96 Caravan 3.3l coolant/gasket concerns

Hi,

My 3.3l is losing coolant somewhere and only visible place is about 2" behind what appears to be a sensor near the thermostat on pass side. My guess is this is the intake manifold gasket area??? I can't see how it could get here from the thermostat and I don't know what this will cost to fix at a shop. Oil analysis shows no coolant and I have not noticed any white exhaust, but not paid a lot of attention to it, either. How bad of a job would this be to do myself if it is the problem? I have done radiators and plugs, etc before on another vehicle but don't want this van crippled for 3days and all my hair out, either. Any suggestions or help?

I have not done a cooling system pressure test for fears of making the leak worse. Could it make it worse? Is the test worth the money?

Thanks in advance.

edit: 132,000 miles on it.

The intake manifold should have nothing to do with coolant leak. Sounds like it's probably coming out of the head gasket someplace. You should take it and have it pressure tested to try and determine where it's coming from. If it's not leaking too much, just keep pouring in coolant. You can buy a lot of coolant for the cost of a head gasket replacement. It's a bitch of a job, probably they want $600 or more to do it.

An alternative 50 cent fix is to remove the valve cover gasket and try to retorque the head. Sometimes this is enough to seal the head gasket again. That's if it isn't too bad.

I thought others were having some issues or concerns w/ intake gaskets and coolant leaks...:uhoh: The "gasket" I am referring to is the seal on an angle (wish I had a pic) and the top of it is just below the valve cover areas (2 of them). It definitely gets wet there and dries and I can't see how coolant can get there from the thermostat so what gives??

There is a sensor (temp sensor?) that is right of the thermostat by about 3" and just behind that is where I see evidence of coolant. Doesn't this van have 2 manifold gaskets and 1 head? If not, how many..tryin' to figure this crap out.

I thought others were having some issues or concerns w/ intake gaskets and coolant leaks...:uhoh: The "gasket" I am referring to is the seal on an angle (wish I had a pic) and the top of it is just below the valve cover areas (2 of them). It definitely gets wet there and dries and I can't see how coolant can get there from the thermostat so what gives??

There is a sensor (temp sensor?) that is right of the thermostat by about 3" and just behind that is where I see evidence of coolant. Doesn't this van have 2 manifold gaskets and 1 head? If not, how many..tryin' to figure this crap out.


This van has two heads, it's a V6, it has two head gaskets. It has one intake gasket, but like I said, there's no coolant going through the intake gaskets. It could be leaking from the thermostat, the head gasket, or the temp sensor. The thermostat is on top, and the head gaskets are also on top also. Sounds to me like you might have your terminology messed up.
See here:

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1a/3e/73/0900823d801a3e73.jsp

Yeah, I probably do....just trying to describe it better somehow. Ok, that link helped a lot...I see coolant just below the intake manifold and on top of the mating surface (exhaust manifold?) that is about 90 degrees to the valve cover. It is this manifold gasket that I thought was leaking fluid, but I guess not. Since it is so high on the engine, it couldn't be the head then, right? I have to stick my fingers under and between the cast intake manifold to clean the surface that has coolant remains, if that helps any!