The Horror the Horror Loosing Coolant

[Rolm]

I have a 1999 with a 3.8L. I lost at least 4 liters (gallon) of fluid, No external leaks. Note! when I was topping up the rad I used a long necked funnel and when I pulled the funnel out I noticed a black greasy oil stuff. How do I test the engine to see were the antifreez is going. Thanks for your input

[LittleHoov]

Your leak is probably internal and the engine is burning up the coolant. Do you have any white smoke coming out the exhaust? Or a sweet smelling exhaust?

If you havent done so already you should look at the info at the top of the forum concerning the intake manifold leaks.

If it were me, I would be replacing both the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets, and getting a sleeved upper intake from APN. Follow that with a full coolant flush and you should be good to go for quite some time. Its really almost like preventative maintenance on those engines, because its more of a matter of when, not if those parts fail.

[Rolm]

Originally Posted by LittleHoov

Your leak is probably internal and the engine is burning up the coolant. Do you have any white smoke coming out the exhaust? Or a sweet smelling exhaust?

If you havent done so already you should look at the info at the top of the forum concerning the intake manifold leaks.

If it were me, I would be replacing both the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets, and getting a sleeved upper intake from APN. Follow that with a full coolant flush and you should be good to go for quite some time. Its really almost like preventative maintenance on those engines, because its more of a matter of when, not if those parts fail.

Thanks for the info. Question? Do most of the leaks occure on the upper intake vs the lower intake. I think I can do the job myself if it is the upper intake only, when I look at the lower intake I just don't know if I can do the job.

[LittleHoov]

They are both equally capable of leaking, and its common practice when changing the upper manifold and gaskets, to go ahead and change the lowers, because theyre prone to failure too.

Once the upper manifold is off, the lower is pretty easy to get off, the only thing holding it on is some bolts and if memory serves theres a plastic coolant elbow that can be somewhat of a pain but not too bad. That coolant elbow also gets brittle over time, so its also a common item to replace when doing all this.

Personally, with a basic repair manual, some basic handtools, and some common sense, I think the average joe would do just fine. If youve ever worked on a car at all, I think you can handle it.

There are some decent write ups on the replacement procedure I can find for you if youd like. There are a couple over on BonnevilleClub I can find for you if you wish. I wont go linking to anything, because I dont want to go down that road again.

[Rolm]

Originally Posted by LittleHoov

They are both equally capable of leaking, and its common practice when changing the upper manifold and gaskets, to go ahead and change the lowers, because theyre prone to failure too.

Once the upper manifold is off, the lower is pretty easy to get off, the only thing holding it on is some bolts and if memory serves theres a plastic coolant elbow that can be somewhat of a pain but not too bad. That coolant elbow also gets brittle over time, so its also a common item to replace when doing all this.

Personally, with a basic repair manual, some basic handtools, and some common sense, I think the average joe would do just fine. If youve ever worked on a car at all, I think you can handle it.

There are some decent write ups on the replacement procedure I can find for you if youd like. There are a couple over on BonnevilleClub I can find for you if you wish. I wont go linking to anything, because I dont want to go down that road again.

Once again thanks for the info. I can search the stuff out on my own thanks. It's that dam plastic elboy that looks a bit scary, does it snap out or?

[Rolm]

I found the leak it's at the elbo on the lower intake manifold. Is their a way of fixing the elbo with out removing the lower manifold

[alejmr]

you should get the APN kit and replace the upper and also the lower gaskets, as littlehov said, it's not a matter if it will happen it's when... and everything it's most likle to happen at the same time so I beleive because of my own experience that your UIM gone bad already. save yourself a headache down the road.