coolant leak

I've got a coolant leak somewhere in my 96 3800 bird. When ever i turn off the car i can smell a burnt smell. It didn't pose as a problem to me so i just let it ride. Then one morning when i got to school there was smoke coming from under my hood. Now i decided to take a look at it. I noticed that there was standing coolant on top of my intake on the back right side, right by my valve cover to the left. I figured that's what was making the smoke(getting hot and just burning off). I soaked all that up all the standing coolant. I check the coolant and it was all nasty and under the radiator cap there was a film on top of the coolant. So i decided to change the coolant and i put some liquid glass stop leak in it. Well i can still smell the burning coolant and its slowly leaking. It doesn't seem to be losing a noticeable amount of fluids though and it doesn't over heat. So where do you think its all coming from? please help!

It appears that you have an intake gasket leak. Common to Normally aspirated 3800's. You will need to change the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets to fix the problem. It will only get worse if you don't do anything and the stop leak will probably not eliminate the problem.

hmm maybe it could also be the throttle body coolant hose? because they run hot water through it so it wont freeze...? not sure. just dry the engine really good, start it up and watch the engine for a while...

It appears that you have an intake gasket leak. Common to Normally aspirated 3800's. You will need to change the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets to fix the problem. It will only get worse if you don't do anything and the stop leak will probably not eliminate the problem.



how big of a task is this? how do i check if they are good or not

If you have someone do it for you it will cost about $600. It will take you about 8 hours but you can save a bunch of money doing it. You will have to drain the radiator, remove the upper and lower intake manifold and replace the gaskets. The gaskets are not expensive and can be purchased at most parts stores or a dealer.

As for testing the gaskets it is difficult to do but a pressure test can often detect leaks but often intake gaskets will not leak during pressure testing. If you start seeing water in the oil then you can be sure you have an intake gasket leaking.