new coolant leak - help ID source please!

surferfletch · #1 10-14-2005, 07:36 PM

I'm going to photobucket.com after poting this, so please check the pics out later...

The Rodeo has turned into my daughter's school vehicle. I found coolant on the ground on the passenger side for a couple of days in a row and I checked under the hood to find the reservoir below low. I have super powers and I am the only one in my house who can see coolant. It seems the leak is coming from somewhere between the alternator and the block. The AT coolant lines are dry. The coolant is dripping from the front passenger side of the oil pan, near the metal lines which go to the oil filter. Could a leak from the water pump show up here?

Pics coming. Thanks for any guesses!

surferfletch · #2 10-14-2005, 07:52 PM

I know its blurry, but this was taken on my back by the passenger wheel, looking up and toward the front and middle of the vehicle.

rodeo02 · #3 10-14-2005, 07:57 PM

I think the most common source of coolant leaks on the 3.2 is the piping behind the cylinder heads, between the back of the engine and the firewall

. There are gaskets or O-rings in there that leak over time, especially if they get disturbed somehow. Coolant leaks under the common chamber, over the top of the block and then trickles down where ever it can. I think you have to yank the upper intake/ common chamber to get at it. The 3.2/3.5 have kinda strange 'external' coolant plumbing.
G/luck
Joel

surferfletch · #4 10-14-2005, 08:02 PM

Additional info:
146,600 miles. Timing belt and water pump last done at 61K. Major coolant hoses are dry. Radiator dry. Original radiator.

It's a steady drip with the engine running. It slows and eventually stops when the engine is turned off.

Thanks again!

surferfletch · #5 10-14-2005, 08:18 PM

Thanks for your reply Joel. I didn't notice you got in before I posted the pic. There is some coolant farther back, but I thought it might be coming from the front and traveling along the top edge of the oil pan as the truck is parked on a slight incline. I'm heading out now to check back there, but the steady drip is coming off the front corner of the pan down onto the center link, then to the ground.

EDIT: There is a line of coolant along the front lip of the pan. I'm heading out to start it and see if I can see it running out of the weep hole in the water pump. The back of the engine looks dry...

surferfletch · #6 10-14-2005, 08:48 PM

I can't see the weep hole from the bottom (EDIT: because the water pump is spun by the timing belt and is under the timing belt covers!). When I first start it, there is no leak. Then, just as it reaches operating temp, it starts leaking. As it runs for a couple more minutes, the dripping stops. I'm thinking water pump.

Is there coolant running through an oil cooler at the top of the oil filter, or do those lines contain oil only?

df2000 · #7 10-14-2005, 10:17 PM

"Is there coolant running through an oil cooler at the top of the oil filter, or do those lines contain oil only?"
Yep, these is coolant running through an oil cooler, actually it is oil-to-coolant heat exchanger.

surferfletch · #8 10-14-2005, 10:29 PM

Thanks! It may be leaking from one of those lines...

surferfletch · #9 10-14-2005, 11:44 PM

Gonna tear it all down tomorrow. Water pump, t-stat, valve cover gaskets, spark plug tubes, timing belt, tensioner. I'll get it all taken care of at once!

Ramblin Fever · #10 10-15-2005, 01:44 AM

Let us know where the leak is.

superfret78 · #11 10-15-2005, 04:39 AM

Yeah....sounds like maybe a leak at one of the oil cooler lines to me.

surferfletch · #12 10-15-2005, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramblin Fever

Let us know where the leak is.

Will do.

surferfletch · #13 10-15-2005, 08:40 AM

Not the water pump or oil cooler lines or AT cooling lines. I have coolant sitting at the top of the block between the heads. As Joel said, there is some pretty funky routing of the coolant lines up there. I'm going to look around some more with it cold before starting it and looking for leaks when it's warm...

surferfletch · #14 10-15-2005, 09:29 AM

Could be the metal tube at the back of the t-stat housing where it enters the engine? Intake manifold gaskets? Looks like I won't have everything I'll need from the start...

surferfletch · #15 10-15-2005, 06:27 PM

I got all the parts. Does the large coolant pipe that sits under the intake manifold and on top of the engine between the valve covers ever leak? I'm thinking this could be a culprit. I think this is the spot Joel is talking about. It connects to the water manifold at the back of the engine with an o-ring. I'm doing a little reading before diving in....

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