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Horrible coolant leak

S

shadegt

New member
I've noticed a leak that's been slowly getting worse on my car. I replaced the lower radiator hose hoping that would fix it as I thought it was leaking from there, that made it worse, so yesterday I replaced the water pump and gasket. Now its literally pouring out of the front of my engine. I know the pump is on right and I looked the torque specs up in my Haynes manual, I really don't know what else to change to get it to stop leaking.

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Don't rule them out due to being a year old. If you have plastic ones that aren't from GM thats about how long they last, at least for me when I bought the cheapos. GM plastic lasts longer. Aluminum replacements are also available.
 
It's dry under them, the hissing and water spray was coming from the right side of the water pump or the hose, I swapped both for new parts.

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I wonder if you have a pinhole in something nearby thats throwing you off as to the origin. Like the radiator itself. A coolant stream maybe be hard to spot with it spraying everywhere. Be sure to look around in all directions I've had a strange one or two like that. The fact that it got worse is a clue. You sure it isn't a LIM leak being scattered around?
 
I cleaned the surface with rubbing alcohol, I know it's leaking from this area because I can see the stream of water coming down when it's not spraying, I just can't find the origin.

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Have you heard of leak trace powder? Basically its like throwing a handful of flour at it. If you can dry everything off and get a coat of powder over it then start er up, it gets more obvious at least. You could also attach a cooling system tester and pressurize it with engine off, that helps to spot leaks too.
 


Auto parts store. Probably can rent. But hey man it kinda sounds like you might want to pick up new water pump gasket if you go, for a re-do. The gasket that came with the pump might have been damaged someplace. But since it could also be mating surface damage like a scratch, a little RTV on the redo would be my strategy. Thats IF you find the gasket to be the leak.
 
I thought about getting a new gasket, I put rtv on the first one so I still have some lefyvfrom that. I'll check AutoZone and see if they have the tester

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Yes you cleaned it. But did you make sure and take a sharp putty knife and scrape off all the old gasket? If a small piece was still there it would leak. Even with rtv.
 
I have no idea what lim is, the original gasket was one of the metal rubber hybrids and I checked for any left over particles when I cleaned it.

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Lower Intake Manifold. The gaskets are made of plastic from the factory and as time goes on and the more miles you put on your car, that plastic will start to warp and coolant can start escaping in places. They can start failing in the 100,000+ mile range.
 
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