Coolant disappears

[cornfritter32]

About a month ago, I topped off the coolant in the overflow resevoir of my 1999 Malibu. (It's a 4 cyl.) This morning my check coolant light came on...so I checked it and the resevoir is completely empty! I can't see any visible leaks anywhere, but I can smell coolant.

Another thing is that there is an oily, grimy film covering the engine which hasn't been there until just recently. The car has 116,000 miles on it and the engine has always been clean as a whistle until now.

It sounds to me like a gasket somewhere may be gone, but I have no idea where to start looking...

Any ideas about either of these?

[HyperFox]

Lower intake manifold gasket Ill betcha.. Do a search here, a few people have pics up that will help you to diagnose it better.

[slls]

Originally Posted by HyperFox

Lower intake manifold gasket Ill betcha.. Do a search here, a few people have pics up that will help you to diagnose it better.

On a 4 cly?

[errorcauser]

Originally Posted by cornfritter32

About a month ago, I topped off the coolant in the overflow resevoir of my 1999 Malibu. (It's a 4 cyl.) This morning my check coolant light came on...so I checked it and the resevoir is completely empty! I can't see any visible leaks anywhere, but I can smell coolant.

Another thing is that there is an oily, grimy film covering the engine which hasn't been there until just recently. The car has 116,000 miles on it and the engine has always been clean as a whistle until now.

It sounds to me like a gasket somewhere may be gone, but I have no idea where to start looking...

Any ideas about either of these?

Top it off with coolant. Raise the hood and park it in your driveway. Start the car and let it run. When it reaches operating temp, start looking at everything under the hood that has to do with the cooling system. You might be able to see where it's coming from. Someone will most likely chime in that knows the most common area's that the 4 Cylinder starts leaking. Might be your water pump.

[HyperFox]

... 4-Cylender... D'OH!

[cornfritter32]

Ok, I've looked the engine over pretty good and I think I found the waterpump... Under the exhaust manifold on the passenger's side...I think that's it... Anyway, there's coolant all over the place down there... All over the transmission and the bottom of the engine. What's the best way to change out the waterpump on a 4-cyl.?

And...I've heard alot about the intake manifold gasket problems that have shown up on Malibus...is that mainly with the 6's or do the 4's have that problem too?

[johnholl]

Originally Posted by cornfritter32

Ok, I've looked the engine over pretty good and I think I found the waterpump... Under the exhaust manifold on the passenger's side...I think that's it... Anyway, there's coolant all over the place down there... All over the transmission and the bottom of the engine. What's the best way to change out the waterpump on a 4-cyl.?

And...I've heard alot about the intake manifold gasket problems that have shown up on Malibus...is that mainly with the 6's or do the 4's have that problem too?

I doubt its the waterpump. Sounds like the lower intake manifold. what's your crankcase oil look like? it happens on just about every 3100 v6 engine over 60,ooo miles

[HyperFox]

ha... im not the only one.. This problem doesn't commonly happen on the four-bangers.. Its mainly an issue with the 2.8,3.1,3.4L Gm 60' v6's. In fact its so common, we tend to automatically assume that missing coolant is this problem.

[slls]

Originally Posted by cornfritter32

Ok, I've looked the engine over pretty good and I think I found the waterpump... Under the exhaust manifold on the passenger's side...I think that's it... Anyway, there's coolant all over the place down there... All over the transmission and the bottom of the engine. What's the best way to change out the waterpump on a 4-cyl.?

And...I've heard alot about the intake manifold gasket problems that have shown up on Malibus...is that mainly with the 6's or do the 4's have that problem too?

Sorry to say the 2.4 in your Malibu is a expensive water pump repair. The dealer will charge about $800 to $900 to replace. A good independent garage will do it for $400 to $500. The front timing cover of the engine needs to removed, the timing chain loosened, if not retimed right bent valves.

4 cyl don't have intake coolant leaks, no coolant there.

[errorcauser]

Originally Posted by HyperFox

ha... im not the only one.. This problem doesn't commonly happen on the four-bangers.. Its mainly an issue with the 2.8,3.1,3.4L Gm 60' v6's. In fact its so common, we tend to automatically assume that missing coolant is this problem.

[cornfritter32]

Ok...things are looking up.

I spent all night getting stuff off the engine to get down to the intake manifold on the 2.4. Got down to it and there are no leaks anywhere...I checked the exhaust manifold - no leaks!

So I started checking over the rest of the engine and viola'...on the rear of the engine block there it was - the coolant return assembly and it was pouring a steady stream of coolant right out the bottom. Took me all of 30 minutes to get it off and guess what I found...what used to be an o-ring was now just a little greasy ring around the collar of the assembly! I went and bought a new assembly and o-ring for all of $15 and 45 minutes later she's purring like a kitten again with no visible leaks anywhere!

Hopefully, the intake gasket issue is something that affects the v6's only.

[errorcauser]

Originally Posted by cornfritter32

Ok...things are looking up.

I spent all night getting stuff off the engine to get down to the intake manifold on the 2.4. Got down to it and there are no leaks anywhere...I checked the exhaust manifold - no leaks!

So I started checking over the rest of the engine and viola'...on the rear of the engine block there it was - the coolant return assembly and it was pouring a steady stream of coolant right out the bottom. Took me all of 30 minutes to get it off and guess what I found...what used to be an o-ring was now just a little greasy ring around the collar of the assembly! I went and bought a new assembly and o-ring for all of $15 and 45 minutes later she's purring like a kitten again with no visible leaks anywhere!

Hopefully, the intake gasket issue is something that affects the v6's only.

The intake leaking is a V6 problem, it's not a 4 cylinder problem.