My friend has had her 1997 Monte Carlo in the shop repeatedly for overheating and the repair trips and bills are becoming insane.

It's now leaking/overheating again and I can't figure out where the leak is coming from. I'm worried it may be a blown freeze plug because I can see water leaking even with the engine off. I cannot see any leaks from either the upper radiator hose or thermostat housing. There is no water in the oil. Can anyone tell me where I can find a photo of the left side/rear of the engine (this is front right as it sits in the car -sideways)

What type of repairs have been done to the vehicle? These engines are infamous for intake gasket problems. Check out the "Venture" forum in this Chevrolet group and you might find some answers. There is a special thread towards the beginning when you click on to it that deals specifically with this problem. It also contains links and links to pdf 's about fixing the problem. The 3.4 L engine is the only engine available in these vans, so their owners are made aware of this problem at some point in time.

Thanks for responding - She's spent $800 so far in two trips to the Chevy dealership for a water pump and temperature sending unit for this 1997 Monte Carlo. (It would seem for $800 there would be more to show.) The dealer has said they've actually had trouble getting it to overheat. (!) No problem overheating now! Nice white smoke and only about 2miles on a fill up of water before the temp gauge says to stop.

Neither I or the owner has anything like a Haynes manual which would show a general engine layout and I'm hesitant about diagnosis.

Since the engine sits sideways with the normal "front" of the engine on the passengers side of the engine compartment I locate a stream of water coming from somewhere above the starter. I know it isn't the upper radiator hose or thermostat leaking because of careful examination with a flashlight. Since I can't see too much above the starter it may well be the intake manifold gasket.

I can't actually see the water emerge from the engine but that is where the stream can be seen. Even with the engine off and the upper hose removed a fillup of water into the radiator causes a quick stream of water onto the floor. There is no water in the oil.

Can you think of anything else it could be?

In your opinion shouldn't the intake manifold gasket have been replaced when replacing the water pump? If it won't be covered by the Chevy dealership thats been doing the job I'd prefer she take the car to my personal, AND HONEST, mechanic who'd at least treat her fairly.

Dan

I have a 1995 Monte Carlo z34 with the 3.4 dohc motor. The motor on two different ocasions sprung a leak in the coolant lines. We replaced the water pump. It still leaked. Later after feeding it water and antifreeze for about a month the alternator went out and he took it in to get replaced(pain in the ass and i had the money) and when we were looking in the passenger side along the fire wall we found a large wet spot. Looking closer there is a metal coolant hose that runs along the fire wall and it had developed rust and had aparently some holes too. To fix that we took a chunk of rubber coolent hose and replaced it. Then a few months ago i had the same problem happen again only this time anytime i stopped at an intersection steam would pour out from under the hood it turned out that there is a metal coolant line about in the area of the throttle body and brake cylinder that sprung a leak and would spray the exaust with coolant when ever the pump was pushing it through the system. hope this helps.

If you have white exhaust coming out the back DO NOT DRIVE THAT CAR ANYMORE until it is fixed. Sounds to me like the head gasket is getting ready to and will eventually cause engine failure. If they charged you 800 buck to put in a 100 or less water pump and a sending unit, they took you to the cleaners. That sounds like highway robbery to me. I would go back to that dealership and raise hell until they fix it. They did not fix it properly when you took it in in the first place. Good Luck with MR GOODWRENCH!