coolant leak found - what the heck do I do now?

[dgjks6]

First - this site sucks for posting pics - granted I am a social media outcast without twitter or facebook but jesus - I could not even load pics - well I am trying something new,so here goes

I finally found my long lost leak - so what is it and can it be fixed or is the car truly dead?

http://imgur.com/a/CuJBR

http://imgur.com/a/NK8kj

http://imgur.com/a/uYFuG

I found the leak afer I had everything apart. It is not rundown. It is coming from that bottom bolt.

Any ideas? (And I do mean you Scotty)

[Scottydoggs]

you could try removing the bolt, yes coolant will leak from it, so have a finger ready lol then if you got thread sealant coat the bolt and put it back in, rtv will work in a pinch.

if its not the threads leaking, its the gasket.

[dgjks6]

You were supposed to tell me what that is. It looks to me like an oil pain gasket.

[Scottydoggs]

timing cover gasket.

[BillBooost37]

My first thought reading this post is .. anything can be fixed. And .. if it's a simple leak, no problem. Worst case you need to pull the harmonic balancer and timing cover to redo the gasket.

[BillBooost37]

and.. ps.. if your car runs out of gas are you going to post asking if it's dead? I've seen a few posts by you .. always asking if it's dead. Dead is only possible when you decide not to fix it.

[dgjks6]

Ok. I love my Grand Prix. It is truly the perfect car. Right size, right performance, right look. But now getting close to 200,000 miles. And it is an extra car. It is nobody's daily driver. All 6 kids have voted it off the island and I keep fixing it. Besides the fact that I really like the car, it is nice having an extra car for emergencies. The tentative agreement we have reached is that as long as I can do the labor I can fix it.

So far with everyone's help I have replaced the LIM gasket, radiator, brakes, bearings, shocks/struts, heater core, water pump, power steering pump and various minor repairs.

As long as the timing cover gasket is something I can do in a garage on jack stands I'm in. If I have to remove the engine or block cracked then I'm out and I donate it.

P.S. when I ran out of gas (I was the first to loose the gas game) I walked 1 mile to the gas station and got gas. Diagnosed and fixed myself. Didn't need to post that one. But as long as you guys are here for support I'm going to keep going.

So having never replaced a timing cover is it something I can diy without pulling the motor? Space is kind of limited in there. For some reason they installed the motor sideways.

[Scottydoggs]

your over 1/2 way there already with the p/s pump off. balancer comes off easy enough ( if you got air tools real easy) , alt bracket and alt come off too, sc idler near the crank as well. you need the right bolts for the puller your gonna rent or buy. hell the water pump can even stay on.

all them bolts get sealant on them when they go back in, the one bolt on the crank sensor you need to tq to 14 lbs.

thers a few bolts in the oil pan to cover too.

the bottom 2 inches of the timing cover pan up gets rtv on both sides of the gasket, and along the old pan gasket. \

ive walked a few people through this before. im pretty sure theres pics in a thread somewhere here, if pb didnt pooch em.

[BillBooost37]

No worries at all. You can do this on a jack stand. hardest part will be pulling the balancer off. But Scotty can guide you there as he may have pulled a balancer more times than I did. hahahahahahahahaha

Overall, it's pull out bolts and clean a surface, put on new gasket etc.

try that bolt first and it if doesn't do the trick then go for the cover gasket

[FordMan77]

Watch the rear knock sensor wire harness, it could be attached to the bottom of the steering pump with a clip and can get ripped out when moving the pump.

[dgjks6]

um.. I pulled the pump and broke the wire in half already. Placed a red wire on the path of the wire, removed the entire wire and inthe process of repairing it.

[dgjks6]

OK, I'm off this friday. Plan is to pull the pulley and resinspect to confirm the diagnosis.

[FordMan77]

Word of advice, once you go to re-install the harmonic balancer please be sure to line the crank key up with the slot in the balancer and shove it on by hand a bit before you rip on it with an impact. Been several instances where someone didn't line it up and jacked up the keyway and/or the woodruff key in the crank. I'm sure Scotty will have that covered in his how-to.

[jamesc43]

That last photo, why is there green above the bolt? Are you sure it's from the bolt? When did start leaking and what was the last thing you replaced?

[dgjks6]

That's is the bolt on the oil pan next to the crank pulley. I have had a coolant smell the entire time I owned the car with a slow leak. Things I have replaced to try to find it, in no particular order - water pump, thermostat and housing, upper and lower radiator hoses, radiator, elbows, heater core, and LIM gasket. When I pressure test the system it takes about an hour to drop 1 psi. I have never seen the leak until now, when I had the car on jacks and the tire and power steering pump off. Now I have a clear view of everything. The elbows are dry. The pump is dry. I just see coolant in the seam between the oil pan and the block.

I am going to pull the harmonic balancer (I like saying that rather than pulley, it sounds like I know what I'm a mechanic) and repressurize the system and look again.

[dgjks6]

Whohoo (or however you spell that). I found the leak. It's the water pump. Had to pull of the harmonic balancer in plans to pull the timing cover gasket but now I no longer need to.
And it's free!!

Quick questions. Is there supposed to be oil in the crank shaft? Can I spill coolant on the crank(when I take the pump off)? Can I re use the coolant? it is not old

[Scottydoggs]

if you got a tube long enough stick it in the rad to the bottom, suck it out, once the rad is dry theres not much left in the engine to leak out. if coolant hit the crank and goes inside you need a oil change before you run the engine again to be safe.

id put the balancer back on, then take the pump off

[dgjks6]

I could not see the leak until the balancer and shroud was off. I'm changing the oil anyway. I want to put the pump on and recheck for leaks before I put it all back together. Or is that too risky?

And this is my third autozone water pump. Should I break down and spend some money and get an OEM or better one?

[Scottydoggs]

i ran one for years, kept it when i scrapped my old engine lol it worked well. they are reman parts, not brand new, so failures happen.

what it leak out the weep hole behind the pulley? those are fun to catch, cuse they can leak when they want to, like after you park it and walk away it will leak.

[jamesc43]

Since the green was on the upper side of the bolt in picture 3, I wondered if it was coming down from above. That's why I asked about it.