• The site migration is complete! Hopefully everything transferred properly from the multiple decades old software we were using before. If you notice any issues please let me know, thanks! Also, I'm still working on things like chatbox, etc so hopefully those will be working in the next week or two.

pinkish fluid leak?!

B

blkgtp2000

New member
hey whats up guys! so im a newbie here as I recently purchased a 2000gtp with 84k. I have owned the car for about 2wks and it runs great with no problems but today I noticed a puddle of pink fluid leaking underneath the passenger side. any insight on what it could be would be great. thx! heres a link to some pix. hopefully it works. Gtp Photos by sunofz | Photobucket
 


Yeah that's probably the leak if it's on the passenger side. Mine are leaking already, and I just replaced them 4 months ago :th_shakinghead2:. At least it's the top one this time.
 
Hey thx for the replies. Ok so that top elbow in the pix does seem to be leaking the same type of fluid but so far im not sure if thats the only leak spot. How many of those elbows are there and where are they located? Do these elbows typically go bad on these engines? Thx guys im definitely in the learning phase right now but its cool
 
There are 2 elbows, the other one is under the alternator in the bracket and goes into the front cover for the engine. Yes they are notorious for breaking, leaking, blowing out.
See the third bracket from the left. See how it has 2 plastic elbows in it that is where they are located. Look at that thread that Scotty linked that will answer all your questions.
IMG_7004.jpg
 


These were the ones I replaced 4 months ago.
dsc03270zv.jpg


It's a pretty easy job. Just follow the write-up and you should be able to complete it in under an hour. You will loose coolant during the process, I lost 3/4 of a gallon. The elbows may break off in the ports, try to avoid it if you can because the top one can fall in your intake manifold. Just pull straight out once the bolts and hoses are removed.
 
not all manifolds will allow the elbow to push in, mine has a lip at the end of the inside of the hole.

clean all 4 holes well, scrape/sand or scotch bright pad out any crud in there, and there will be.

chances are both elbows will break when you take the alt bracket off. no big deal your replacing them.

and these elbows are always breaking, or leaking. they have metal ones now.
 
awesome advise guys and the write up is great too. ok so I found the replacements on rockauto but im curious to know if the aluminum elbows are the way to go? I see the obvious benefit of them is not breaking but how is the actual seal?
 
Last edited:
So I changed my elbows out for an aluminum set. Got a little careless and pushed the broken end into the intake manifold. Yeah I know 'dumbass'! Any issues with leaving it in there? Tried to fish it out with some wire, but could not get it over the lip to pull it back out. So do I need to pull the manifold off or am I alright with letting it ride??
 
Having plastic potentially bend valves and damage pistons or the head is a big no-no. Pull off the upper intake if you have a gt, remove the supercharger if you have it. Great time to fix play in the coupler too.

But yeah. Definitely get that out.
 


plastic wont bend valves or pistons, worst it will do is cause misfire by covering a spark plug and fouling your o2 sensor
 
If it is in the water jack of the manifold, not sure how it will effect the valves, pistons, or spark plugs? I appreciate the advise, just not following how something in the coolant system will effect those. I was thinking it could potentially plug or partically plug in the radiator or thermostat. What am I missing?
 
lol, other guy had me thinking it was in the induction.

i would take the LIM off, chances are you need to change the gaskets anyway.
 
alright so I was able to check things out a little more today and that top elbow is definitely the culprit. So I will swap out both once im in there but are the aluminum elbows the hands down way to go?!
 
They will not break like the plastic ones(takes years to break). However, I hear the same results about the aluminum elbow o-rings sealing, as I do the plastic ones.(probably the same o-rings are used) If this will be your first time replacing them, I recommend using the updated plastic ones because the aluminum ones will not bend. If you are inserting the assembly and trying to get the bolt holes to line up again, and tilt it too far one way, you may actually crack your timing cover (the inlet for the coolant passage). But with this warning, you should be able to pull it off. Just a warning.

By updated plastic elbows, Dorman's plastic elbows were almost always failing after around a year of use. The plastic would get brittle and crack, or catastrophically fail. They came out with a newer design that fixed that issue, most likely making them comparable to the OEM elbows that lasted for around a decade. Here is a NAPA search, you can see two plastic models. The higher part # is the one you want (I don't think they carry the old ones anymore anyway)
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/R...k=Keyword&Nty=1&N=599001+102002+50060+2060016

I'm not sure what version of the plastic elbows advance and oriellys carries, the part #'s don't match up. Or you could go with the aluminum elbows.
 
Last edited:


The aluminum were not bad to put in. Just as Navy said, take your time. Guy at the parts start laughed when I walked in with the broken plastic ones and said "hold on I got what you need!" I didn't even have to say word to him. Took me about an hour to take apart and put back together. That included some time trying to fish the broken end out of the LIM. Sorry about the confusion on my earlier post. Good luck
 
TEK310 said:
plastic wont bend valves or pistons, worst it will do is cause misfire by covering a spark plug and fouling your o2 sensor
Click to expand...
My thought was a little more like the plastic getting caught between the valve and head and the piston meeting the valve. But since its not in the induction that'll be avoided lol.
 
i'm honestly laughing aloud about a cooling elbow in the cooling tract and someone saying positively about it causing issues beyond a clogged coolant passage. Please guys.. take a minute and think about what you are saying by thinking about where which fluids etc flow. If you reason things out.. you'll find you have a much better diagnostic ability and will spend a lot less time chasing after things that can't happen.

Metal elbows won't break? Hahahahaha I already broke one on Billy's car. They were RTV'd in and yup.. it broke easy. For you guys that swear by the alumunimun's w/o time/testing and suggest RTV, I believe you will find similar experiences.
 
So you're saying aluminum will still break? Under 10 years of use (like the plastic ones) or abuse? And I know the seals are no better than on the plastic ones.
I put a thin coating of rtv on my seal area before installing mine, and they are seeping now. It was the blue stuff though. High temp would have been more sensible but still, they shouldn't leak at all and don't require any rtv.

I also laughed about a plastic piece in a coolant passage getting into the actual intake passages, that was a :th_fallinganvil::th_doh:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top