Coolant leak on 2000 Grand Caravan

[rw1644h]

My 2000 Grand Caravan has developed a small coolant leak. The leak was evident by a small puddle of coolant that was present on the garage floor. The puddle only showed up after the vehicle had thoroughly cooled off. The quantity of coolant in each puddle is a couple of ounces. I searched and searched but couldn't find the source of the leak. I replaced a lower hose but still the leak was there. I had a mechanic replace the water pump who subsequently discovered two small leaks. One near the water pump o-ring (now fixed) and a second near the front cover. I'm wondering how big of a job it is to replace the gasket on a front cover. Is the front cover also called the timing cover? Does the engine need to be pulled or anything like that? Is Stop-leak a bad idea?

[Stretch58]

Originally Posted by rw1644h

My 2000 Grand Caravan has developed a small coolant leak. The leak was evident by a small puddle of coolant that was present on the garage floor. The puddle only showed up after the vehicle had thoroughly cooled off. The quantity of coolant in each puddle is a couple of ounces. I searched and searched but couldn't find the source of the leak. I replaced a lower hose but still the leak was there. I had a mechanic replace the water pump who subsequently discovered two small leaks. One near the water pump o-ring (now fixed) and a second near the front cover. I'm wondering how big of a job it is to replace the gasket on a front cover. Is the front cover also called the timing cover? Does the engine need to be pulled or anything like that? Is Stop-leak a bad idea?

The timing case cover leak repair is not all that easy. I assume yours is either a 3.3 or a 3.8 engine. Removal is done through the passenger side wheel well when the liner is removed. The instructions include supporting the engine and removing one of the motor mounts and oil pan also. When I did mine(at the dealer(getting lazy)) at about 120K, I went ahead and put on a new timing chain while all that stuff was removed. I don't like the idea of dumping in stop leak to flow through the engine, rather have it done right. Others did not see why I did the timing chain. These are great engines, can hardly hear it idle.