Leaking
RussTad
12-05-2004, 03:59 AM
Ok SO I have a 97 cutlass supreme sl with a 3.1. On thanks giving I was driving for about 2 1/2 hours. When I got to my destination my low coolant light came on (now I am not sure if it had been on for a while I had cruise control on and did not pay attention to it). As soon as I got down to 55 mph (from 70) it went away so I thought nothing of it. On my way back it came back on so I had to stop and pick up some anti freeze. Now I could not buy the gm specific coolant. On thursday of this week I drained my radiator. I put the gm specific anti freeze in my car. Since thursday I have these nice little puddles of anti freeze under my car. Now the way it is dripping is along the cross beam in the front. It is not dripping from the radiator. From what I can tell it is not comming from the hose going from the radiator to the motor. It almost seems like it is comming from behind. I looked there tonight and saw some moisture. What could it be? Thanks for any help on this.
75Trump
12-12-2004, 02:01 PM
Just a thought here.
I had the same thing w/a '93 SL 3.1L. The car never did over heat, seemed to be losing coolant somewhere, and had puddles on the driveway and in the radiator brace. No hose leaks, radiator leaks or anthing obvious
Try starting your car and let it come to operating temp. With the hood open and engine running, watch for any leaking coming from the top end.
(I recommend wearing goggles for safety sake)
What I found was all of a sudden I was being sprayed by a very small mist of anti-freeze off the serpentine belt. This was enough to spray onto the motor and evaporate but settle into nooks and crannies within the radiator assembly. It was from there that it would leave drips and yes puddles on the driveway.
Though I couldn't prove it by looking at or hearing a bearing whine from the water pump, I was sure that was it. Indeed, when I took the pump housing off I saw the weep hole at the bottom of the pump did display a history of leakage (stains).
The new pump cost only around $20.00 at a local parts store, relatively easy to replace and most importantly, fixed this problem. Sorry for the long read. Hope this helps ...75 Trump
I had the same thing w/a '93 SL 3.1L. The car never did over heat, seemed to be losing coolant somewhere, and had puddles on the driveway and in the radiator brace. No hose leaks, radiator leaks or anthing obvious
Try starting your car and let it come to operating temp. With the hood open and engine running, watch for any leaking coming from the top end.
(I recommend wearing goggles for safety sake)
What I found was all of a sudden I was being sprayed by a very small mist of anti-freeze off the serpentine belt. This was enough to spray onto the motor and evaporate but settle into nooks and crannies within the radiator assembly. It was from there that it would leave drips and yes puddles on the driveway.
Though I couldn't prove it by looking at or hearing a bearing whine from the water pump, I was sure that was it. Indeed, when I took the pump housing off I saw the weep hole at the bottom of the pump did display a history of leakage (stains).
The new pump cost only around $20.00 at a local parts store, relatively easy to replace and most importantly, fixed this problem. Sorry for the long read. Hope this helps ...75 Trump
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