Coolant Leak Rear of Engine

[solocus]

Looking for some opinions here, my daughters car seems to have just started leaking coolant from right above oil drain plug/rear of engine. It drips pretty good until the engine warms up and then seems to stop. If you run it cold just from driveway to garage it will drop a baseball size of fluid before it stops.

I believe it is probably the lower manifold, but I am curious to what others may think. I only found one other "rear of engine coolant leak" thread when I did a search and no final cause was given.

TIA

Mike

[fenderman]

Re: Coolant Leak Rear of Engine

First thoughts that come to mind are freeze plugs or lower intake. If it is the lower intake gaskets, you will probably also notice coolant in the oil and/or vice versa whereas freeze plugs will just allow coolant out of the engine block. When checking for coolant in the oil, don't just check the dipstick- when mine first started showing up the dipstick looked clean but the oil fill cap and the neck had that milkshake residue on it.

[Jaysan]

Re: Coolant Leak Rear of Engine

First thoughts that come to mind are freeze plugs or lower intake. If it is the lower intake gaskets, you will probably also notice coolant in the oil and/or vice versa whereas freeze plugs will just allow coolant out of the engine block. When checking for coolant in the oil, don't just check the dipstick- when mine first started showing up the dipstick looked clean but the oil fill cap and the neck had that milkshake residue on it.

So how do I replace the freeze plugs , and what do the lower intake gaskets looks like ?

[kristen]

Re: Coolant Leak Rear of Engine

dry everything up to see where it is coming from. could be the plate on the back of the block. which means you have to drop the tranny and everything to get to the back of the engine. fun times ;)

[solocus]

Re: Coolant Leak Rear of Engine

dry everything up to see where it is coming from. could be the plate on the back of the block. which means you have to drop the tranny and everything to get to the back of the engine. fun times ;)

Oh Joy! Thanks for the info everyone.

[Jaysan]

Re: Coolant Leak Rear of Engine

can any one post pix the freeze plugs and the plate on the back of the block ??

[cam98aro]

Re: Coolant Leak Rear of Engine

can any one post pix the freeze plugs and the plate on the back of the block ??

freeze plugs look like this:



the plate on the back of the engine.. just looks like a piece of metal with bolts going through it.

it is behind the flywheel, you cant miss it

[kristen]

Re: Coolant Leak Rear of Engine

the plate is behind the tranny. if you see coolant coming down from between the tranny and the block....good luck

[LETZRIDE]

Re: Coolant Leak Rear of Engine

does the car have a block heater? ( not many do) but the block heater wire goes to a "special" frost plug at the rear/side passenger of the block. Mine gave way at the track and it looked like someone turned a garden hose on full of coolant at the back of the engine. Apparently those plugs are famous for going as they are not just a plug, but rather some kinda wingnut that puts pressure on a plug from behind...just rip it out and tap a normal frost plug in.