agree with above. Take it off, clean it up and seal it with RTV on both sides of the gasket.

 

Time for new orings for your camshaft sensor too

 

Yeah, 3 different problems in that one pic. The leaking oring is what hid the coolant leak initially. The sensor connector was butchered by the PO. I had to cut it all off and start over with a new connector.

 

Those orings are available I just replaced my 4th Gen's Cam sensor oring a few months back....

 

Just wanted to give some resolution to this post. I tightened the two nuts on studs into the head that hold that pipe on where it was leaking. I guess the gasket had settled a bit so it took a half turn and that was the end of the leak it has not come back. It's been really hot and if it was going to fail it would have failed by now. So before people go tearing things apart just try tightening it